Barn Owl

owls · hunters · heart-shaped faces · nighttime

Heart-shaped face. Barn owls have a distinctive heart-shaped face that helps them look adorable and also helps funnel sound into their ears so they can hear tiny mice moving in the dark.

Powerful hunters. With long, strong legs and razor-sharp talons, barn owls are built to snatch rodents and small animals from fields and barns, even when they can't see a thing.

Everywhere on Earth. The barn owl genus Tyto is the most widely distributed group of owls in the whole world, living on almost every continent except Antarctica.

Super hearing. Barn owls can locate prey by sound alone in pitch-black darkness, using their asymmetrical ears to pinpoint exactly where a mouse squeaks from.

Named for barns. These owls love to nest and hunt near farms and barns where rodents gather, which is how they got their practical, straightforward name.