Differential Predation of Size and Sex Classes of Mice by the Barn Owl, Tyto alba

Simultaneous studies on an insular population of house mice Mus domesticus and an avian predator, the barn owl Tyto alba, showed that owls differentially take small female mice from the population. Owls hunted at night over open vegetation, when mice were also active. Fluorescent pigment tracking and trapping showed that juvenile mice, especially females, used open vegetation more than adults, and hence were potentially most at risk of predation