The Owls' Parliament
In the forest, the owls meet to make decisions about where to live and what to eat...
The Owls' Parliament was produced by Squideo from an idea and a script by Jeremy Williams, a philosopher at the University of Birmingham. Jeremy's research is in moral and political philosophy.
If you cannot access YouTube, here is a link to the video.
Go to the Visitor Centre to find some sources on political disagreement.
Nature facts
A group of owls is referred to as a parliament and in our video the meeting of the owls is a parliament also in the sense that they meet to dicuss important issues that concern the way they live their lives. However, real-life owls are quite solitary and independent birds and they mostly interact with their mate and offspring.
Owls are carnivorous. As in our video, some types of owls eat only insects and other types of owls eat mice and other small animals as well, including lizards, squirrels, and snakes.
Most owls live overground but one type of owl, the burrowing owl, lives underground in holes abandoned by other animals, in North and South America. Owls living overground usually choose pines, beeches, and oaks as their preferred homes.
You can find out more about owls in The Fox and the Owl.
Inspiration
Owls make a frequent appearance in Aesop's fables.
In The Owl and the Birds, the other birds ignore the owl's wise advice and they are sorry for it afterwards.
InThe Grasshopper and the Owl, the owl asks the grasshopper to stop making noise during the day and, when the request is ignored, the grasshopper meets an unfortunate end.
In our video, the owls deliberate together about issues that are important to them.