OWL PELLET LAB

RESULTS: 

Pellet measurements:

Pellet mass : 10.79 g    Length: 2.8 inches   Width: 1.3 inches

Skull: Length: 40 mm    Width: 29 mm

Lower Jaw:  Length: 30 mm  Width: 9 mm

Claim: We believe that the organism that was in our pellet was a pocket gopher. We knew it had to be one of the bigger organism because of the size of the skull. However we found 2 other skulls where one most likely belonged to a bird due to the sharp, pointed beak. We were unable to determine what animal the other skull may have belonged too. Adding on there didn't seem to be enough bones to put all there animals back together which makes us believe that the owl may have thrown up another pellet with the other bones. Some of the bones seemed to fit to the size of the gopher but others seemed to small.

Similarities and Differences to the Human Body: 

Similarities:

1. the bones were classified as the same ( long, short, flat, irregular)
2. they have a similar skeleton structure 
3. the skull was very similar to our skull (cranium, mandible...)

Differences: 

1. depending on your organism the bones are significantly smaller than human bones 
2. some of our bones had a rounder shape to them
3. some of the bones were weak, they broke easily