Talk:Great horned owl

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Sources for South America and for five hoots: <http://www.owlpages.com/species/bubo/virginianus/Default.htm>, Peterson's field guide, personal experience. --JerryFriedman 22:50, 27 Jul 2004 (UTC)

The article mentions that the owl can perceive the depth of sounds better than humans. Firstly, this would require a reference. This fact is attributed the asymmetrical placement of the ears. However, this only allows them better perception of sound elevation (up-down), not distance. If they truly have better depth perception than humans (an area of hearing science that is not well studied in any case) than that would be very interesting.they are very well kept in te body if you knwo what i mean.

The article reports of one Great Horned Owl that killed a human in defense of its eggs. This needs a reference, or it should be eliminated. Peter (talk) 20:16, 5 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
- I agree. I could not find any reference for this, so I've removed it. If someone can produce a reference, perhaps it could be added back in. Quaternion (talk) 19:10, 14 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Longevity of Great Horned Owls

How long do these birds live in the wild? --Jimaynard 15:15, 28 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

According to the article, they can live as long as 37 years in captivity, and about 13 years in the wild. 149.152.191.253 18:56, 6 September 2007

ruff

ruff ruff dogs go ruff —Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.185.85.18 (talk) 17:00, 29 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

May kill cats (and foxes)?

I dimly recall reading, long, long ago, that it is not at all unusual for these owls to kill domestic cats and even occasionally small foxes. I have no cite and probably won't find one. Anybody? -- Writtenonsand (talk) 13:31, 13 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have a bit of a background in studying the GHO and have read about such encounters before, but my understanding is that they are extremely rare and typically involve sub-adult cats. Some people like to perpetuate the story of owls preying on cats in order to help convince people to keep their cats indoors (either because they're cat lovers or because they have concerns about the impact of cats on wild bird and small mammal population). Remember, the GHO is typically no more than 4 pounds and many adult domestic cats weight close to or more than 10 pounds, so when you consider the formidable weapons a cat possesses, there are much better options for prey than something that's fully capable of killing the owl, unlike most other prey species. That isn't to say that an owl could not ever successfully prey on a domestic cat and I believe there are instances where it has occurred (although like I said, I would be very surprised if all but a few didn't involve sub-adult cats), but it's a pretty risky undertaking to hunt a larger predator and even if the owl is successful in killing the cat it's going to have trouble carrying it off to feed at its leisure because of the cat's bulk. 149.79.35.227 (talk) 18:17, 16 July 2008 (UTC) It isn't mentioned in the article but GHO's have a reputation for feeding on skunks. I know that the owl's perching place sometimes smells like a skunk has been very upset there. While a bird that wasn't affected by a skunk's smell might find a skunk less formidable than a cat, it would still be pretty tough for a four-pound bird. So I would reject the whole skunk idea as folklore but I have been near roosting places and smelled skunk. 71.234.37.99 (talk) 02:15, 6 August 2008 (UTC)Will in New Haven71.234.37.99 (talk) 02:15, 6 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]