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ABSTRACT
Pellets from barn owls (Tyto alba) were sampled from a roost in the Negev Desert, Arava Valley, Israel. The recovered skeletal remains show little damage and a high degree of completeness. Our data suggest a significant negative correlation between average adult prey mass and the representation of certain skeletal elements. This correlation suggests that postcranial bones of larger prey are either left behind or are broken during consumption. This behavior pattern is an additional taphonomic signature left by barn owls upon small vertebrate assemblages, which may aid in paleoecological reconstructions.