that in most of the range that Ural owls invest much time into pursuing or feeding on insects and other invertebrates, since the food reward is low for a fairly large owl to habitually hunt such prey, which may weigh only about . However, occasionally, concentrations of insects such as woodboring beetles may attract an owl. In the Bavarian Forest, more than 6% of the diet consisted of insects, mostly unidentified beetles. Despite most studies from Japan showing up to about 95% of the foods being mammals and secondarily birds, sometimes more extensive association with insect prey is reported. In the Kagawa Prefecture, an exceptional 24% of the diet consisted of insects and furthermore in Kyoto, Ural owls were observed to be routinely pursuing and eating Japanese rhinoceros beetles (Allomyrina dichotoma). In Primorsky Krai, Ural owls were further recorded as preying upon Daurian crayfish (Cambaroides dauricus). Interspecific predatory relationships Ural owls regularly live concurrently in different parts of their range with other owl species. Most sympatric species also share a preference for small mammals, largely voles, especially when they occur in relatively northerly temperate places such as the haunts of the Ural owls. Thus, the Ural owl is frequently considered to be a competitor with sympatric owl species. Most especially, the Ural owl has often being compared and studied in areas of sympatry with its close cousin, the tawny owl. The tawny owl may co-exist with Ural owls today in many parts of the latter’s European distribution, including southern Fennoscandia, eastern and central Europe and European Russia. The dietary habits of the two species are largely concurrent, as in Uppland, Sweden, where prey species and groups were almost identical in rank of importance to their diets (i.e. field vole, water vole, Apodemus species, birds and frogs). On Mount Krim in Slovenia, both tawny and Ural owls took the same primary prey species but the tawny owl was shown to be adaptable to alternate prey during the low part of the vole population cycle while the Ural was less adaptive to alternate prey. The diets were largely similar between tawny and Ural owls as well in the Bavarian Forest of Germany but the tawny species took proportionately fewer field voles and more insects, and was estimated to take prey weighing on average 43% less than that taken by Ural owls. In Finland, food niche breadth for Ural owls overlapped about 73%