Ural owl

In some owls, the females are slightly larger and heavier than the males. This difference is an adaptation to the defence of the young birds. The female broods from the first egg, so that there are young birds of different ages in a nest. The male, on the other hand, provides the prey that the female feeds to the young. The Ural owl, closely related to the tawny owl and quite similar to it, was a rare, sporadically seen breeding bird in the Alps, with its main distribution in the large forests of north-east Europe. The Alpine Zoo is involved in a breeding and reintroduction programme in Austria.