Cloud-forest Screech-Owl vs Four-toed Hedgehog

Megascops marshalli compared with Atelerix albiventris

Key Differences

• Cloud-forest Screech-Owl is Near Threatened while Four-toed Hedgehog is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Cloud-forest Screech-Owl	Four-toed Hedgehog
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Strigiformes (Owls)	Erinaceomorpha (Erinaceomorpha)
Family	Strigidae (True Owls)	Erinaceidae
Genus	Megascops	Atelerix
Species	Megascops marshalli	Atelerix albiventris

Evolutionary Relationship

Cloud-forest Screech-Owl and Four-toed Hedgehog share a common ancestor at the Phylum level: Chordata. (Chordates)

Conservation Status

Cloud-forest Screech-Owl

NT — Near Threatened

Four-toed Hedgehog

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Cloud-forest Screech-Owl	Four-toed Hedgehog
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Cloud-forest Screech-Owl

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Found in Norway. Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

Four-toed Hedgehog

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Range

Distributed across Ecuador and Spain.

Cloud-forest Screech-Owl

The cloud forest screech-owl (Megascops marshalli) is a small owl in the family Strigidae endemic to the eastern slopes of the Andes in Peru and Bolivia, inhabiting cloud forest and humid montane woodland between approximately 900 and 2,200 meters elevation. Described scientifically in 1981, it belongs to the diverse Megascops screech-owl assemblage of the Americas. The species has brown, streaked cryptic plumage and small ear tufts typical of screech-owls, with a characteristic song used for territory advertisement in cloud forest habitats. It is nocturnal and insectivorous, feeding on large insects, small lizards, and other invertebrates caught in the forest understory. The cloud forest screech-owl has a restricted range on the humid eastern Andean slopes, where increasing deforestation for agriculture and coca cultivation reduces suitable habitat. Its population status is considered Least Concern given the continuing extent of Andean cloud forest in its range, though forest clearance on the eastern Andean slopes remains a long-term threat to this and many other narrowly endemic cloud forest bird species.