Posted by Yoselyn Rea on May 31, 2006

Q: Does and owl has more Rods than Humans do and how many does they have.

Habitat: forest/open woods

State: New York

Habitat: forest/open woods

A: It makes sense that an owl would have more rods (these are used for night vision) than cones (these are used for day vision) than humans. Humans are able to see best in daylight although we do have some night vision too. Owls, of course, are able to see quite well at night so having more rods, compared to cones, makes a lot of sense to me. I can't begin to tell you how many they might have and I'm not sure anyone has even looked at this particular issue. Hope this helps you out a bit. Thanks for asking.

John Wiessinger ( June 1, 2006)

A: Yoselyn, another point to make is that most owls hunt by sound and do not rely on "seeing" their prey to find them. Their hearing is extremely acute at certain frequencies enabling it to hear even the slightest movement of their prey in leaves or undergrowth.

Some Owl species have asymmetrically set ear openings (i.e. one ear is higher than the other). These species have a very pronounced facial disc, which acts like a "radar dish", guiding sounds into the ear openings.

An Owl uses these unique, sensitive ears to locate prey by listening for prey movements through ground cover such as leaves, foliage, or even snow.

Jim Berry ( June 1, 2006)