At least three modern species represent related derivations, possibly with long-eared owls as the paraspecies or as part of a species complex that potentially bears a basal common ancestor. Notwithstanding fossil records of Asio species showing their presence during prehistory in locations like Kansas and Idaho ( Asio brevipes) and California ( Asio priscus), the exact area of evolutionary origin of the long-eared owl is unknown and unlikely to ever be known. Despite similarities and being considered as in the same genus, it was found in a study utilizing electrophoresis that the genetic distance between long-eared owls and short-eared owls was unusually large for species within the same genera. Four species are found both in Eurasia and Africa, and in the Americas, including the long-eared owl and short-eared owl. Despite their extensive distribution, only eight modern species are thought to exist. Owls in the genus Asio are sometimes commonly referred to as eared owls. This owl is now assigned to the genus Asio that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The long-eared owl was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Strix otus. Nonetheless, strong declines have been detected for this owl in several parts of its range. The long-eared owl is one of the most widely distributed and most numerous owl species in the world, and due to its very broad range and numbers it is considered a least concern species by the IUCN. Another fairly unique characteristic of this species is its partiality for regular roosts that are often shared by a number of long-eared owls at once. They are partially migratory and, although owls appear to generally use the same migratory routes and wintering sites annually, can tend to appear so erratically that they are sometimes characterized as “nomadic”. Unlike many owls, long-eared owls are not strongly territorial or sedentary. Breeding success in this species is largely correlated with prey populations and predation risks. In the case of the long-eared owl, it generally utilizes nests that are built by other animals, with a partiality in many regions for those built by corvids. Under some circumstances, such as population cycles of their regular prey, arid or insular regional habitats or urbanization, this species can adapt fairly well to a diversity of prey, including birds and insects. The long-eared owl is a somewhat specialized predator, focusing its diet almost entirely on small rodents, especially voles, which quite often compose most of their diet. This owl shows a partiality for semi-open habitats, particularly woodland edge, as they prefer to roost and nest within dense stands of wood but prefer to hunt over open ground. This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, of the family Strigidae, which contains most extant species of owl (while the other taxonomic family of owls are the barn owls, or Tytonidae). The species breeds in many areas through Europe and the Palearctic, as well as in North America. The genus name Asio is a type of eared owl, and otus also refers to a small, eared owl. The long-eared owl ( Asio otus), also known as the northern long-eared owl or, more informally, as the lesser horned owl or cat owl, is a medium-sized species of owl with an extensive breeding range.
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