January 22, 2012: With Dad missing (see prior video), there is a critical shortage of prey for the owl family to eat. One of the hungry babies tries to eat his smaller sibling (the youngest). Mom arrives and tries to remove the tiny baby...
Audubon Starr Ranch Barn Owls
Egg1 12/06/11 - Hatch 01/06/12
Egg2 12/08/11 - Hatch 01/08/12
Egg3 12/10/11 - Hatch 01/10/12
Egg4 12/12/11 - Hatch 01/12/12
Egg5 12/14/11 - Hatch 01/14/12
Egg6 12/17/11 - Hatch 01/17/12
Sibling tries to eat sibling Mom: no you’re doing it wrong
Nature baby
This is often the case with all raptors whenever the age difference between siblings is so great.
Same thing with snails I think. I dunno, I kept three clutches of baby snails (each hatched a few months apart) and the eldest ones started cannibalising their younger siblings.
He ain't heavy, he's my brother...
This sort of things happen a lot in wildlife. I watched a video recently about the wild horses in Montana and this mare just gave birth. The baby could not get up and move on with the band so they left it. Another band came in and though the other mares in this group tried to get the baby up, the stallion got upset and killed the baby. It's all about survival.
Yes birds are cannibals. Besides that sibling really had the size of a mouse.
So one sibling doesn't eat it because the mother takes it, but the sibling behind the mother grabs it and eats it.
The other little sibling will be eaten for breakfast the day after 😢
Damn bro really can't trust nobody these days lol
This is so sad, but it's the result of total desperation, and probably not the last.
This is so sad. I have watched six or more barn owl clutches and never seen anything but love between siblings...but they were all well fed with two parents. If the mom is the only one hunting, and the owlets are left too long, predators can attack...even a strange male may come and kill them. Perhaps that little one was sickly.
That is not true. It's common between owls to eat siblings amd each other
Owlets don't love each other, except on Disney +
Yeah pretty common for them to eat eachother, don’t know how anyone can say what you have seen personally ain’t true though lol
@@zuhairkhan900 just because it’s common doesn’t mean she hasn’t seen it, I used to work for a guy that had a licence to live stream there nest boxes (which he made) and he would also put rings on them and because he would supplement feed them when it was raining or they hadn’t been fed much it was rare for us to see siblings eat eachother but I know it’s common in the wild due to there being a big age difference in them
@hugwildlife I believe that is typical behavior. I read a book about a guy who observed a family of Barn owls, the family started out with seven or so chicks and by the time the chicks were fledged only three or four left the nest.
@hugwildlife Unfortunately I have seen int often in clutches of 6 as too much competition for food even if 2 parents hunting. So much better if only 4 eggs hatch
cainism; some species do this. does not see that the one who's being eaten could survive that. she really (really!) tries.
Oh how sweet! Owlet's are so kind to their siblings! The older one was trying to give kisses to his younger brother, only ate him bc the aroma was just too much... sometimes when i kiss my infant brother i contemplate devouring him...
sure...
What did I just read
I'm...afraid?
Lol, no one here read the sarcasm on this comment but me.
Hay nobody save the little owl
Thats terrible, does that sort of thing happen often? I suppose, you will never find out what happened to Dad?
Yes. Competition for food can be fierce between nestmates. Sometimes parents will kill or abandon a baby that's too weak in favor of stronger ones. Survival of the fittest.
in time ?? the big one swallowed already the small one lol
Birds are brutal!
this breaks my heart literally in two. :(
lindseylee77 awww! Oh grow a pair! That's what the natural world is like! It's not all cutesy bunnies and fake Disney nonsense! It's cruel and savage! I mean, when a cat kills a mouse is that any worse
You need to get to a hospital, if your heart is literally broken in two
Definitely the ugliest creatures I've witnessed. They are really only cute once they reach adulthood until then they are hideous.
Have you seen tardigrades?
Dam....savage.
Why mommy owl allows that?
I'm guessing at this time something must have happened to her mate. So they're low on food for the babies. During times like these the older siblings have a better chance at growing up and surviving. It's tough to watch, but if mama wants any of her babies to live there has to be sacrifices.
Hard to see with the poor quality video, but if the small one was dead then, sure, they'll eat it. Nothing goes to waste.
I despise Owls!
Savage
Haha stupid birds
Perhaps if the human filming was to help with feeding this might not happen
Nothing that we do can help when the owl was a single parent at the time. Who wants to be climbing a tree everyday to feed the owls? It sounds easy when you say it but there's much more work put into it if you want to be doing something like that daily everyday, every several hours, every month until they fledge. Plus if there's too much human activity at nest, the mom will fly away and won't come back to feed the babies. We can't save every single creature when we just feel like it. It happens at many other nests that we don't know about. Let nature do what nature does best. If there have to be sacrifices to help let the other owlets survive, then so be it. Mother owl will do what's right for her owlets. Best they get eaten than starve to death, which in my opinion starving is the worst way to go.