The peregrine falcon, which is faster than the high-speed rail, why can't it beat the owl?
In 2020, an ornithologist captured an owl attacking two peregrine falcons at night, and the peregrine falcons had no ability to resist at all.
The peregrine falcon is very fast, and can reach 389 kilometers per hour when diving, which is faster than high-speed rail, it can be said that there are very few, but why can't it beat the owl?
What do you know about peregrine falcons?
The Peregrine Falcon is a medium-sized bird of prey with 18 subspecies. The body length is 41-50 cm, the wingspan is 95-115 cm, the weight is 647-825 grams, and the lifespan is generally about 16 years.
Peregrine falcons are widely distributed almost all over the world, and peregrine falcons are often active alone, mainly preying on small and medium-sized birds such as mallard ducks, gulls, crows, and occasionally small mammals such as rodents and hares.
The Peregrine Falcon feeds mainly in the air and therefore needs to be faster than other birds of prey, and although it is very fast, it can accurately grasp its prey.
Peregrine falcons breed from April to June, when they build their nests in glades, overhanging rocks in river valleys and cliffs that are difficult for human activity to reach, and are incubated by male and female parent birds in turn, during which time they are very territorial and often actively defend the nest.
So what do you know about owls?
The birds of the order Owls are called owls, and there are more than 130 species in total. The feathers around the eyes are radial, and the arrangement of fine feathers forms a face disc that resembles a cat, hence the name owl.
The size of the owl depends on its species, the large such as the eagle owl can reach 90 cm in length, the small such as the oriental horned owl is less than 20 cm long, and the female is generally larger than the male.
Owls mostly live in trees and are nocturnal carnivores, feeding mainly on rodents, but also insects, birds, lizards, fish and other animals.
Owls can move their heads up to 270°, so their faces can be turned backward, but their left and right ears are asymmetrical, they are still color blind, and they are the only birds that cannot distinguish colors.
Why can't peregrine falcons beat owls?
First of all, the eagle owl in the owl can reach a length of 90 cm, while the peregrine falcon is 41-50 cm, so the owl crushes the peregrine falcon in size.
Secondly, the owl's auditory nerve is very developed. A barn owl weighing only 300 grams has about 95,000 auditory nerve cells, which allows them to accurately grasp small sounds.
And owls' eyes are located directly in front of the face and cannot be rotated, they can only rely on flexible necks to turn their heads, but they also give owls strong perception.
In addition, the owl's feathers are very soft, and the wing feathers have velvety dense down, so the frequency of sound waves produced by the owl when flying is less than 1 kilohertz, and it is often hit with one hit.
The owl's dark plumage makes it less noticeable at night, which also plays a hidden role for its predatory actions.
Finally, owls are often active at night, while peregrine falcons are mostly active at night, and the difference in work and rest time gives owls the opportunity to attack.
Owls have very sharp vision at night, more than a hundred times that of humans, while peregrine falcons will lose their combat effectiveness at night, so owls will win.
