Researcher found: Aggressive seagulls see humans as tasters! | Life & Knowledge

The attacks by seagulls on the North and Baltic Seas are becoming more and more severe.

The birds fall suddenly and unexpectedly approach people and steal fish sandwiches, ice cream cones or French fries.

And the “French Fries Seagulls” are not only cheeky, but also extremely cleverAn Austrian behavioural researcher found that the aggressive birds even see us as tasters.

For her thesis at the University of Sussex, Franziska Hacker spent two years observing the feeding habits of herring gulls in the English seaside resort of Brighton. And she also specifically tested the animals: Hacker gave the gulls potato chips in different colored bags. However, she always helped herself from a very specific bag.

Seagulls chose the same bag of chips

The astonishing result: “Of the attentive seagulls, about 95 percent chose the same color of chip bag that I was eating from,” says Hacker. “They differentiated between colors and imitated my behavior.” Hacker suspects that this ability to learn makes the birds special survivors on the coasts, which they have to share with many people.

Another one Result of their research workAccording to Hacker, seagulls use “plenty of opportunities for social learning.” They live long lives and do not reach adulthood until they are four years old.

There are various reasons why seagulls have become so aggressive. One problem is that many people still feed the birds despite strict bans.

In addition, areas where seagulls normally forage are being destroyed by coastal development for tourism. They are increasingly moving to flat roofs to lay their eggs. Natural breeding sites on undisturbed islands or inland are often no longer available.

Even in Berlin – not a classic seagull hotspot – 25 roofs are now populated by the aggressive birds. There are already 85 breeding pairs of seagulls on Alexanderplatz alone. And the number is rising!