Owl Pellets

I really LOVED this weeks science activity of dissecting owl pellets. I have dissected a sheep's eyeball, a worm, a fetal pig and a frog before but I have never dissected an owl pellet. I found it very interesting taking a part the owl pellet and finding all of small bones inside. It was really cool to try and analyze bones that were inside of the pellet. I think the bones that were inside my owl pellet were that of a shrew. I think dissecting an owl pellet is very non-threatening especially for young elementary students. I also believe that students would find it very interesting because not every owl pellet has the same skeleton inside of it. As Michelle showed us there are so many extensions that can take place after dissecting the owl pellet. I really want to use this activity in my classroom in the future so I took a look around to see what else I could find out about owl pellets.After searching it seems as though the average price for an owl pellet is between $1.75-$1.99. This seems relatively inexpensive and I am sure if that many owl pellets were purchased in bulk the price per owl pellet would drop down. In my searching I found a really great website all about owl pellets that is great to use for both students and teachers.

This website has information for students on what owl pellet is, how the pellets are formed, what's inside the pellets, and why they are important to study. The website also has a virtual dissection page,where students can "pull" apart the owl pellet and then place the "bones" that are found inside the pellet onto a blue print of a skeleton of the animal its eaten. I think this would be a great resource for students to use to learn more about owl pellets as well as piece some of the skeletons together. The website it also very useful for teachers. The website contains a teacher's resource page which contains a bunch of FREE materials. The website has instructional materials available, a video, and some extension activities (food chains, flight experiments, and information on bird banding). It also contains coloring pages that are pictures of various owls and facts about them. This is a website that I will be definitely bookmarking for future use!

KidWings Virtual Owl Pellet Dissection