The Red Owl (Tyto soumagnei) is an owl in the barn owl family Tytonidae. It is also known as the Madagascar Red Owl, Madagascar Grass-owl and Soumange's Owl. It is a rare resident of Madagascar that was virtually unknown from its discovery in 1878 to its rediscovery by researchers from the World Wide Fund for Nature in 1993. It is currently listed as vulnerable because of habitat loss, but information is lacking and it may have a wider range than believed. It has possibly been overlooked because of its close resemblance to the closely related Barn Owl.
The Red Owl resembles the cosmopolitan Barn Owl but is smaller (27–30 cm) and has rich orange plumage with small black spots. It is known to live in humid evergreen forest in the east of the island, being found in primary forest and in disturbed secondary forest (possibly even human altered open areas). It feeds on native mammals like tenrecs (Tenrecidae) and tuft-tailed rats (as opposed to the Barn Owl, which feeds on introduced species). It nests in tree-cavities, although there is only one record of a nest being found.
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