Biology · Level 1 · Foundation
Urban herring gulls use human behavioural cues to locate food
Goumas M, Boogert NJ, Kelley LA (2020). Royal Society Open Science. doi:10.1098/rsos.191959 · CC BY 4.0
Step 1 of 2Read the paper
Do wild seaside gulls pay attention to what people touch? Researchers put two identical objects in front of free-living urban herring gulls, handled one of them for 20 seconds, then walked away and recorded which object the gull pecked. Experiment 1 used wrapped flapjacks; Experiment 2 repeated the test with a new set of gulls using blue sponges cut to the same shape.
How to read it
- Read the last paragraph of the Introduction: it states the aim and why a second experiment was needed.
- Use Figure 1 and Methods 2.2 to picture one trial step by step before reading the results.
- In Results, note how many gulls were tested, how many approached and how many pecked in each experiment.
- The Discussion paragraph on "least fearful individuals" is the key limitation to remember.
Step 2 of 2Take the test
5 questions · about 30 minutes including reading · pick an answer to see straight away if it’s right. Nothing is saved.
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Paper: Goumas M, Boogert NJ, Kelley LA, Royal Society Open Science (2020), licensed CC BY 4.0. Summary and questions are Research Nest’s own; read the original for the full study.