"Animal behaviourists from the University of Exeter tried to establish the most effective method of countering a feathery threat by placing a portion of chips in a place where gulls were bound to find them. Once a gull approached, they played three recordings. First, a male voice shouting: No, stay away, that's my food, that's my pasty! Then, the same voice speaking the same words was played, followed by the neutral birdsong of a robin."
"They tested 61 gulls across nine seaside towns in Cornwall and found nearly half of the birds exposed to the shouting voice flapped away within a minute. Only 15% of the gulls exposed to the speaking male voice flew off, though the rest walked away from the food, still apparently sensing danger. In contrast, 70% of gulls exposed to the robin song stayed put."
Animal behaviourists from the University of Exeter placed chips where gulls would find them and played three recordings when a gull approached: a male voice shouting “No, stay away, that's my food, that's my pasty!”, the same voice speaking the same words, and robin birdsong. They tested 61 gulls across nine Cornish seaside towns. Nearly half of gulls exposed to the shouting voice flew away within a minute; only 15% flew off for the spoken voice while others walked away; 70% stayed with robin song. Gulls responded to acoustic properties rather than loudness.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]