• Question: what's the point of owls being able to turn there head 360 degrees.

    Asked by to Amelia, Izzy, Sarah on 19 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 19 Mar 2014:

      Owls are hunters, great ones too! They have many things which help them.
      they have excellent eye sight, fly silently and have massive talons for snatching prey

      turning their head to see more with their eyes is just another way which they can find more food!

    • Photo: Sarah Harvey

      Sarah Harvey answered on 19 Mar 2014:

      Well, owls can actually not quite turn their heads all the way round, I think it is about 270 degrees they can turn them. But it’s still amazing compared to our limited neck movement! This is because they have a lot more small bones (vertebrae) in their neck compared with us which makes it more flexible.

      Michael already said that owls need excellent vision to hunt their prey. Well if you look at how owls eyes are set on their face you’ll see they’re at the front and pointing forwards rather than slightly to the side like ours. Owls can only look in front of them so they need to turn their whole head to see.

    • Photo: Amelia Frizell-Armitage

      Amelia Frizell-Armitage answered on 19 Mar 2014:

      Owls can’t actually turn their heads 360 degrees, otherwise they would just fall off! However they can turn their heads about 270 degrees, enough to completely look behind them over one shoulder. This is still pretty amazing when you think humans can turn their heads a maximum of 180 degrees.

      Owls can turn their heads so far round as this is a really good way for predators (especially other birds) trying to sneak up behind to attack. Owls are also excellent hunters- their sight and hearing is amazing. Both of these things are made even better by being able to turn their heads a long way round as they can look and hear more accurately.

    • Photo: Isabel Webb

      Isabel Webb answered on 19 Mar 2014:

      Owls can’t actually spin their head all the way! They can spin it 270 degrees – which is over two thirds of the way around. They do this because they can’t move their eyes side to side like we can.

      Owls are hunters – and so need to be able to stay really still and quiet to catch their prey. Moving only their head minimises the amount of movement that their prey might catch and so makes it more likely that they can sneak up on them. Owls also have great hearing so that they can listen out, and then look in the direction where they hear the sounds coming from. Owls have really big eyes, which lets them let in more light and so helps them see in the darkness. Their eyesight is far better than their prey, so they can see them from far away.

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