birding-aus

Impact of fast food on sea gulls

To: Birding Aus <>
Subject: Impact of fast food on sea gulls
From: L&L Knight <>
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 19:44:20 +1000

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1604086.htm

Wednesday, March 29, 2006. 7:38pm (AEDT)
Fattening up: City seagulls are heavier than their island counterparts. (Reuters)
City seagulls bulk up

A new study shows it is not only humans who are over-indulging in junk food - sea gulls are also showing signs of an unhealthy diet.

University of Tasmania researcher Heidi Auman has been studying silver gulls in Hobart and on the Bass Strait islands for two years.

She has found the city birds are overweight and have higher cholesterol than gulls living on the islands.

Ms Auman says the Hobart birds weigh up to 80 grams more than their island counterparts.

"These birds here in Hobart have higher cholesterol and higher glucose in their blood than my control birds from the Flinders Island group," she said.

"These birds here are significantly heavier and what I mean by that is structurally they are exactly the same size, head to bill, the bill measurement, the keel measurements, they are exactly the same size structurally but these birds are heavier, they are fatter."

Ms Auman has also found the reproductive behaviour of seagulls is being affected by their fast food diet.

She says while the fatter birds in Hobart lay more eggs, the chicks are less likely to survive.

"The quality of these eggs is probably not as high," she said.

"They are getting the fats and the proteins they need from their tip and human fed diet but doesn't necessarily mean a healthier chick and they probably don't fledge as many chicks."

She says feeding the seagulls may be an Australian pastime that needs a rethink.

--------------------------------------------
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message:
'unsubscribe birding-aus' (no quotes, no Subject line)
to 

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • Impact of fast food on sea gulls, L&L Knight <=
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU