Just how intelligent is a seagull?

Apparently measuring the intelligence of a bird is quite a difficult thing to do. It depends upon how one decides to actually do this measurement. There have been many studies into bright birds but from my limited reading it seems that the crow family (the corvids) and the parrot family (the psittacines) hold the top spots.
However perhaps bird intelligence should be based on how successful a bird can be at grabbing an unsuspecting humans ice cream or fish and chips at any British seaside resort you care to mention. 
If it was measured in this way then the European Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) would definitely be in with a shout. 


These birds are experts at stealing food. They sit high above the beach surveying the crowds or fly low across the heads of the sunseekers looking for the tell-tale signs of crispy batter and salty chips. 
Their call is a mocking laugh, throwing the head back and calling out in defiance knowing that they are truly above the law.
Once they have spotted a weakness; a toddler holding an ice cream too far away from its mouth, a packet of fish and chips with the lid carelessly flapping in the sea breeze, a parent distracted from their snack whilst wiping sand from a child’s feet, then they swoop.
It’s a classic snatch and grab, a dominant gull leads the attack and suddenly the gang is fighting over the chips that have spilled to the floor or the melting ice cream dripping from the broken cone. 

This method of stealing is not the only way in which the herring gull can attack. They can also pick pocket. In this method they watch for a family eating on the beach and then slowly, slowly sneak up behind the people who are staring thoughtfully our to sea. Whilst they are distracted the gull will enter the picnic area and drag out a packet of crisps or a half eaten sausage roll getting way with the prize. a well rehearsed heist. 

The seaside authorities try to prevent the gulls from attacking with signs and special bins which just reinforces how successful they are. 

It appears however from a study by the University of Exeter that if you stare out the gulls, and show them who is boss, then they are less likely to steal your chips giving you a valuable 27 seconds to protect your lunch. You can read the research here, https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0405

But to stare out the feathered fiend you have to spot them first...

Stay Alert, Spot the Seagull, Protect Your Chips



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sparkly bathroom prevented by natural chemical equilibria

Image
I have had the pleasure of cleaning the bathroom today. I have used a number of different products over the years to find a chemical that will remove the annoying marks from the tiles, taps and shower screen. The hard water means that no matter how clean and sparkly I get the taps, they are only two showers away from being once again covered in the annoying white powder.   Crystals of limescale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kesselstein_k.jpg) There is a lot of interesting chemistry involved in limescale. It is essentially deposits of insoluble calcium carbonate left behind from the hot water. But how does it get into the water in the first place and why doesn't it stay in it? Limescale initially starts as limestone, chalk and other similar sedimentary rocks that formed from the bodies of tiny calcium containing sea creatures that lived in warm shallow tropical seas millions of years ago. See the BBC clip at this learning zone site. Since their formation these rocks have been
Read more

Polka dot, 7 inches, 15 minutes, luke warm

Image
January 2010 and a new craze hit Facebook. Across the social network women started to post colours as their status. Some posted beige, some ivory, some hot pink, some polka dot. For a while people across the world were confused, intrigued, indeed fascinated by what these colours could mean. In fact the colours referred to the colour of the bra the woman was wearing that particular day. This 'craze' was in aid of a breast cancer awareness campaign a fantastic cause and in my opinion a clever and innovative use of Facebook. Over the last couple of days some of the ladies have begun to post a length measured in inches followed by a time in minutes. This has resulted in a status that might read '6 inches 25 minutes'. Oh how amusing...I like a bit of smut but I found these updates strangely annoying. Obviously it doesn't mean what it says and is code for something fairly inane and boring. So slightly intrigued and determined to crack the code I did what I always
Read more

What's Your Station?

Image
One of my most vivid memories is completing my Silver Duke of Edinburgh Expedition in the New Forest one October half term. It must have been 1987 as Mike Smith was the Radio 1 breakfast host and I remember cooking bacon on the Trangia stove, in a field behind a scout hut in Fordingbridge, whilst listening to T'Pau's new single China in Your Hand, it was a gorgeous Autumn morning.  http://asymptotia.com/wp-images/2007/08/Radio_dynamo.jpg I had a red plastic battery operated radio that we listened to as we walked. That radio once got us into trouble on a snowy February in Dartmoor as the magnet in the speaker affected our compass, a rookie error that put us out a couple of miles searching for a postbox on Rough Tor.   Radio 1 was the station to listen to, the new music was heard first on this station, and alongside Mike Smith the line-up included Simon Bates, Mike Read, Simon Mayo and of course Steve Wright. Whilst at Uni I still enjoyed listening to Simon Mayo's breakfast
Read more