The maned owl (''Jubula lettii'') or the Akun scops owl, is a species of

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

in the family

Strigidae The true owls or typical owls (family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls (Tytonidae). This large family comprises 230 living or recently extinct species in 24 genera. The typical owl ...

that is endemic to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. It is the only species in

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

''Jubula''.

Description

The maned owl gets its name from the long, floppy, white-tipped feathers on its crown and ear tufts which seem to form a mane. Otherwise it is a medium-sized, large-headed, rufous owl. The upperparts are deep chestnut with narrow, wavy dark bars, which are darker on the lesser wing coverts and on the head, so that they contrast with the white forehead and tips to the ear-tufts. The facial disk is rufous with a broad blackish rim and a white throat. The upper breast is rufous with white bars, the lower breast and belly are buff with dark streaks while the vent and legs are pale buff. The flight feathers and the tail have broad dark bars on a rufous background. The bill is yellow, the

cere The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food ...

greenish-yellow and the eyes, legs and feet are yellow. The body length is .

Distribution and habitat

The maned owl is known only from the lowland, tropical rainforest of west Africa and has a patchy distribution from Liberia in the west through to the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. The patchiness of its distribution is shown by the countries it has been recorded in which are Liberia, Ivory Coast,

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, Equatorial Guinea,

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...

, Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The maned owl seems to prefer closed canopy evergreen rainforest, especially areas with dense creepers, it is not found in semi-evergreen open-canopy forest, and there are no records away from dense forest or forest clearings.

Behaviour

The maned owl is not well known. It is nocturnal, roosting by day in dense creepers as close to the ground as , emerging out onto an open perch at dusk. Their diet is not well understood, but small and weak feet and claws suggest that insects such as grasshoppers and beetles form the largest part of its diet. Green plant material has been found in the stomach contents of a young owl. As with its diet little is known of its breeding behaviour and the call is unrecorded. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo a nest was observed and the results suggest that this species lays three or four eggs between March and May. The nest is in a tree cavity or an old stick nest of another animal is reused. Juveniles have been recorded in late December and January in Cameroon and Gabon, and a pair of adults with full-grown young were observed in Liberia in late February.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q430653, from2=Q10774330 maned owl Birds of the African tropical rainforest maned owl maned owl Maned owl Taxonomy articles created by Polbot