Staring
at Seagulls Makes Them Less Likely to Snatch Your Food
A team of researchers from
the University of
Exeter, UK, put a bag of chips on the ground and tested how long it
took herring gulls (Larus argentatus) to approach when
a human was watching them, compared to when the human looked away: on average,
gulls took 21 seconds longer to approach the food with a human staring at them.
“Gulls in urban areas
are often considered a nuisance owing to behaviors such as food-snatching,”
said lead author Dr. Madeleine Goumas and colleagues.
“Whether urban gull
feeding behavior is influenced by human behavioral cues, such as gaze
direction, remains unknown.”
In the study, the
scientists measured the approach times of herring gulls to a food source placed
in close proximity to an experimenter who either looked directly at the gull or
looked away.
“We attempted to test 74 herring gulls. Only 27 of these (36%) initiated the start of at least one trial. The remaining gulls either flew away soon after presentation of the food or did not approach on the ground within 300 seconds,” they said.
“Twenty-three (49%) of
the 47 gulls that did not approach during a trial approached the food outside
the trial conditions. Nineteen gulls (26% of all those targeted) completed the
paired trials.”
Gulls took significantly
longer to approach the food source when the experimenter looked at them versus
away. The average difference in approach time between treatments was 21
seconds.
“Gulls are often seen as
aggressive and willing to take food from humans, so it was interesting to find
that most wouldn’t even come near during our tests,” Dr. Goumas said.
“Of those that did
approach, most took longer when they were being watched. Some wouldn’t even
touch the food at all, although others didn’t seem to notice that a human was
staring at them.”
“We didn’t examine why
individual gulls were so different — it might be because of differences in
‘personality’ and some might have had positive experiences of being fed by
humans in the past — but it seems that a couple of very bold gulls might ruin
the reputation of the rest.”
“Gulls learn really
quickly, so if they manage to get food from humans once, they might look for
more,” added Dr. Neeltje Boogert, senior author of the study.
“Our study took place in
coastal towns in Cornwall, UK, and especially now, during the summer holidays
and beach barbecues, we are seeing more gulls looking for an easy meal.”
“We therefore advise
people to look around themselves and watch out for gulls approaching, as they
often appear to take food from behind, catching people by surprise.”
“It seems that just
watching the gulls will reduce the chance of them snatching your food.”
The study was published in the journal Biology Letters.