Translations:AY Honors/Owls/Answer Key/1/en
From Pathfinder Wiki
- Most owls are nocturnal, which means they are more active at night, whereas other raptors (birds of prey) are diurnal, which means they are more active during daylight hours.
- Owls have special feathers which make them almost completely silent when they fly. The leading edge of the flight feathers has a comb-like structure that reduces the sounds made by the wings cutting through the air. Also, the contour feathers that cover the owl are "fuzzy" to help muffle sound made while flying.
- Owls are generally bulkier and less streamlined than other raptors, which makes them better at short, powerful flights rather than long-distance flights or soaring. This also allows them to carry much larger prey in relation to their size compared to other raptors. Illustrate showing the Northern Saw-whet Owl.
- Owls are more heavily dependent on sound to communicate and to find prey than other raptors.
- Owls have larger eyes than other raptors. Raptors eyes are round whereas owls have a tube-shaped eye caused by the presence of a sclerotic ring. Together, this allows for better nighttime vision compared to other raptors.
- Owl’s eyes have forward-facing eyes, which gives them better binocular vision (better 3D vision). Forward facing eyes make owls look more like a human face compared to all another birds, which is probably why young children identify with owls more than other birds. It is also probably why the phrase "wise old owl" comes from - appearing to be more human-looking and therefore wiser than other birds.
