![]() Less obvious than an owl’s eyes are its ears. ![]() ![]() Instead, owls have evolved the celebrated ability to turn their heads by up to 270 degrees in order to view objects around and behind them. However, you will not see it turn its eyes, as the eyes are locked into their sockets. You will often see an owl bob and weave its head to improve its focus. Being forward-facing, the eyes also provide the binocular vision essential for depth perception when targeting prey. This shape increases the surface area of the retina, which is packed with the rods that allow the acute low-light sensitivity required to operate in near darkness. Owls’ eyes are more tubular than spherical. It is thus hardly surprising that their eyes are among the largest proportionally of any animal -up to 2.2 times the size of similar birds’ and, in the largest species (such as the Eurasian Eagle Owl), larger even than our own. Some 69% of the world’s 240-odd species of owl operate primarily in twilight or after dark, locating and capturing prey in conditions of limited to zero visibility. The first thing you will notice about an owl’s face are its eyes. And the face reveals just how the owl tackles these challenges. Looking beyond the mythology, however, owls are simply nocturnal birds of prey whose unusual appearance reflects a suite of remarkable adaptations to a challenging lifestyle. It has led us to personify the owl with such qualities as wisdom, anger and suspicion, cementing its position in Western folklore and mythology, from Beatrix Potter to Harry Potter. And it is arguably this face -with its superficially human expressions -that explains why owls have maintained such a hold on our imaginations. The round face and large, forward-facing eyes immediately distinguish it from any other bird. You needn’t be a birder to recognize an owl.
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