What's gross and furry and turned out to be lots of fun? Dissecting owl pellets! At first most of the kids were squeamish. Then as each one found the first teeny, tiny little bone inside their pellet their excitement at discovery brushed aside all tentativeness and they dug in looking for ribs and skulls and other assorted bits and parts.
Great discussion flowed around the table as fur and feathers were uncovered. "Look what MY owl ate." "What did YOUR owl eat?" "This is SO gross and fun!"
The kids glued the bones to black paper for better visibility and tried to assemble complete skeletons. After there were enough identifiers they took them to the wall poster and tried to figure out exactly what their owls had been ingesting. Field mice, voles, moles & other small birds seemed to be the meals of choice.
Most were not ready to leave when the event was over & many a ziplock baggy of partially dissected owl pellet went home for later scientific research.
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