Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
11
Not Wise, But Otherwíse: Owls
MYTHS
Owls are wise.
Owls only make hooting sounds.
Owls are blind, or nearly so, in bright daylight.
An owl's ears are visible.
Some owls can carry off many times their own weight.
OWLS HAVE BECOME THE UBIQUITOUS SYMBOL OF WISDOM IN MODERN SOCIETY. No
matter which way we turn, anything connected with wisdom or intelligence is apt to include a represent-
ation of an owl. Advertisements of the “Be wise, modernize” sort, for example, usually sport a drawing
or photograph of an owl. Then there is the oft-repeated bit of doggerel, “A wise old owl sat in an oak.
The more he saw, the less he spoke . . . Why can't we be like this wise bird?” slightly modified from its
original 1875 incarnation in
Punch.
It was not always thus, however. In the past, owls in many cultures had a sinister reputation. This
was quite possibly because owl hoots have generally been considered “mournful,” and hence have as-
sociated owls with death and a variety of ill fortunes.
Shakespeare certainly believed that, or at least used the common superstition for dramatic effect. In
Macbeth,
Lady Macbeth takes the cry of the owl as a sign that her husband has murdered Duncan (“It
was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman . . .”). A little later in the play, the owl becomes a symbol
of the weird atmosphere surrounding Duncan's murder: “'Tis unnatural . . . on Tuesday last, a falcon,
towering in her pride of place, / Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd.”
Not everyone considered owls to be the bearers of misfortune, however. For instance, a small owl
in ancient Greece was so highly regarded that it became the mascot of the powerful Athenian army.
The owl was one of the symbols of the goddess Athena and of the city of Athens. It was portrayed on
Athenian coins, with the head of Athena on the reverse side. Other societies also valued the owl as a
