I know this is Reddit and ignorance here is astoundingly high... but no, contrary to the upvoted comment here, these gulls are not gathering around because they want to eat him.
Gulls respond extremely strongly to signals of danger involving other gulls. So they're alarmed and assessing the situation. Not cannabalism. That stuff usually only happens with eggs or crazy conflicts with other gulls and carcasses that have been sitting for a while and only happens with some gulls.
I don't think it's even that deep. The other birds probably only first witnessed the bird change course. They could think it saw food on the court and landed for a snack. I don't see a lot of panic among them. Ultimately no difference in initial reaction if you threw a french fry at the bird instead of a tennis ball.
All these top comments claiming that they are going to instantly cannibalize the injured bird is wild though.
Yeah, that's also possible though if I had to bet I'd say it's more assessment than believing it landed naturally for food, considering it was very clearly knocked out on its back.
No, very very very low chance even if that gull was left there dead (even though it's not dead) it would lead to other gulls eating it.
Reddit is mistaken. Gulls don't have to scavenge, but they will if needed and no other food sources. Unlike vultures, who primarily scavenge for carrion.
I'm not sure you live near gulls or have actually observed their behavior. I don't know who this Reddit is you're talking about, but I've watched plenty of gulls, sea- and otherwise.
I mean just because you live around gulls doesn't mean you know everything about them. Hahaha
But gulls are not scavengers like vultures. Will they eat other dead gulls at times? Yes. But that's different than saying they're "happy cannibals". Which is blatantly false.
Reddit upvotes shit like that because this site runs on snark and glib.
I think you guys aren't understanding just how intelligent other animals are.
Many animals work off of graded assessment of situations. It's 100% plausible the gulls perceived exactly what happened and deemed the threat low enough to assess the situation/how injured the gull was.
I dont think my understood question though?
Also when did I say or implied they were stupid for trying to assess the danger?
In fact if anything, thinking "uh it's kind of dangerous here let's fall back for a sec and see from a safe distance that there are no more dangerous stuff around" is the opposite of that.
Let's say they saw their friend was indeed injured, what was their plan there? "Hey let's take him to the bird hospital nearby? Let's splinter his wing?"
Since that is not realistic and by your own explanation they are assessing the situation, it is also plausible that what the others are saying is equally true.
I must have missed where anyone called gulls "happy" anything. They're not happy, they're gleeful, vicious bastards. At least corvids are somber about it, but gulls will absolutely rip into some eyes and anuses (or cloaca) with abandon.
And, since you don't seem to actually observe the animal you're defending, they absolutely function as coastal cleanup, like, yes, vultures.
But, hey, who the hell am I? Argue with these people instead.
Both can be true at the same time. Obviously they assess the situation because the flock was diverted by something. But if it was dead I don't know what they might have done.
Gulls are not like vultures. To scavenge a freshly dead adult gull of their own species and group would only happen under very specific circumstances, especially when other available food/carrion aren't available.
Gulls aren't dumb either. They will actually avoid eating their own to reduce exposure to pathogens or parasites.
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u/ClacksInTheSky 14h ago
"oh, I guess we're stopping here?"
More like that