Worth a shout? Yelling is best way to deter gulls, UK study suggests | Animal behaviour

Some people react to the unwanted attentions of a seagull eyeing a bag of crisps or a Cornish pasty by flapping their hands frantically towards the hungry bird while others beat a rapid retreat to the nearest seaside shelter. But researchers have found that a pragmatic cry – even a relatively quiet one – might be the best way to get rid of a pesky herring gull.

Animal behavior specialists from the University of Exeter have attempted to establish the most effective method of countering a feathery threat by placing a serving of crisps where seagulls are bound to find them.

Once a seagull approached, they played three recordings. First, a male voice shouting: “No, stay away, it’s my food, it’s My mushy!” Then the same voice saying the same words was played, followed by the “neutral” bird song of a robin.

They tested 61 gulls in nine Cornish seaside towns and found that almost half of the birds exposed to the calls flew away within a minute.

Only 15% of the seagulls exposed to the male voice flew away, while the rest moved away from the food, still sensing danger. On the other hand, 70% of the gulls exposed to the robin’s song remained there.

The volume of the “screaming” and “talking” voices was the same, meaning that the seagulls appeared to be responding to the acoustic properties of the message rather than the volume.

This study is believed to be the first to test whether non-captive wild animals perceive differences in the properties of human voices speaking the same sentences at the same volume.

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

“But the difference was that seagulls were more likely to fly away by shouting and more likely to fly away by talking. So when you’re trying to scare away a seagull that’s trying to steal your food, talking may stop it in its tracks, but shouting is more effective at making it fly away.

“Normally when someone screams it’s scary because it’s a loud noise, but in this case all the noises were the same volume and it was just the way the words were said that was different.

“It seems that gulls pay attention to how we say things, which we believe has never been observed in any wild species, but only in domesticated species that have been raised around humans for generations, such as dogs, pigs and horses.”

Boogert said the study showed it was not necessary to harm the birds to keep them away. “This is a species of conservation concern, and this experiment shows that there are peaceful ways to deter them without involving physical contact.”

A future study could determine whether a woman’s voice has the same effect.

The researchers expected that seagulls would be more likely to target fleas in more populated towns, such as Penzance. In fact, gulls living in or near smaller, heavily touristed places such as St Ives were more enthusiastic, perhaps because they are more accustomed to foraging for human food.