How Owls Use Their Impressive Adaptations After Dark

Learn how owls use their impressive adaptations after dark.

- Rachel Maidl

Whether in a patch of dense woods or in a suburban yard, owls use their unique and spectacular abilities to master their environment. And all their senses come together to help them thrive when most animals are sound asleep.

What a Sight

Take one look at an owl and you can see why vision is one of its sharpest senses.

“They have large eyes for their body,” says Lori Arent, assistant director of the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota. “They take up something like 3% of their body weight. For humans, it’s far less than 1%.”

Their peepers are so large that they’re fixed in the eye sockets for support, so owls can’t move their eyes more than a degree or two. To compensate for that limited eye motion, owls are able to turn their heads 270 degrees.