Numbers in the News: Superb Owls

Leading up to the Super Bowl, people share pictures of “Superb Owls” online. The internet meme is a play on the name of the NFL’s championship game.

DAVID TIPLING PHOTO LIBRARY/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Barn owl

254

The total number of known owl species

DOMINIC MARLEY/GETTY IMAGES (GREAT GRAY OWL); ALL CANADA PHOTOS/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (ELF OWL);

Great grey owl (left); Elf owl (right)

27 TO 32 INCHES

The height of one of the largest owl species: the great gray owl

5 TO 6 INCHES

The height of the world’s smallest owl species: the elf owl

CHRIS ZWAENEPOEL/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES

270 DEGREES

The amount owls can rotate their head. That’s nearly all the way around!

SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

1,000

The number of mice eaten by a family of barn owls in a three-month breeding season—helping control rodent populations

THINK ABOUT IT: No team in the National Football League has an owl mascot. Do you think an owl would be a good sports mascot? Why or why not?

SOURCES: AUDUBON, INTERNATIONAL ORNITHOLOGICAL CONGRESS WORLD BIRD LIST, THE OWLS TRUST, THE CORNELL LAB

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