Owl are a group of “Birds of Prey” i.e. a bird who uses its claw to hunts for food. They are solitary and nocturnal (sleeps during day and active at night). They usually eat small mammals, insects and birds. The owls are divided into two families typical owls and barn owls. Typical owls are known as Strigidae and barn owls as Tytonidae. There is a circle of feathers around eyes called a facial disc. They are far-sighted and are unable to clearly see anything within a few inches of their eyes. Their far vision, particularly in low light, is incredibly good, and they can turn their head 135 degrees in either direction; they can thus look behind their own shoulders. Owl eggs are white and almost spherical, and range in number from a few to a dozen, depending on species.

 Facts:

• Their nests are crudely built and may be in trees, underground burrows, or in barns and caves. 
•  The smallest owl is the Elf Owl, Micrathene whitneyi, at as little as 31 g (1.1 oz) in weight and 13.5 cm (5.3 inches) in height. 
• They have large forward facing eyes and ears, a beak like a hawk. Owls are carnivorous i.e. meat-eaters, eat small mammals, insects and birds. 
•  Short eared owls and Snowy owls are daytime hunters while other sleeps during day and active at night.
•  Owls that hunt in night have very good hearing power so they catch their prey in darkness of night. 
• They fly quietly so that they can listen hard for the tiny sounds made by prey animals, and so that they do not scare them away by making a noise. 
•  Owls have very soft feathers that help them to fly without making any noise and also keep them warm but can get owls into trouble because they are not very waterproof. 
• They have sharp beaks for tearing up meat, although they often just swallow their food whole. 

• They have powerful feet with sharp claws for catching and holding onto their prey.

SOURCE FROM: http://www.whereincity.com/india-kids/animals/owl.htm

(amirah batrisyia)

Ants There are more than 12,000 species of ants all over the world. An ant can lift 20 times its own body weight. If a second grader was as strong as an ant, she would be able to pick up a car! Some queen ants can live for many years and have millions of babies! Ants don’t have ears. Ants "hear" by feeling vibrations in the ground through their feet. When ants fight, it is usually to the death! When foraging, ants leave a pheromone trail so that they know where they’ve been, Queen ants have wings, which they shed when they start a new nest. Ants don’t have lungs. Oxygen enters through tiny holes all over the body and carbon dioxide leaves through the same holes. When the queen of the colony dies, the colony can only survive a few months. Queens are rarely replaced and the workers are not able to reproduce. Although ants are frustrating when they get into your home or when you’re having a picnic, ants do help the environment. They are social insects, which means they live in large colonies or groups. Depending on the species, ant colonies can consist of millions of ants. There are three kinds of ants in a colony: The queen, the female workers, and males. The queen and the males have wings, while the workers don’t have wings. The queen is the only ant that can lay eggs. The male ant’s job is to mate with future queen ants and they do not live very long afterwards. Once the queen grows to adulthood, she spends the rest of her life laying eggs! Depending on the species, a colony may have one queen or many queens. Ant colonies also have soldier ants that protect the queen, defend the colony, gather or kill food, and attack enemy colonies in search for food and nesting space. If they defeat another ant colony, they take away eggs of the defeated ant colony. When the eggs hatch, the new ants become the "slave" ants for the colony. Some jobs of the colony include taking care of the eggs and babies, gathering food for the colony and building the anthills or mounds. SOURCE FROM:http://www.pestworldforkids.org/ants.html (amirah batrisyia)