In my weekly meeting with my owl training mentor, I asked about Otto's feet. When I ask the Great Horned Owl to step off my glove, he is rarely graceful. He tries to hop to the perch but nearly falls over because one foot still grips the glove. Eventually he peels that foot off the glove and stumbles onto the perch. Why doesn't he just let go right away?
Raptor's feet are their primary tools for grasping food so a clenched foot is naturally associated with a meal. Any raptor can get "sticky" feet when they tightly grip the glove because they associate the glove with getting tasty food. But my mentor explained, as she's seen in the fifty-or-so owls that she has worked with, owls in particular seem to have a disconnect between their brain and their feet. They tend to automatically clamp down without even realizing it.
It makes sense that owls would be different from other raptors because they evolved separately. In evolutionary history, raptors didn't come from the same family. Falcons are more closely related to parrots than to hawks; owls are most closely related to woodpeckers and kingfishers!
How could such a disconnect with their feet benefit an owl? I can only speculate here, but consider this example. When Otto stands on my glove and I wiggle my fingers underneath his feet, he often tightens his grip. Now imagine that instead of a glove, his toes are wrapped around a freshly-caught rabbit. If that rabbit wriggles, his talons would clamp down to subdue his prey. Since it happens automatically, the response is instant. He doesn't waste valuable time thinking about and deciding how to keep his meal from escaping.
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