Birds · Strigiformes · Tytonidae

Puerto Rican Barn Owl

Tyto cavatica

Extinct

No living individual remains anywhere in the world. See full glossary

The Puerto Rican barn owl, or múcaro de Puerto Rico, is an endemic species of bird that lived on the island of Puerto Rico, in the Americas, and is now extinct. Its disappearance is estimated to have occurred in the Holocene, because of climatic changes in the Pleistocene, but the discovery of remains in 1912 may indicate that it survived for longer. It was described by Alexander Wetmore in 1920. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of the Hispaniolan barn owl, in which case it is called Tyto glaucops cavatica.

Weight

300 g – 500 g

Size

33 cm – 38 cm

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Nocturnal

Active mainly at night.

Social structure

In pairs

Usually lives in pairs, sometimes for life.

Sighting difficulty

Impossible (extinct)

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Fun facts

It nested inside limestone caves, a habit that is rare among barn owls and that left it especially vulnerable when introduced rats and mongooses reached the island.
It is known above all from bones: much of what we know comes from remains found in Puerto Rican cave deposits, not from observations of living birds.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat & environment: Caves and sinkholes of the limestone karst of Puerto Rico, with surrounding forest
Litter / clutch size: 3 eggs

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyto_cavatica