Gulls are particularly attracted to the food that humans hold in their hands, which emerges from a behavioral study carried out in England. Scientists hope to understand why these seabirds thrive so well in our coastal cities.
While most cash wild animals flee from Man, gulls thrive on contact. Who has never had a piece of pancake or a fries stolen by him a gull (Larus argentatus) At the seaside ? This behavior, exceptional in seabirds, has been studied by an animal behaviorist, in two coastal cities in the south-west of England. His work, published in Royal Society Open Science, attests to the gulls' pronounced taste for food touched by humans.
Gulls Favor Food Affected by Humans
Human-to-human interactions gulls are frequent and have been going on for a long time, but scientists have little knowledge of the cognitive foundations that push them to approach us. Do they approach us because of food or because an object held by a human arouses their curiosity?
To answer this question, the scientist set up a simple experiment. She approaches a gull and has two buckets in front of the bird, containing a bar of cereals equidistant. After revealing the contents of the gull buckets, she grabs one of the two bars for 20 seconds before putting it back down. After having distanced herself, she observes the behavior of the gull. On a ehealth taken as part of the study, we can see the gull darken without hesitation on the cereal bar touched by the scientist.
Of the 38 gulls approached, 24 were interested in cereal bars. Among them, 19 favored the bar hit by humans. The gull being a curious animal, the scientist repeated the experiment with inedible objects. Again, 65% of gulls, brave enough to approach, were interested in the object hit by a human.
These results suggest that gulls turn the urban environment and human presence to their advantage. " It is very likely that herring gulls be the only wild animals to use human behavioral signals in an urban environment "Explains in his publication the scientist who also recalls that intentionally feeding gulls with our remains is not good for their health.
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