Barn Owl

Facts

IUCN LEAST CONCERN (LC)

Facts about this animal

The Barn Owl is a medium-sized owl with a wingspan of 100-125 cm and a size of 32-40 cm. The weight is 400-700 g. It has a white or mostly with underside, a heart-shaped, white face and golden-grey coloured upperparts. Females are larger than males and more spotted on the breast. The spots may signal to a potential mate the quality of the female.

Barn owls generally hunt small rodents, especially voles and mice, but they also eat young rabbits, bats, frogs, lizards, birds and insects.

Barn owls breed in buildings (barns!), in natural cavities, above or below ground, among rocks or in tree holes where they scrape shallow depression on nest floor or reuse old nest sites. There are 3-5 <strong>eggs</strong> in a clutch, which are incubated by the female while the male feeds her for about 31 days.

Did you know?
that barn owls are able to consume twice as much food as other owls in comparison to their weight? Farmers and ranchers are, therefore, increasingly attracted to the barn owl's ability to control rodents better than traps, poison, or cats.

Factsheet
Class	AVES
Order	STRIGIFORMES
Family	TYTONIDAE
Name (Scientific)	Tyto alba
Name (English)	Barn Owl
Name (French)	Chouette effraie
Name (German)	Schleiereule
Name (Spanish)	Lechuza común
Local names	Afrikaans: Nonnetjie-uil Czech: Sova pálená Danish: Slørugle Dutch: Kerkuil Finnish: Tornipöllö Hungarian: Gyöngybagoly Italian: Barbagianni Latvian; Lettish: Plivurpuce Polish: Plomykówka Portuguese: Coruja-das-torres Russian: Sipukha Swedish: Tornuggla
CITES Status	Appendix II
CMS Status	Not listed

Photo Copyright by
Matt Khoth

Distribution

Distribution
Range	Nearly a world-wide distribution
Habitat	Found in virtually all habitats but much more abundantly in open woodland, heaths and moors than forested country.
Wild population	Approx. 4'900'000 (2003)
Zoo population	646 reported to ISIS (2005)

In the Zoo

How this animal should be transported

Owls travel best in completely dark boxes. Boxes should be slightly longer than the head to tail length of the bird intended to travel, and wide and high enough for the bird to be able to stand or lie down in comfort without banging its shoulders or head. A well made wooden box with no perches is required, with carpet or some other non slip surface fixed on the floor and a padded ceiling, with air-holes on either side. The easiest type of door to use is an upward sliding door at one end. The door can then be slid up a small amount; the bird visualised before being grasped by the legs, carefully, through the small opening before sliding the door fully open for removal. A handle fixed to the top of the box makes carrying easier.

For air transport, Container Note 20 of the IATA Live Animals Regulations should be followed.

Find this animal on ZooLex

Photo Copyright by
Luc Viatour

Why do zoos keep this animal