They particularly like gophers, like this stunner right here. Their constant tunneling damages roots and irrigation lines.
And then there’s voles, which gnaw on the grapevines.
This 2-week-old owl already has the hang of it. But how the heck does it keep down all that food?
Well, it doesn’t.
Meet the owl pellet.
Check out this furball.
And here’s a jaw. Gnarly!
The secret to turning this into this is its stomach. It has two chambers.
The first one oozes digestive juices, like our stomach. The second one – the gizzard – squeezes the remains with powerful muscles.
The fats and proteins get absorbed. The fur and bones become tightly compacted.
After about eight hours in the gizzard, the result is one of these beauties.
For researchers like Laura Echávez, from Cal Poly Humboldt, pellets are forensic evidence.
She carefully dissects them to find out how many pesky gophers and voles the owls took care of.
Laura (off camera): The tail still has skin on it.
This unlucky rodent had a small skull. It could be a vole.
But then she examines the teeth.
Laura (off camera): The teeth are actually looking more like a gopher’s.
They’re kind of circular, surrounded by a white ring of enamel.
And the first and second teeth are joined by a bridge. Classic gopher trademarks.
Laura (off camera): If it’s a gopher, it’s a very young one, because this is on the small side.
Sometimes more than one carcass is crammed into a single pellet.
This one had two gophers.
