文章大意:本文是一篇说明文。研究人员发现,当海鸥看到人类处理食物时,食物可能会对海鸥更有吸引力,但是如果有人在附近仔细观察,海鸥在接近诱人的食物时会更加谨慎,当被盯着看时,海鸥可能不去吃食物。
Hannah Huxford met the fry-stealing gull (海鸥) in Bridlington, a coastal town on the Yorkshire coast. Huxford took the well-timed photo on her iPhone in 2012 and it went viral soon after. A decade later, the fry-stealing gull is appearing on billboards, as part of an advertising campaign for Google.
Researchers recently discovered that food may actually become more attractive to gulls when the birds watch humans handling it first, according to a 2020 study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
Because the birds seem to be attracted to food that they’ve watched humans touch, another of the study’s authors, says that it’s even more important to properly throw food waste and snack wrappers (包装纸) in the trash. “Gulls are more likely to approach food that they have seen people drop or put down, so they may associate (联想)areas where people are eating with an easy meal,” Dr. Laura Kelley said.
The scientists approached 74 gulls in coastal towns in Cornwall, tempting(诱惑) them with bags of fried potatoes. Only 19 gulls were curious or hungry enough to linger (逗留), allowing the scientists to place the bag on the ground and go back a short distance away, waiting to see if a gull would approach.
Their experiments showed that gulls were more cautious about approaching a tempting treat if there was a person nearby who was watching them closely. However, the scientists also found that far fewer of the birds than expected showed interest in investigating the food at all when being stared at.
In fact, people may be able to protect their lunches from gulls by avoiding areas where the birds tend to gather and keeping a closer eye on their meals, she added. “Gulls have a bad reputation but, like all animals, they are just trying to survive,” Goumas said. “We can try to ease the conflict we have with them by making changes in our own behavior.”
14. What did gulls prefer according to the study?
A.Photos taken by people. |
B.Areas full of food waste. |
C.Snack wrappers in the trash. |
D.Food that visitors are eating. |
15. What can we know about gulls from the scientists’ experiments?
A.They don’t like the food left over by humans. |
B.They approach the treat when they are hungry. |
C.They are interested in eating food with humans. |
D.They probably won’t eat the treat when being watched. |
16. What’s Goumas’s attitude to the action of the fry-stealing gull?
A.Critical. | B.Sympathetic. | C.Skeptical. | D.Indifferent. |