Animal · United States, Canada, Mexico
Great horned owl
Bubo virginianus — the name this animal has in the language scientists everywhere share.
The great horned owl is a powerful night hunter of the Americas, named after the two tufts of feathers on its head that look like horns or ears. It flies almost without a sound.
Picture credit: Andrew C (CC BY 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where does the great horned owl live?
Home: Forests, deserts, farmland and city parks of the Americas.
In the wild it lives in these countries: the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia.
Conservation status from the IUCN: not in danger.
The short profile
Fully grown: 45-60 cm tall, wingspan up to 150 cm. It weighs about 1.4 kilograms. On the menu: meat.
The story behind it
This owl lives almost everywhere in the Americas, from the edge of the Arctic down to Argentina, in forests, deserts, farmland and even city parks. It hunts from a perch, dropping onto rabbits, rats, mice and other birds, and it is one of the very few animals that regularly kills skunks, which does not bother it much because its sense of smell is weak. Its feet close with enormous force, more than a strong person can manage with one hand. The soft, comb-like edges of its wing feathers break up the rush of air, so its prey hears nothing coming. The famous deep hoot, ho-ho-hoo hoo hoo, carries far through cold night air, and pairs often call to each other in winter before laying eggs.
Find it on the globe
Great horned owl is there as a tiny animated figure that breathes and looks around. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
Are the great horned owl's horns really ears?
No. They are just tufts of feathers used for showing mood and for blending in with broken branches. The real ears are openings hidden at the sides of the head, one set slightly higher than the other.
Why can an owl fly silently?
The front edge of its wing feathers is combed into tiny teeth and the surface is velvety, so the air slides past instead of whistling. A mouse hears nothing until the owl is already on it.
Does the great horned owl really eat skunks?
Yes. It is one of the few predators that hunt skunks regularly. Birds smell poorly, so the spray that drives off most attackers hardly troubles the owl, though its feathers can reek for weeks.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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