FILE - Photo taken on September 15, 2016 shows aggressive seagulls stealing chips from a harbour side restaurant table in Sydney, Australia (Photo by PETER PARKS/AFP via Getty Images)
Researchers believe they’ve found a way to stop those pesky seagulls from snatching your food: by shouting at them.
The researchers wanted to know if a man’s voice was enough to deter the notorious snack thieves in seaside towns. It turns out the answer is yes, but more so if it’s shouting.
How to stop seagulls from stealing your food
What they're saying:
"Talking might stop them in their tracks, but shouting is more effective at making them fly away," Neeltje Boogert, of the University of Exeter's Center for Ecology and Conservation at the Cornwall campus, told The Associated Press.
READ MORE: Mosquitoes found in Iceland for the first time, leaving only one mosquito-free spot on Earth
"Normally when someone is shouting, 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 being said that was different," Boogert said. "So it seems that gulls pay attention to the way we say things, which we don’t think has been seen before in any wild species."
How It Worked:
The researchers placed fries in a Tupperware box in towns across the southwest coast of England, then tested how 61 European herring gulls reacted to recordings of a robin's song, a male voice saying, "No, stay away, that’s my food," and a voice shouting those words.
The backstory:
Previous research had shown that gulls may stop stealing snacks if you approach them or make eye contact with them. That research also found that the louder you are, the faster they flew away.
RELATED: Research shows illegal shark fin trade occurring globally despite international protections
But the new study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Biology Letters, aimed to measure the difference between speaking and shouting.
The birds that heard speaking voices pecked less on the food and left sooner, the study found.
They tended to walk away from the speaking voice, but flew away from the shouting, suggesting they differentiated between the acoustic properties of the vocalizations.
Why you should care:
Researchers found you don’t need to lash out at the gulls to get them away from your snacks, as seagulls are a conservation issue in the UK. The voices of males were used, because men commit the most crimes against wildlife.
What's next:
The researchers said that further studies could determine if there's a different reaction to female voices.
The Source: This report includes information from the University of Exeter's Center for Ecology and Conservation at the Cornwall campus and The Associated Press.