Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Burrowing Owl Zoo Project

 
10 Physical Variations Between the Species of Burrowing Owls
-Color of feathers (very slight) -Continuous, there are millions of different shades of color
-Spots size -Continuous, the size of spots can be very small or take up most of the bird

-Talon length -Continuous, depends on how mush the talons have been scraped on the ground
-Eye colour -Continuous, there are different shades of colour
-Height -Continuous, there is millions of different heights (in the decimals)
-Weight -Continuous, depends on how
much they eat
-Puffiness -Continuous, depends on the amount of feathers
-Beak sharpness -Continuous, depends on how much uses it
-Eye brow size -Continuous, millions of different sizes and colours
-Wingspan -Continuous, there is millions of wing lenghts (in the decimals)
Physical Description:
Burrowing Owls have bright yellow eyes, yellow beaks, a brown back with white spotting, and a white belly with brown barring. It is about 25 cm in length with a 53 cm wingspan.    
 
2 structural adaptations -Hollow bones, they make the bird lighter so they can fly. Since they can fly they can get to prey quicker. And since the bird can fly the bird can get away from larger pretators on the ground
-Feathers, they make the bird more aerodynamic. The more aerodynamic the bird the faster it can fly. The faster the bird can fly the fast the bird can get its food.
Behavioural adaptation-Being able to live in a hole under the ground, this makes it better for them to survive because the bird is not the biggest in the sky. It allows the bird to hide from larger predators. It gives protection for the bird. It give a place to store food. It gives a place for the birds to give birth safely without being attacked.

Niche

- They live in grasslands, rangelands, agricultural area, deserts, or open dry area with low vegetation.
-The burrowing owl can’t dig their own holes so they have to live in an area with a burrowing .
-The burrowing owls diet mainly consists of insects, but it will also eat small animals, small birds, snakes, lizards, frogs, mice, and scorpions.
-The burrowing owl has a broad niche and is a generalist. 
-they must live in areas with burrowing mammals such as ground squirrels or badgers.

http://fineartamerica.com/images-medium/burrowing-owl-eye-to-eye-max-allen.jpg
Definitions
-Extirpated: A species has become extinct in one area at least but still exists in other area(s)
-Endangered: A species whose numbers are so small it is at risk of becoming extinct or extirpated if extensive measures to protect it are not undertaken
-Threatened: A species that is likely to become endangered if not protected in some way
-Special Concern: A species not endangered or threatened but
extremely uncommon or has unique or highly specific habitat
requirements
The burrowing owl is an endangered animal, because of human impact

Human impact
-The burrowing owl are threatened due to pesticides killing the burrowing owls food.
-Pesticides poisoning the adult birds. No adults where will be not mate for other birds.
-People killing the animals that the burrowing owls homes

 Reasons why the zoo decreses biodiversity
-Building the zoo in top of a plane where burrowing owls live.
-Using pesticide on the grass at the zoo, which would kill the burrrowing owls.
-The zoo producing harmful gases to keep the zoo warm piosoning the birds.



 Conservation Stategies-In 2004, researchers at the Centre for Conservation Research (CCR) began working with the National Burrowing Owl Recovery Team to help improve the survival and return rate of burrowing owls released back into the wild
-Some researchers examined and compared the characteristics of natural and artificial burrows in order to determine which types of nest site characteristics (location, orientation, slope, aspect, etc.) were more attractive to the owls.
-Luckily through the surpport of institutions like the Calgary Zoo, the burrowing owl is doing better as a species.
Lives:
western Canadian provinces to Mexico to Central America

http://www.thebutlerchain.com/pics/Burrowing_Owl_in_Rio_Ranch_.gif

My lovely Drawing
By:Edwards Kim

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