If it's good enough for you, it's good enough for them.
And according to a newly published paper from researchers at the University of Exeter, the fact that a human has handled that food could be what made it look extra-appealing to the bird in the first place.In the study, the research team visited towns in Cornwall, England, where adult herring gulls were known to hang out. Lead researcher Madeleine Goumas placed two food items—in this case, she used unopened packages of granola bars—on the ground and covered them with buckets.
She and her collaborators then watched to see which granola bar the birds were more likely to be interested in. They performed this test in front of 38 different gulls, and 24 of them approached one of the packages and pecked at it. Of the birds who checked out a snack, 19 of them selected the one that they'd watched Goumas handle.
The test was then repeated using "a non-food object," which was a blue sponge that had been cut into a similar size and shape as the snack packages. Again, Goumas covered both items with buckets, revealed them, and picked one of the sponges up and touched it for 20 seconds. Forty-one different gulls were individually presented with this inedible choice, and 23 of them pecked at one of the sponges. Fifteen birds chose the sponge that Goumas had handled, a percentage that the researchers said wasn't any better than "chance" levels.
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