Owl Pellet Lab

For this lab we used tweezers to dissect dehydrated owl pellets, or undigested fur and bones regurgitated by owls. 

The rodent in our pellet was a vole. The skull was the main giveaway because voles have their teeth grouped at the back of the jaw rather than it being spread out and all three skulls that we found matched that. It also had elongated front teeth that could only belong to a mole or vole. The leg bones also matched those of a vole.

The bone anatomy of voles obviously are different than that of a human. The bones are much smaller, the skull is dramatically different shape, and voles have very long two front teeth. However, the similarities included a ball and socket joint at the hip, external limbs protruding from the main body, and the skull had eye sockets.