It’s what we have suspected but it has now been confirmed that Seagulls would rather steal food from humans than find it themselves, scientists have discovered.
In the study, carried out in Cornish towns including Falmouth and Penzance, a researcher approached individual gulls and placed two buckets on the ground in front of them, each covering a wrapped flapjack.
The buckets were then removed, and the researcher picked up one of the flapjacks, handled it for 20 seconds, and then put it back down on the ground.
In total, 38 gulls were tested, 24 pecked at one of the flapjacks and 19 of these chose the one that had been handled.
To see if gulls were responding to human handling alone, the experiment was repeated with two non-food items – sponges that were cut into the same size and shape as the flapjacks.
In this case, gulls’ preference for the handled sponge did not exceed “chance levels” – suggesting that handling draws their attention to food in particular.
Senior author Dr Laura Kelley at Exeter University said: “Our findings suggest that gulls are more likely to approach food that they have seen people drop or put down, so they may associate areas where people are eating with an easy meal.
“This highlights the importance of disposing of food waste properly, as inadvertently feeding gulls reinforces these associations.
“Herring gulls have a generalist diet that typically includes fish and invertebrates, but they will also consume food found in landfill sites and household waste.
“The effect of this shift in food quality and quantity away from more ‘natural’ sources is not yet clear.
“Herring gulls are quite adaptable and are likely to be moving into urban areas because of the resources available.
“For example, there are lots of suitable nesting sites, and a ready supply of food.
“Urban environments may also be able to support larger gull populations, meaning that competition among individuals for resources is lower than in rural coastal colonies.”
