Owls Debunked

Scientists are always wondering about something, and Dr. Lee R. Dice of the University of Michigan got to wondering about owls. He wondered whether the owl was really such a traditionally wise old bird, whether it could find its way home in the dark--whether, in fact, it was all it was cracked up to be. Dr. Dice built a light-tight "reaction room." There was a perch near the top and a dim, adjustable light. He put a dead mouse on the sand-covered floor, shut an owl inside, and waited for results.

Sometimes the owl found the mouse, sometimes it didn't. By changing the strength of the light and observing tracks in the sand, Dr. Dice drew some pretty damaging conclusions:

P: Owls cannot see in total darkness. Unlike bats, which navigate by the echoes of their own high-pitched squeaks, owls need some light, but not much. Light as dim as a single candle burning nearly half a mile away was bright enough for a barred owl to find his mouse. Barn owls needed slightly more. The floor of a thick forest on an overcast, moonless night is considerably darker--too dark for an owl to get around in and see what he's up to. Under such murky conditions, Dr. Dice's experiments indicated, an owl flies, if at all, on instruments.

P: Owls have little or no sense of smell. Sometimes, if they did not see the mouse, they stepped right over it.

P: Western burrowing owls do not see much better than people--probably because they are not truly nocturnal and do most of their hunting at dusk.

P: Dr. Dice's owls appeared less than wise. They never learned to search the floor systematically for mice which they could not see.

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