Owl Pellet Dissection (Aidan)

Hi. I’m Rus. Two days before Mom and Dad’s anniversary, we did a very fun science experiment. We are studying flying creatures in our science this year, and one of the experiments was taking apart owl pellets. Connor, Shaila, and I waited a while for them to arrive in the mail, and we were very excited when they did. We could not wait for the evening when we could dissect them. I had never seen an owl pellet before, and I was surprised to find how much fluffy stuff was packed into it. Before we started dissecting, we laid newspaper out on the table, and took out Ethan’s dissecting set that he used for his science labs. Mom bought five owl pellets, so Ethan showed how to open them up with the extra one. We all took a pellet and began to dissect. As I slowly opened it layer by layer, I found many more bones than I had ever expected. My greatest find was a few jawbones and an almost complete bird skull. After I had ripped the whole pellet apart, I searched through the pieces for bones. Most of my time was spent searching, and finally, I could not find any more bones. I noticed while I was dissecting that the kids had taken off their gloves. They had not been so sure before, but they were very enthusiastic now. Ethan identified many of our discoveries, and he dissected two pellets because of his meager finds in his first. I laid out my pellets in one long line. After I finished my line, I sorted the bones onto paper. We had a great regional meal after that (Mom wants me to mention that we SCRUBBED the table first! J), but that has been posted about already. We had a lot of fun with our owl pellets.

By: Aidan
Age: 11 (6th Grade)