Transformer Owl

05/12/2010

This is a truly odd animal video!  Not only is it in Japanese (which is odd if you're an American who doesn't understand Japanese, like me) but it shows an owl exhibiting some fascinating behavior.  Check it out and be sure to watch the whole thing to see the strangest stuff.  Then see my explanations below.

How cool was that?  While I'm not certain what the exact species of owl this is (while it looks kind of like a North American screech owl, I think it's a scops owls based on pictures on the Owl Pages) I know exactly what this little "Transformer owl" is doing.

Check Out the Top 10 Animal Transformers (including the Common Scops Owl).

 

You might not know that small owl species are sometimes on the menu for larger owl species.  When faced with the barn owl, which is only slightly larger than itself, the Transformer owl puffs itself up to look as big as possible in an effort to scare the barn owl away. 

When faced with the second, much larger owl, however, it does the exact opposite.  By elongating its body, flattening its feathers and squinting its eyes, this little owl mimics a dead branch in the hopes of camouflaging itself from the larger bird.  It's a pretty amazing and odd-looking adaption, wouldn't you agree?

(And in case you're not a child of the '80s and don't get the Transformers reference, this should make it all clear.)

Thanks go to Jade Beinvenu for sending me the link to this video.

UPDATE 5/13/10: Thanks to reader Raymond Ho's research, it looks like the owl is Ptilopsis leucotis, which goes by the common names northern white-faced or white-faced scops owl.

Love Owls?  Check out this great owl content from Animal Planet:

Video: Owl Kills a Mouse  I  Interactive: Anatomy of an Owl  I  Learn: More Owl Facts

Adopt a barn, great horned, great gray, or snowy owl with the National Wildlife Federation. 

Comments

[Raymond Ho]

I think this is a Northern White-faced Owl(Ptilopsis leucotis) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_White-faced_Owl

At the beginning of the segment, they did said that the owl comes from the republic of South Africa and the owl's name is Popo-chan!

All I can say is Popo-chan is AWESOME. Owl-tobots let's roll out!

[Animal Lover]

Wow Nice Owl its really really amazing also watch some crazy things of chimpanzee(Most intelligent Animal)

http://bestworldstuff.blogspot.com/2010/05/world-most-intelligent-animal.html

[martha]

SO cool! But - in your description you say it's trying to look like a branch when it gets skinny. Actually, it's trying to look like a raptor/bird of prey, something intimidating and not worth the effort of a big fat owl.

[David Mizejewski]

Glad you enjoyed the post, Martha! I'm not sure I understand your comment though. An owl is a raptor/bird of prey itself, so it already looks like one. With the barn owl, the white-faced owl puffs up to look big and intimidating because the barn owl is only slightly bigger than the white-faced owl. For the other, much larger owl, the white-faced owl knows that no matter how big it puffs itself up, it won't be enough to scare the bigger owl away. So it's developed a completely different tactic to deal with larger predators: mimicking a dead tree branch.

[safwen]

see more
http://www.design2arts.blogspot.com/

[Jimbob Greaves]

Great post! Really interesting seeing behaviour I wouldn't have expected.
I would have to agree with Martha on the owl's intentions. While an Owl is a bird of prey they are generally adapted to hunting small mammals, lizards or birds at night, and their features reflect this. Their large eyes are useful for picking up small movements at night, their beaks are smaller than birds of prey which hunt larger animals, and their fluffy plumage means they can fly relatively silently (useful if you hunt at night). So by making it's eyes smaller, it's beak seem larger and it's body more slender, it would seem to me that the owl is imitating a larger bird of prey, one which is likely to put up more of a fight if attacked. If it were trying to imitate a branch wouldn't the owl stay absolutely still until the danger is passed and not break the illusion by moving to face the danger?

[David Mizejewski]

Thanks Jimbob! The risk of being seen by the larger owl when the scops owl turns to face it while trying to mimic a tree branch is less than not keeping an eye on the predator at all times. That way if the ruse fails and the predator attacks, the scops owl at least will know it's coming and try to get away.

Here is some more information on the tree-branch-mimic behavior of scops owls (from the ARKive):

"A nocturnal species, during the day the common scops-owl conceals itself in the trees, camouflaged against the bark. If approached by a predator, this species further enhances its disguise, by stretching its body and even swaying back and forth to imitate a branch."

You can read more about scops owls at http://www.arkive.org/common-scops-owl/otus-scops/info.html.

There's even a great picture on this site showing how well scops owls blend into the trees when the pull their feathers in, stretch their bodies, and squint their eyes.

[Jimbob Greaves]

Thank you, I stand corrected. It's still fascinating, is behavior I have never seen before from any bird. Biodiversity never ceases to amaze me.

[Phil E. Drifter]

Did she died?

[Tiago]

A branch? I thought that looked like a fox or some sort of demon predator! 0.0

[The owl]

It's a southern white-faced scops owl.

[vince]

Guys - I understand Japanese and they say the owl is from Africa.

[David Mizejewski]

Tiago - Imagine the owl up against a tree and it might make more sense how it would look like a dead branch.

Vince and The Owl - Both the northern and southern white-faced scops owls are native to Africa.

[pit]

Thats pretty awesome. I also found this really shocking, yet entertaining video about a diet coke + mentos + microwave experimnet GONE WRONG video on YouTube. The diet coke and mentos and microwave totally explodes and looks like it sends the guy to his death. You can see the video by clicking here . Tell me if you think it is real or fake.

[Dee]

Great video, if not a bit wierd, doesn't anyone think that when the little owl elongates its body and squints its eyes, and makes its "ears" pointy that in fact it looks really like a cat, this would also explain the moving of its wing while doing this...

[LongshotLink]

I'm actually rather curious what the bigger owl is.

[James]

That's just weird! But awesome video! Thanks for sharing!

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[James]

I agree with the owl trying to look larger to protect itself from the barn owl. However, I think the owl looks more like a stalking cat in its skinnier form. Watch how it moves its wing, like a cats leg creeping along. Even the feather on its head move up to look like cat eats. The larger owl might think that it is on the menu instead...

[David Mizejewski]

Some interesting ideas on what the owl is trying to mimic! It's generally accepted by biologists that it really is trying to camouflage itself by looking like a tree branch. I think it's hard to grasp from the video I posted above because the owl isn't in a tree. Here's another article, complete with an excellent picture of a scops owl doing it's branch-mimic behavior in a tree. Take a look and you'll it'll make more sense.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1080593/The-Wider-View-Is-bird--tree.html

and another:
http://www.owlpages.com/image.php?image=species-Otus-senegalensis-2

Here's a picture of a Western screech owl doing the same thing:

http://fireflyforest.net/images/firefly/2005/July/sleepy-screech-owl.jpg

[Zarqwan]

I don't think it is trying to immitate another bird of prey at all.... I think it is trying too look like a cat! And especially that of a cat seen full body front on, as if the cat was approaching/stalking. Notice the way it keeps it's body deliberately in profile toward the threat giving it that feline profile.

[Colleague]

I think we should all get to live in captivity with a band around our ankles, don't you?

[Jo Denny]

ok that seems reasonable to me dude.

Lou
www.anon-posting.at.tc

[Bruno]

I expect 5 of those owls to combine together to form a humanoid when confronted with a larger bird like a Condor.

[Charlee]

which is why they always seem to have the hosts reactions in a little picture in picture box. seems like a japanese tv tradition

[Jesika]

I wanted to, but I've seen such crazy nature stuff that this wasn't that big of a deal.