How Great Grey Owls Hunt Hidden Prey
Clip: Season 42 Episode 13 | 2m 32s | Video has closed captioning.
The secret to the great grey owl's hunting success is its enormous facial disk, which channels sounds like a radar dish.
Aired: 04/10/24
- [Narrator] She wanders endlessly in search of pray.
It's here, somewhere in this white blank world.
(wings flapping) But how does she find it?
The secret is in her enormous facial disc.
The largest of any owl.
It channels sounds like a radar dish.
With one ear higher than the other, she can pinpoint noise, not just left to right, but also up and down.
(beating heart) (animal squeaking) A vole.
It's thought she can hear its heartbeat beneath the foot of snow.
Special structures on her feathers cut the air to minimize noise.
Her prey can't hear her and she can focus on exactly where to strike.
At least her targets never know what's coming.
Incredible hearing helps her hunt day or night, all through the long winter months.
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