Asio otus - The long-eared owl can be found across most of the northern hemisphere stretching from the Americas through Europe and into Asia. It is a medium-sized owl, attaining lengths of 31 to 40 centimeters with an 86 to 100 centimeter wingspan; females are larger and darker in color. The owl is migratory in its northern range, but residential elsewhere. The erect tufts protruding from the head of the long-eared owl are not ears; they serve as a means of making the owl appear larger.
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The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was organized in 1918 as a means of unifying the Balkans into one stable political entity. The region had been the source of a series of international crises; it had served as the spark igniting World War I. The kingdom was ruled by the Karađorđević Dynasty until 1941 when Germany invaded Yugoslavia. The exiled king acknowledged the end of the kingdom and accepted the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia as the legitimate standing government of Yugoslavia in 1944.
