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[S 8039] Barn owl. Composite image of high-speed photographs of a European barn owl (Tyto alba) swooping from the air to capture its prey (not seen). The barn owl has long pointed wings with a span of 95 centimetres. It is a nocturnal predator, hunting for small mammals and insects on the wing in open country. The flight of the barn owl is almost silent because of the arrangement of the flight feathers on its wings. When hunting it relies mostly on its acute hearing, which it uses to sense the movement of its prey on the ground before swooping down and grasping the victim with its sharp talons. (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Andy Harmer)