The Guardian Weekly

Gulls watch humans to pick which snacks to pinch

Research on herring gulls at Brighton beach found that the birds can work out which kinds of scraps are worth snaffling by watching what humans are tucking into themselves.

When given a choice of crisp packets to peck at, gulls overwhelmingly went for the same colour bag that an experimenter was munching from as they filmed the encounters from several metres away. The study, published in Biology Letters, suggests that there is work to do to reduce tension between humans and urban gulls. The impact of “do not feed the birds” signs might, for example, be improved by adding “… and don’t let them see you eat, either”.

Global Report

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2023-06-02T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-06-02T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://theguardianweekly.pressreader.com/article/281771338573226

Guardian/Observer