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Love them, hate them, revere them, or fear them... The one thing humans have never been able to do is to ignore owls. Why are we so fascinated by them?

The behavioral and physical characteristics of owls lend them a definite air of mystery.

Owls are nocturnal, of course, while humans are diurnal. Since our days on the Savannah of Africa, when we were often the prey of night's hunters, we associate nocturnal creatures with death. We are still, collectively, afraid of the dark.

Another aspect of owl physiology that has an impact on human observers is their ability to fly in near-silence. Many birds make some noise as they fly; some, such as ducks and quails, are extremely noisy. Owls, on the other hand, float like ghosts between the trees or across the fields. This ability lends to their otherworldly reputation.

In addition, various species of owls have different calls, but nearly all of them can raise the hair on the back of a listener's neck. Some calls, like the "whoo-hoo" of the great horned owl, are just pleasantly eerie. Others, like that of the Asian eagle owl, sound like the screams of a soul in torment. That is entirely by design. Owls use their frightening cries to flush small game from its hiding places. Then the hunting owl uses its excellent hearing and night-adapted binocular vision to pin-point the location of the hapless mouse or rabbit. A silent dive, and dinner is served.

Finally, the appearance of owls usually provokes one kind of reaction or another from people. All owls have round, flat faces with large, forward-facing eyes. In other words, their faces are shaped and proportioned much like ours. Some of the larger owls, such as horned, gray, or eagle owls, have facial features which look stern, commanding, or wise to a human observer. Others, such as pygmy owls and saw whet owls, have round heads and proportionally huge eyes that make them look cute and baby-like to us.

Given all of these characteristics, is it any wonder that most human cultures have been fascinated by owls, and have attached special meaning to the birds?

This has been true for as long as people have kept records of any kind. More than 30,000 years ago, on a wall in Chauvet Cave, France, someone painted a portrait of a long-eared owl. It is one of the earliest known works of art. We don't know what significance the painter accorded his or her subject, but owls were important enough to be included amongst the big game and dangerous predators recorded in pigment by

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