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Defenders Magazine
Summer 2007
Wildlife: The EYES Have It
© Asociacion Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN)
Inspired by the long, wispy feathers that sprout from its wild-looking eyes, researchers gave the long-whiskered owlet the Latin genus name Xenoglaux, or “strange owl.” Inhabiting the dense undergrowth of mountain forests in northern Peru, the species is among the world’s smallest owls—and the most endangered due to habitat loss. First discovered in 1976, it’s been seen in the wild only a handful of times since. Last spring marks the first time biologists with the Peruvian conservation group ECOAN encountered the species during daylight hours and caught its calls on tape—and this image on film—during the night.
