What the Pellets Show: teacher key

Great Horned Owls, grade 9 edition, written for 9th grade. Scientists learn how a great horned owl lives from pellets, reviews of old studies and measurements. See what they have found about its food, senses, nests and years.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. How can scientists learn what an owl eats?
   • By identifying the bony remains of prey in its pellets (answer)
   • By counting its eggs
   • By measuring its wingspan
2. What does the Animal Diversity Web say about great horned owl territories?
   • They change every day
   • They are generally 5.26 to 5.56 square kilometers (answer)
   • They are 5 meters wide
3. What is the longest life in the wild on record for a great horned owl, according to the Animal Diversity Web, as of November 2026?
   • 13 years
   • 2 years
   • 28 years (answer)
4. According to a 1995 U.S. Forest Service review, where do great horned owls nest in towns and cities?
   • In deserted buildings and powerline towers (answer)
   • Only in parks
   • Only on the ground
5. In the 1995 review in southeastern Wisconsin, what was the average annual home range?
   • About 5.26 acres
   • About 813 acres (329 hectares) (answer)
   • About 8 acres
6. Great horned owls use artificial nests when more suitable nest sites are unavailable. What does this show?
   • They only nest on cliffs
   • They never nest
   • They can use nests that people made (answer)

Words

• regurgitated: coughed up
• binocular: two-eyed
• peripheral: at the sides
• territory: claimed area