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Exposure to sulfur-rich volcanic soil may increase production of pheomelanin, a pigment that gives a reddish tint to the feathers of barn owls living on remote volcanic islands Barn owls (Tyto alba) ...

Life on a volcanic isle appears to give barn owls a blush of red-brown plumage. The high-sulfur environment on such islands influences the birds’ coloration, researchers report March 13 in the Journal ...

Because nocturnal carnivores hunt at night, it is often considered that it is advantageous to have a plain color that is difficult to find for food animals, but in nocturnal barn owls the abdomen is ...

Flying slowly and silently through the night sky, barn owls are majestic nocturnal hunters that successfully prey on rodents scurrying along the ground below. Scientists have long puzzled over a ...