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A barn owl's midnight hunt for food

A barn owl's midnight hunt for food

A barn owl hunting a dormouse.
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Related Articles: Barn owl , dormouse , Owl

Transcript

Germany’s agricultural north - it’s late summer and the trees are heavy with ripe fruit.

The fallen apples are a magnet for animals - a small dormouse. The dormouse is stocking up on fat reserves for winter and can finish off an entire apple in a night. It can't carry the heavy fruit away and is dangerously exposed out in the open.

It’s what the barn owl has been waiting for. The night-time hunter relies on its acute sense of hearing to detect the slightest rustle on the ground. The fine feathers on its facial discs funnel the smallest sounds to the ears.

A lucky escape for the dormouse.
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