Because if they didn’t exist, we wouldn’t have been able to imagine them. (Frogs are like that, too.)
Owls!
November 19, 2011 • 9:48 am
Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
I always wanted to pet an owl!
Just think, if humans didn’t exist, we wouldn’t have been able to imagine them, either.
I hadn’t wanted an owl before seeing this (never crossed my mind, actually), but now I want one like the little guy blissed-out on the head-scratches.
Athena!
Love it! When I got into birding (gulp – about 20 years ago…) owls were always at the top of the list for me. I think it’s those forward facing eyes that give them an almost human-like expression.
A thought and a point…You just made for your self! If “God” Didn’t exist we wouldn’t be able to imagine our Creator either. Thanks for sharing!
Problem with that analogy: imagining God is a bit like imagining fairies. Every painting is a different. There are as many imagined versions of God as there are people to imagine him.
Fortunately, for the owl. We have a video. We have evidence.
Fortunately we have a Conscience and heart along with love which is undefinable as is “God” the heart and conscience when full of love provide the evidence of Gods existence… If you have conscience then search it for the source of love and then ask if God exists…
The heart isn’t full of love, it’s full of blood.
Yes it is! And your Conscience? What is it full of?
Yes it is what? Full of love or full of blood? Please be a bit more clear. As for my conscience, it isn’t full of anything it is merely the sense of right or wrong constructed in the meat in my head.
Neurons, electrical impulses and some other cool physical stuff.
LOL! Notice when someone snipes iamforchanges’ initial inane comment, he or she instantly changes the subject. We go from (paraphrased…), “if we can imagine it, it exists” to “a heart full of love is evidence for god.” I mean, seriously – stop feeding the trolls – at least those that can’t even come up with a cogent argument…
I stopped feeding the ignorance of the “Meat Heads”. You have made your own points! I am neither a meat head nor a troll! I don’t need to argue against such logic.I don’t need to argue at all! You laugh at me because I m different I laugh with you! I however “choose” to use my blood and love filled heart as well as my “God” given conscience and let you argue with those “Meat Heads” of yours!You win after all how can my simple mind compete with such intelligence!
Oh and if it really matters my person is male!
If you thought iamforchange’s first comment was inane I suggest you follow his link and have a read. I haven’t got a scooby what he’s on about half the time over there, but I see he is a sagittarius with the the sun and moon ascendant, so that might explain it.
The trolls have regen now! Quickly, get a flaming sword or at least a wizard!
That doesn’t make sense – we can imagine all sorts of things that don’t exist.
They exist if only in your mind… Do they not?
Yes, they do exist only in your head. Good job.
If my intimate relationship with Catherine Zeta Jones did not exist, I wouldn’t be able to imagine it. Therefore, I am not a stalker!
No Tim you are not a stalker… If even in your mind and heart you have an intimate relationship with her it certainly does exist. Maybe not to her yet it does exist. If you follow her and invade her free will then you may be a stalker
Ya think?
The Chinese word for owl 貓é é·¹ breaks down literally as “cat-head eagle.” This seems somehow appropriate here.
That’s beautifully descriptive. Thanks for posting that.
Gerald Durrell, in his immortal books about his boyhood on Corfu, mentions his pet scops owl (a small owl native to that area) a number of times. Yes, owls can be moderately good pets.
Those books:
1. My Family and Other Animals
2. Birds, Beasts, and Relatives
3. The Garden of the Gods
and one piece in
4. Fillets of Plaice
Be sure when you read these that your seat belt if fastened so you don’t fall out of your arm chair laughing.
Agree! Durrell’s books are hilarious. I’ve got nearly a complete set of everything he wrote.
The stable owl goes ‘who, who’, whereas the neurotic owl goes ‘why, why’!
You can almost hear the owl purring.
My girlfriend is right: owl’s are basically feathered cats.
Hi.
Can anyone tell me the species of the little owl being petted?
thx
I think it’s a little owl, Athene noctua.
i think you’re right 🙂
I.want.an.owl!!!
I it has to be the brown one with the piercing eyes at 0’53 in the vid. ‘K thx?
In the past we had a few parakeets and some Quaker parrots. I always delighted in scratching their heads. They LOVE it; guess it has something to do with not having fingers. I always figured if it wasn’t for the way their feet automagically lock onto a perch, in any good scratch session, they’d just fall right off.
Moar owls plz!
If Owls behave more like lizards than mammals, the petting is pissing the owl off.
I wouldn’t know.
Oooh– owls! That brings back one of my favorite childhood memories. We took care of a baby screech owl when I was a kid– named him Oopik, fed him raw chicken on a toothpick (*very* sharp beak and verrry soft feathers), taught him to fly. Well, my parents taught him to fly. I can see them to this day– heavy leather work gloves, tossing Oopik back and forth like a football so he would use his wings. He did use his wings– to get to the nearest tree, and would cling sideways, waiting for somebody to come get him. Then one day he flew to a tree in the neighbor’s yard. And a few days later he did it again… then took off silently… and we never saw him again. He was the most beautiful thing.
Thanks for the lovely vid 🙂
Lovely vid indeed. Nice story too yokohamamama!
Yay! Amy’s back! Don’t be a stranger!
Thank you for summing up the strangeness of owls so well. I’m going to remember that for future reference.
Owls are known for their night vision but in the the video their pupils seem very dilated in the daylight. I would have expected the opposite. Can anyone explain why?
The pupils are not that dilated, you could see the yellow irises! I suspect that in low light conditions the pupils are much bigger. For the second bird (probably a Strix sp.) and the fourth (barn owl – Tyto alba) the irises are black.
How about an owl AND a cat?