Shouting at seagulls could stop them stealing your food, research shows

Research shows that if you shout at seagulls, they are more likely to leave your food alone. Article “Herring gulls respond to the acoustic properties of male voices.” published V Letters in Biology.

Researchers from the University of Exeter used an unopened box of Tupperware crisps to stuff a herring on the ground. seagulls' interest.

As the seagull approached, they played either a recording of a male voice shouting the words, “No, stay away, that's my food,” the same voice saying those words, or the “neutral” bird song of a robin.

They tested a total of 61 seagulls in nine seaside towns in Cornwall and found that almost half of the seagulls exposed to the scream flew away within a minute.

Only 15% of the seagulls that heard the male voice speaking flew away, while the rest left the food, still sensing danger.

In contrast, 70% of the seagulls exposed to the robin's song remained near the food throughout the experiment.

“We found that urban gulls were more alert and less likely to peck at a food container when we played a male voice to them, whether talking or shouting,” said Dr Neeltje Boogert from the Center for Ecology and Conservation at the Penrhyn Exeter campus in Cornwall.

“But the difference was that the seagulls were more likely to fly away when they were screaming and more likely to run away when they were talking.

“So in an attempt to scare away gull it's an attempt to steal your food, talking can stop them, but screaming is more effective in making them fly away.”

Recordings of five male volunteers recording themselves saying the same phrase in a calm voice and separately in a shouting voice were adjusted to have the same volume, suggesting that seagulls can detect differences in the acoustic properties of human voices.

“Usually when someone screams it's scary because it loud noisebut in this case, all the sounds were the same volume, and only the way the words were pronounced was different,” Dr. Boogert said.

“So the seagulls seem to be paying attention to the way we speak, which we don't think anyone has seen before. wild speciesonly in those domesticated species that have been bred among humans for generations, such as dogs, pigs and horses.”

The experiment is designed to show that physical violence does not necessarily repel seagulls, and researchers have used male voices as most wildlife crimes are committed by men.

“Most seagulls aren't brave enough to steal.” food from man, I think they have become quite reviled,” said Dr. Boogert.

“What we don’t want is people hurting them. “It's something of a conservation problem, and this experiment shows that there are peaceful ways to contain them that don't involve physical contact.”