That Seagull Will Have What You're Having

Source: nottsexminer/Wikimedia Commons

Many birds lumped under the name “seagull” seem right at home in human-dominated landscapes. In the coastal towns and cities of the United Kingdom, European herring gulls (Larus argentatus) are a ubiquitous presence. Herring gulls are opportunistic and notorious kleptoparasites—that is, they regularly steal food from other animals. Urban gulls extend this natural pirating behavior to humans.

“As a biologist in Brighton, I couldn’t help but watch the interesting behaviors of these birds,” says Austrian behavioral scientist Franziska Feist.

In a new study, Feist and colleagues at the University of Sussex investigated the cognitive abilities that have allowed herring gulls to succeed in urban environments. The researchers affixed green and blue packets of Walkers Crisps (a brand of potato chip) to tiles and presented them to gulls on an otherwise clear patch of Brighton beachfront. An experimenter sat on the ground a few meters away and either simply looked at the camera or pulled out a green or blue packet from their bag and ate from it.

Source: Franziska Feist, used with permission

First, the researchers found that a human demonstrator eating from a crisp packet significantly increased the likelihood of a gull pecking one of the packets. When the experimenter just sat quietly, less than a fifth of gulls approached the chip packets placed nearby. But when the person was eating, 48% of the birds checked out the packets.

Furthermore, when gulls pecked at one of the packets, they chose the same color bag as the one from which the experimenter ate 95% of the time.

The Gulls Are Watching

The results show that herring gulls are able to pay attention to the behavior of humans, make connections between items, and apply that to their own foraging choices, says Feist.

“Given that the urbanization of gulls is very recent and their evolutionary history wouldn’t have involved humans, this ability must come from a more general type of intelligence,” she says.

The researchers say gulls’ ability to read behavior across species may be a byproduct of the cognitive and behavioral flexibility necessary for their kleptoparasitic lifestyle. They suggest that gulls are excellent social learners—and likely smarter than a lot of people might think.

Source: Paasikivi/Wikimedia Commons

According to Feist, the cognitive toolkit and behavioral repertoire that make herring gulls an interesting study species may also pose challenges for mitigating human-wildlife conflict. Although only a minority of gulls are bold enough to interact with people, those that do appear to be highly influenced by their food choices. Successful strategies to reduce conflict with people may have to take into account these birds’ sharp observational skills and preference for food that people are eating.

Ultimately, Feist hopes studies like this not only help us better understand the behavior and cognition of the animals with whom we share space, they can also help inform potential mitigation strategies that will benefit both birds and people.