Editing Laughing owl (section)

{{Short description|Extinct species of owl}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=March 2024}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=October 2017}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Laughing owl
| image = Sceloglaux albifacies albifacies.jpg
| image_caption = Live ''N. a. albifacies'' specimen photographed between 1889 and 1910
| status = EX
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International. |year=2024 |title=''Ninox albifacies'' |volume=2024 |page=e.T22689496A246178545 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-2.RLTS.T22689496A246178545.en |access-date=10 March 2025}}</ref>
| status2 = EX
| status2_system = NZTCS
| status2_ref = <ref name ="NZTCS">{{cite web |title=''Sceloglaux albifacies rufifacies''. NZTCS |url=https://nztcs.org.nz/nztcs-species/11094 |website=nztcs.org.nz |access-date=3 April 2023}}</ref><ref name ="NZTCS2">{{cite web |title=''Sceloglaux albifacies albifacies''. NZTCS |url=https://nztcs.org.nz/nztcs-species/11095 |website=nztcs.org.nz |access-date=3 April 2023}}</ref>
| extinct = 1914
| genus = Ninox
| species = albifacies
| authority = ([[George Robert Gray|Gray, GR]], 1844)
| subdivision_ranks = Subspecies
| subdivision = * ''N. a. albifacies''<br /><small>('''South Island laughing owl''')</small>
* ''N. a. rufifacies'' <br /><small>('''North Island laughing owl''')</small>
| synonyms = ''Sceloglaux albifacies''<br/>'' Ieraglaux albifacies''<br/>''Athene albifacies''
| range_map = SceloglauxAlbifaciesIUCNver2019 1.png
| range_map_caption = Range of ''N. albifacies'' {{leftlegend|#FF0000|Extinct|outline=gray}}
}}

The '''laughing owl''' ('''''Ninox albifacies'''''), also known as '''''whēkau''''', the '''laughing jackass''',<ref>{{Cite book |last=McLintock |first=A. H. |title=The History of Otago |publisher=Capper Press |year=1975 |edition=2nd |location=Christchurch |publication-date=1975 |page=22 |lang=en}}</ref> or the '''white-faced owl''', is an [[Extinction|extinct]] species of [[owl]] that was [[Endemism|endemic]] to [[New Zealand]]. Plentiful when European settlers arrived in New Zealand, its scientific description was published in 1845, but it was largely or completely extinct by 1914. The [[species]] was traditionally considered to belong to the [[monotypic]] genus ''Sceloglaux''   [[Johann Jakob Kaup|Kaup]], 1848 ("scoundrel owl", probably because of the mischievous-sounding calls), although recent genetic studies indicate that it belongs with the [[boobook owl]]s in the genus ''[[Ninox]]''.