Owl-natomy: Glottis, aka the tongue hole

I was just thinking I didn’t have any neat owl facts lately, and saw this cross-posted on the Tailwinds site. The hole is the “glottis” and it keeps things from getting in their windpipe.

The original pic in the link is a hawk, which has an easier to see glottis, but I found the ONE pic on Google of an owl’s glottis.

If you look up pics of birds getting anesthesia, you will see the tube go down this hole, instead of the nose tube things people get.

Calgary Wildlife Rehab Society

Have you ever wondered why wildlife rehabilitators will advise against giving a bird any food or water?

The hole you can see near the front of this hawks mouth is called the glottis, which is the opening of a bird’s airway called the trachea, which directly leads to the lungs. Every species of bird has a glottis, some are easier to see than others.

Once water or food enters the glottis by accident, birds are unable to cough or choke it out from their airway. This can lead to suffocation, dry drowning, respiratory infections, pneumonia, and in severe cases, sudden or prolonged death. Even if an attempt is made to get food or water past the glottis, their muscles at the back of their throat to their esophagus can be quite strong, so it can pool in their mouth rather than be swallowed, thus compromising their glottis to aspiration.

If a bird comes in and needs immediate treatment or sedated radiographs taken, they need to be fasted and having food or water in their system can lead to regurgitation, which is very dangerous for our patients!

If you’ve found an orphaned or injured wild animal, always call a wildlife rehabilitation centre for the next steps to take before taking action! And remember, no food and water until they arrive 🙂