Charlotte and her classmates recently had a visit from half a dozen or so live owls at a special presentation at school. It was the lead-in to a science unit they did wherein the kids got to pick apart owl pellets — the regurgitated bits of bone, feathers, and other parts of their prey which the owls cannot digest. According to Charlotte’s teacher, the kids are usually grossed out initially, but usually find it interesting, and that was exactly Charlotte’s sequence of responses. After she found out she was going to have to dissect a pellet, she was very unsure about the project, but she was brimming with details after they were done: she and her lab partner found five vole skulls in their owl pellet.

While Charlotte’s class got to see and touch (with rubber gloves) the real thing, you can do your own virtual owl pellet dissection here. If you still aren’t satisfied, you can even buy owl pellets for your own home experiments here. And for that complete verisimiltudinal experience, you might want to listen to these recordings of owl calls while you’re digging through the owl barf.