P5/6 Owl Pellet Investigations

Henry Hoare – “Today we were making rodent skeletons by finding bones from owl pellets! My next target if I ever do it again will be to complete a whole skeleton. I only managed to make the head but it was still fun. I found a river vole and rat skull. I’ve now decided when I grow up I want to be an archaeologist. I enjoyed today!”

Holly Glendinning – “Our topic is birds so we have been learning about owls. We had to use tweezers to poke and pull out bones and fur from the owl pellets. It was a bit disgusting but also quite cool. We found 4 skulls and 27 ribs which was quite weird! It was quite creepy because all of the ribs looked the exact same! We had a lot of fun!”

Archie Gilmour – “This afternoon P5/6 investigated owl pellets. We were hunting for bones and it was really interesting. Myself and my best friend Brennan found loads of mysterious bones and skulls. We found 8-9 skulls and a tonne of bones and teeth. We pulled apart 3 different owl pellets. It was really fun and I really really enjoyed it so I hope we can do it again some time soon.”

Jack Neaves – “My class dissected owl pellets and we found ribs and skulls and lots more. It was so much fun! I took pictures instead of touching the pellets.”

Nicholas Need – “The gloves and pellets smelled bad but looking through it was good fun. I found a skull. My favourite part was looking at the bones through the microscope.”

Eve McCall – “This afternoon P5/6 took apart owl pellets. We did it in partners. Me and Megan found 6 skulls in two pellets and loads of tiny bones like claws, shins, skulls and ribs. The bones were from animals such as mice and voles.”

Liam Bourhill – “This afternoon my class and I were dissecting owl pellets. It was good fun. I was partners with Henry. He was really good at using the analysis sheet to find out what animal the owl ate. We found 3 skulls!”.

Dougal Leslie – “This afternoon P5/6 were pulling apart owl pellets and finding bones of the animals they had eaten like mice, shrews and voles.”

Logan Murray – “We have been investigating owl pellets. We found loads of bones. There was even some blood on the bones. The pellets were quite big and we found skulls with teeth in them.”

Brennan Henry – “I enjoyed hunting for bones and skulls and beaks in the owl pellets. I was partners with Archie. It was really fun. We found loads of rib bones and 4 skulls.”

Lexie Sanderson – “In our owl pellets we found fur, bones and other strange stuff. I found loads of cool bones and skulls. I was investigating with Lily. We used tweezers and a magnifying tub. We found ribs, teeth and claws too.”

Eva Miller – “This afternoon we had to search through owl pellets and find bones. We were trying to decide what animals the owl had eaten. It was fun and gross. We thought our owl had been eating mice.”

Grace Hurley – “Today I investigated owl pellets. There was bones and fur in them like skulls, lower jaw bones, upper jaw bones, black leg bones etc. We had to use tweezers to pull apart the pellets.”

Lily Davidson – “This afternoon P5/6 investigated owl pellets. At first I felt nervous to see what they looked like. My partner was Lexie. We found loads of bones and fur. We found three skulls which looked very weird! We used tweezers and a magnifying glass to see what we had found. There were lots of small bones like ribs as well as teeth. After we found them all we tried to lay them all out together like a skeleton. I had a good time and I think everybody enjoyed it.”

Jake Henderson – “In our owl pellet investigation, we found tiny skulls which were really hard not to break. My partner used the microscope and we saw a bigger version of the bones. It was so fun. I enjoyed the beginning of the lesson best when we had to break the pellets apart.”

Amber Pitkeathly – “Owl pellets are brown and hard. The most common bones we found in the pellets were ribs but we also found skulls and teeth. The tools we used were gloves and tweezers. I preferred to just rip it apart. I think our bones came from a vole.”