Hello, my name is Genie. I’m a female Southern White-faced Scops Owl. I hatched on 18th May 2016. My Latin name is Ptilopsis Granti – easy for you to say! We’re also known as ‘The Transformer Owl’ because of our ability to change shape. Faced with a small threat we puff up like a Can-Can dancer. If we don’t fancy our chances, we go skinny any squint to try and look like a branch! Like most small owls, we are largely insectivorous – that means we eat insects. But we also enjoy small rodents, birds and other mammals. I come from the southern half of Africa – Gabon, Kenya, Namibia and South Africa. In the wild, I choose to inhabit savanna country from the scrub desert fringes of the Sahara, to the arid south western coastal region of Africa, often nesting on the ground using the old nests of other birds.