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Titre :
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Birds dominate the diet of Barn Owls, Tyto alba, in eastern Saudi Arabia (2025)
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Auteurs :
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Abdul Rahman Al Ghamdi, Auteur ;
Abdulhadi Aloufi, Auteur ;
Faisal Hajwal, Auteur ;
Raghad Al Ghamdi, Auteur ;
Ahmad Al Boug, Auteur ;
Sharif Al Jbour, Auteur ;
Zuhair S. Amr, Auteur
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Type de document :
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Article
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Dans :
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Zoology in the Middle East (71(2) April, 2025)
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Article en page(s) :
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115-119
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Mots-clés:
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Arabian Peninsula
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Tyto alba
;
birds
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diet
;
rodents
;
shrews
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Résumé :
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While the Barn Owl, Tyto alba, is known as an opportunistic feeder, small mammals are the main diet across its Palaearctic range. In a study on the food of the Barn Owl in the coastal area of Al Qatif, Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, we examined 434 intact and 80 fragmented pellets. Birds were represented in four species and constituted the highest percentages both in term of numbers (81.7%) and biomass (75.5%), whereas the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) was the most common consumed prey (38.5%). Commensal rodents (Rattus rattus and Mus musculus) and the Asian House Shrew (Suncus murinus) were less common and accounted for 18.3% of prey items. Suncus murinus was recorded for the first time from eastern Saudi Arabia. It is discussed whether the preference for birds may be linked to factors such as availability of preys, habitat type and agriculture expansion.
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En ligne :
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https://doi.org/10.1080/09397140.2025.2495198
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