> Over the next few days, the owl makes 16 more strikes at mice, missing only four times, each time by less than two inches.
How did the experimenter measure miss distance in pitch darkness? IR illumination is presumably out in case the owl was able to see it, and I didn't think thermal imaging was a thing yet in the late '50s.
Looking at the Russo/Ukrainian war, I wonder if/when someone introduces "owl drones".
Current drones are not very loud (well, Shaheds are), but if someone could make them more silent, they would be even harder to detect. Maybe covering them with a structure similar to owl featchers would do it.
What isn't mentioned is that owl feathers are generally less oily than many other birds. This makes them softer and thus quieter, but the penalty is that that they get water-logged faster. As a result, owls find it harder to hunt in wet weather, and extended rainy periods can cause real problems, especially in the breeding season, when youngsters need continual feeding.
(source: I used to volunteer at a Raptor conservancy).
They mention that the ears have gone non-bilateral to achieve better 3d sound localization.
It brings to mind the question of why nothing seems to have evolved two pairs of ears with separate openings; We're all working with varying degrees of spectrum shaping to achieve up-down sound localization. If you wanted to design a robot that can perform sound localization, the obvious answer for that extra dimension would be to just double up on the microphones.
it's not just the feathers, it's the full systems integration that shows the genius of incrimental evolutionary design.the refinement is so equisite as to suggest an internal feedback mechanism that helps evolutionary processeses do there thing.
as a person who designs and builds all sorts of things with integrated systems, all the time, and has a strong interest in aircraft design/engineering this example realy does show genius, and humans cant replicate it.
also, crows HATE owls and I have seen them chase and mob owls, hundreds of crows after one owl, they aint called a murder of crows for nothing, have also seen mass airial battles with crows and seagulls, fighting on the wing while circling in a big thermal, again, hundreds of birds on both sides.
love owls, and egulls, woodpeckers, most birds, but my strong favorite are chicadees
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[ 2.0 ms ] story [ 22.4 ms ] threadHow did the experimenter measure miss distance in pitch darkness? IR illumination is presumably out in case the owl was able to see it, and I didn't think thermal imaging was a thing yet in the late '50s.
Current drones are not very loud (well, Shaheds are), but if someone could make them more silent, they would be even harder to detect. Maybe covering them with a structure similar to owl featchers would do it.
(source: I used to volunteer at a Raptor conservancy).
It brings to mind the question of why nothing seems to have evolved two pairs of ears with separate openings; We're all working with varying degrees of spectrum shaping to achieve up-down sound localization. If you wanted to design a robot that can perform sound localization, the obvious answer for that extra dimension would be to just double up on the microphones.
I am not an ornithologist, but I’m assuming that’s a typo for barred owl?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barred_owl