Scientists' enjoyment of gulls taking your food
- sciart0
- Jun 7
- 1 min read
Excerpt (from first link above): "A peaceful lunch on the British coast often comes with a crucial caveat: Mind the gulls!
These seaside snack thieves reign as undisputed champions of opportunistic dining. As Lorna Forbes went to take a bite out of her steak bake in Swansea, a seagull swooped in and snatched it from her hands. “I didn’t even get a bite,” the 38-year-old healthcare assistant said.
Gulls’ cast-iron stomachs are capable of processing almost anything that fits within their beaks: burgers, bread, ice cream and even the regurgitated remnants of Saturday night’s excesses.
The gulls’ philosophy? Food is food. And unlike us delicate humans, gulls don’t get sick. “Who do you think clears up after Glastonbury?” Peter Rock, a Bristol-based expert in urban gulls, said of the music festival.
Some scientists are fascinated, and slightly bewildered, by gulls’ complex and evolving eating habits, which in some cases means swapping marine food for a Big Mac. "