1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam Here. Owls are birds of 3 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: prey that hunt at night. We hardly ever see them 4 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:16,960 Speaker 1: because when the hawks and falcons of the daytime world 5 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:21,799 Speaker 1: clock out, the owls clock in on silent, fluffy edged 6 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:25,880 Speaker 1: stealth wings. They hunt small nocturnal animals while it's dark, 7 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:29,200 Speaker 1: occasionally hooting or screaming at each other through the night. 8 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,559 Speaker 1: Then when the sun shows up again, they repair to 9 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: their favorite roost and let the other raptors go about 10 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:39,960 Speaker 1: their business of eating day creatures. And yet we humans, 11 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:43,560 Speaker 1: notorious day dwellers, pay a lot of attention to these 12 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:47,639 Speaker 1: night birds. For the article this episode is based on, 13 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:50,479 Speaker 1: has to Work, spoke with Denver Holt, the founder and 14 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:54,560 Speaker 1: lead researcher of the Owl Research Institute based in Charlo, Montana. 15 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,400 Speaker 1: He said, owls are probably one of the most widely 16 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: recognized groups of animals in the world. They're in all cultures, 17 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: no matter how far back you go. There's always art 18 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: or myths or stories about owls. They're on our corporate logos, 19 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 1: sports logos. Products use them to advertise their on castle 20 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:14,679 Speaker 1: walls and churches. I have a Greek coin that dates 21 00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:17,280 Speaker 1: back to four d b C with an owl on it. 22 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: Even cave art in what's now France, the dates back 23 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: around thirty thousand years contains an etching of an owl. 24 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:31,520 Speaker 1: So what is it about owls? They're not super conspicuous birds, 25 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: just like moles aren't super conspicuous rodents. But you don't 26 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 1: see us going around putting moles faces all over tutsie 27 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:43,560 Speaker 1: pop wrappers and trip Advisor billboards. But owls are pretty cool. 28 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: Although they are birds of prey, they're more closely related 29 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 1: to mousebirds and kingfishers than eagles, hawks, or falcons. However, 30 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: they also feel the exact ecological niche as these other 31 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 1: hunting birds, except they evolved to be terrifying night killers 32 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: instead of terrifying they killers. Owls are masters of camouflage, 33 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 1: even though they share that ecological niche with other raptors. 34 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:10,800 Speaker 1: The day shift sees owls as a food source just 35 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:13,680 Speaker 1: as much as a rabbit or a squirrel. They use 36 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:16,240 Speaker 1: their feathers to help them blend in with their surroundings 37 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 1: and hide from predators. Another aspect of an owl's mystique 38 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 1: is in their eyes. They have to be large in 39 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: order to see in the dark, and at this point 40 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: in their evolution, a significant portion of what's inside an 41 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:33,559 Speaker 1: owl's skull is straight up eyeball. Their eyes are cylindrical 42 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 1: and they extend all the way to the back of 43 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: their head. You can even see a portion of their 44 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:41,440 Speaker 1: eyeballs through their ear holes, and their eyes can't roll 45 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: around in their heads, which means that an owl's head 46 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:47,639 Speaker 1: has to do most of the rolling around work. It's 47 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: for this reason that they can swivel their heads entirely 48 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: around on their necks. Another thing owls have to be 49 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:56,760 Speaker 1: able to do at night is here. An owl's night 50 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: vision can only get them so far, so they require 51 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:01,359 Speaker 1: their auditory sense to get them where they need to 52 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 1: be while hunting, which is where they're big, round faces 53 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 1: and lopsided ears come in a while. The feathers on 54 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 1: the top of some owl species heads look like ears, 55 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:16,560 Speaker 1: those actually serve a function more akin to eyebrows. Their 56 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:19,359 Speaker 1: ears are large openings on the sides of their heads. 57 00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:22,640 Speaker 1: One ear is always lower than the other, which helps 58 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:25,799 Speaker 1: them triangulate sound. A noise will go into one ear 59 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 1: a little bit before it arrives in the other to 60 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: better tell which direction that noise is coming. From to 61 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: make their sense of hearing even keener. An owl's entire 62 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:38,400 Speaker 1: face acts as a sort of satellite dish for sound waves. 63 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 1: Their beaks are tiny to keep out of the way, 64 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: and the circular depressions around their huge eyes boost their 65 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,880 Speaker 1: ability to snag the sound of a mouse scurrying beneath 66 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: the snow like a catcher's mit. Also, there are the 67 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 1: noises that owls themselves make, from haunting hoots to a barn, 68 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 1: owl's horrific shrieks, its horror movie stuff, and a shriek 69 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 1: owls cry like a very lonely and distressed dog. So 70 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:14,640 Speaker 1: piecing the evidence together nocturnal winged killing machines with incredible 71 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:18,279 Speaker 1: night seeing powers, of preternatural sense of hearing, and a 72 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:22,200 Speaker 1: bizarre vocal repertoire, you can see why they've inspired so 73 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:26,479 Speaker 1: many myths and superstitions, and these stories are a mixed bag, 74 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:30,600 Speaker 1: though many of them were unflattering. One ancient Greek and 75 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:34,479 Speaker 1: Roman superstition indicated that owls were witches in disguise and 76 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 1: would suck the blood right out of your baby, But 77 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:40,720 Speaker 1: the same cultures also believed owls to be connected to Athena, 78 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:44,800 Speaker 1: the powerful and influential goddess of wisdom and warfare. Her 79 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 1: ancient Sumerian precursor was Lilith, who was depicted as a 80 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:51,760 Speaker 1: horned talent goddess surrounded by owls in a four thousand, 81 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: three hundred year old Sumerian tablet. While Asian cultures largely 82 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 1: considered owls to be good, protective spirits and disguise, most 83 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: other cultures around the world considered owls to be the 84 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:09,480 Speaker 1: bringers of witchcraft, illness, and death. But why owls, which 85 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,840 Speaker 1: ordinarily stay out of our way and even manage our 86 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 1: rodent past population, Holtz said, If we have strong feelings 87 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:21,239 Speaker 1: about owls, maybe it's because they look like us. They've 88 00:05:21,279 --> 00:05:24,200 Speaker 1: got a large head of flat face, big eyes, a 89 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:27,400 Speaker 1: symmetry about their mouth and nose. We tend to be 90 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:31,680 Speaker 1: attracted and repelled by animals that are morphologically similar to us. 91 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:39,800 Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article why are we 92 00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 1: so Fascinated with Owls? On how Stuff Works dot Com 93 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 1: written by Jescelyn Shields. The brain Stuff is production of 94 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:47,720 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot 95 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:50,800 Speaker 1: Com and is produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts 96 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:53,839 Speaker 1: my Heart Radio visit the i heart radio, app, Apple podcasts, 97 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:55,680 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.