Video of gull swallowing a squirrel whole is totally normal and fine, say researchers | 24CA News

Warning: This story accommodates graphic video and pictures. 

A viral video of a herring gull swallowing a complete squirrel entire has many individuals shocked and horrified. But the individuals who research these birds say there’s nothing to be alarmed about. 

The clip, which was posted on a wildlife-focused TikTok account, captures the gull gobbling up a fluffy black squirrel in a snake-like trend. Each time the fowl gulps, the unwitting prey’s hind legs and bushy tail disappear additional down its gullet. 

“This is not barbaric behaviour. This is just the norm,” Rock, an city gull researcher from Bristol, England, advised As It Happens host Nil Köksal.

“It’s to be expected from seagulls that they are going to eat whatever is available. And if it happens to be some weakling animal, then they will kill it and they will eat it.”

WATCH: Gull swallows squirrel:

Gulls could also be greatest recognized for stealing individuals’s fries on the seashore, or tearing open rubbish bins searching for a discarded sandwich — however Rock says they’re the last word omnivores.

“Food, of course, is the key for everything and they know how to get it,” he stated. “For these birds, they know everything about everything within their home range. So if one food source dries up, they know exactly where to go for something else.”

And that features the whole lot from blueberries to half-eaten Big Macs to animals.

“I’ve seen them eating rats, I’ve seen them feasting on pigeons and so on. So it is not an uncommon thing,” he stated. “Though, this, I have to say, is the first time I’ve come across a squirrel.”

Louise Blight, an alter affiliate professor on the University of Victoria’s School of Environmental Studies, says gulls on the West Coast will usually feast on giant sea stars.

“I think partly why people are horrified by this video is that they aren’t used to thinking of gulls as marine predators — but their natural diet is not French fries,” she stated. “They eat a range of prey around the world, from krill and fish and bivalves to other seabirds.”

John Anderson, a professor of ecology and pure historical past on the College of the Atlantic in Maine, has been learning gulls for many years. He says whereas they will and do hunt, he is not often seen one killing a small mammal. He suspects the squirrel was already lifeless when the gull discovered it.

“Honesty, it’s a herring gull doing what a herring gull does,” Anderson advised CBC. “They are scavengers.”

‘They’ve bought forged iron stomachs’

But he cautioned towards portray gulls with a single brush. Even gulls that nest proper subsequent to one another can have utterly completely different routines, personalities and meals preferences, he stated.

“I can spend, you know, a whole day sitting in my lighthouse watching the birds. And it’s like being in the middle of a wonderful soap opera, because each pair has its own personality,” he stated.

“Some are aggressive and some are really passive. And some of them are really exploratory. And some nests are incredibly beautifully decorated, and others are just little depressions in the ground. So it’s the variety that I find really fascinating.”

Swallowing a complete squirrel might seem disagreeable, however huge snacks do not go down arduous for gulls, says Rock. 

That’s as a result of gulls — similar to owls — have gizzards that permit them to swallow huge prey and filter out the not-so-good-to-eat elements, which they then expel within the type of pellets.

And in contrast to when individuals gorge a bit too fervently, the gulls do not face any disagreeable digestive penalties.

“They’ve got cast iron stomachs,” Rock stated.

‘Gulls are poetry in movement’

Anderson says he hopes the video would not additional demonize what he says is a vital and misunderstood species.

Gull populations are declining worldwide, he stated, and so they play an vital position in ecosystems — to not point out do the vital work of cleansing up after people.

“That’s where things like this video worry me, because people start out with a negative view of gulls and they’re not stopping to actually watch them,” he stated. “Gulls are poetry in motion. It’s absolutely wonderful to watch them fly.”

Rock agrees. He has been tagging city gulls and publishing papers about them for many years, and says they get a nasty popularity merely for being resilient and resourceful. 

“What I’m trying to put forward is the truth about these birds, not the assumptions,” he stated.

“The pest control industry is making money hand over fist in presenting gulls as the enemies, the seagull menace, all this kind of thing. And, in actual fact, they do have quite a lot to teach us, provided we have the ears to listen.”

Anderson stated he is reminded of a quote from the 1971 movie Harold and Maude: “Dreyfus once wrote from Devil’s Island that he would see the most glorious birds. Many years later in Brittany he realized they had only been seagulls. For me they will always be glorious birds.”