The Johannesburg Zoo explains the importance of owls in the environment
The Johannesburg Zoo has eight different owl species which include: Spotted Eagle Owl, Barn Owl, Cape Eagle Owl, African Marsh Owl, Eurasian Eagle Owl and White-Faced Scops Owl, African Wood Owl.
The Johannesburg Zoo gives locals a chance to learn more about their different animals, and Thursdays and Fridays are no different with its owl educational talk.
The Zoo’s avian keeper, Tshepisho Mokgabudi said it was important for people and communities to know how owls benefit the environment.
“In previous years, approximately 1 000 barn owls were released in communities with rodent and pest problems. That was unsuccessful because the release of the owls was not accompanied by the education part of the project, which led to the owls being killed due to superstitions people had. We needed to do the groundwork before releasing these animals in communities, which is why we stood back and reintroduced our educational programme for people to be aware that owls are solving rodent problems in communities.”
The Johannesburg Zoo has eight owl species which include:
- Spotted eagle owl
- Barn owl
- Cape eagle owl
- African marsh owl
- Eurasian eagle owl
- White-faced scops owl
- African wood owl.
Mokgabudi added the zoo’s spotted eagle owl, Onyx was 18 years old and has been part of their educational programme since 2006.
“She came to the zoo when she was about to go into adulthood and was not hand-raised. Hand raising is when we pull a chick out of a nest for reasons including the chick being rejected by the mother or the parental owls dying and leaving it as an orphan. Most of the birds we hand raise come in as babies brought in by the public.”
The owl diet includes:
- Rodents
- Small snakes
- Small birds
- Chicks
- Insects (given for enrichment and to stimulate and encourage their natural wild-life behaviours)
The owl breeding season is from May until September, they lay eggs on the ground and incubate them for a full calendar period and after that chicks hatch.
“As the zoo, we encourage their natural behaviour and raise their young. If we notice that they are incapable, we take the young and reintroduce it to the mother and if we are not winning, we hand raise the owlet.”
Mokgabudi said the owls were trained daily. “We do the training in the afternoons because owls are nocturnal animals and are more likely to cooperate in the afternoons than in the mornings. We also train them during their feeding time because it’s better to train them when they see a treat, unlike when they are full. Our training usually includes two trainers who wear protective gloves and teach them to also move from glove to glove.”
She added the Cape eagle owls were the most difficult to train as they were aggressive.
Fun facts about the different owls:
African wood owl
- Weighs 250-350 g
- It can live up to 20 years old
- Lays 1-3 eggs
- They are monogamous and territorial.
White-faced scops owl
- Weigh 185g
- It can live up to 30 yearsLays 1-2 eggs
- When these birds are disturbed during the day, they can elongate their bodies and lean sideways, which will help them resemble the branches on which they roost
Spotted eagle owl
- Weigh 487-750g
- It can live up to 25 years
- It can lay 2-4 eggs
General
- Owls have 14 bones in their necks; this allows the birds to rotate their necks 270 degrees.
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