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actually adorable

when Papa has an

enclosure full of

chicks that he is

teaching to keep

away from humans.

Imagine a row of

owls—one Papa and several

puff balls—all clacking and puffing! Without

his paternal instincts, most of these chicks

would not be able to make it in the wild.”

At one time, the rehabilitation special-

ists at the center thought Papa was a Mama.

At first, they called their injured owl Mama

G’Ho! (“G’Ho” stands for great horned owl).

It’s not easy to know if a great horned owl is

a male or a female, but usually females are

larger than males, and Papa G’Ho was big,

so the assumption was made.

But when the new Critter Cams were

installed, center staff discovered a clue that

Mama G’Ho was really a male. In the wild,

great horned owl parents raise their young as a

pair. The mother owl sits on her brood, while

the father brings her prey. The mother tears

the food into small portions and feeds it to her

chicks. At the wildlife center, Mama G’Ho

wasn’t doing that. The parent owl was bringing

the food to the owlets and dropping it in front

of them. The wildlife center had DNA testing

done and discovered that Mama G’Ho was

actually a Papa! A name change was in order.

Mama G’Ho became Papa G’Ho.

Over the years, Papa G’Ho has been a

surrogate father to at least thirty owlets like

#16-0097. Almost all of these young owls,

once they have passed “mouse school,” where

they learn to hunt live prey on their own,

have been released back into the wild. It was

the first of November, around the time most

baby owlets leave their parents, when owlet

#16-0097 was released, right near where

it was found.

Now, thanks to Papa, that little

ball of fluff is a mighty tiger of

Did You Know?

The eyes of the great horned

owl are too large to move

in their sockets. Instead, an

owl can twist its head 270

degrees to the left or right

to see what’s around it.

Did You Know?

The pupils of an owl’s

eyes can dilate to almost

the full diameter of its

eyeballs, giving owls

keen night vision.

Whooo’s there? Papa
and two young owls on
the alert for humans
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