Do n’t underestimate nature ’s ability to completely horrify you . Researchers report a behavior they ’ve never seen in the animate being world before : seagulls eating the eyeballs of child seals . Yes you read that correctly – seagull are the absolute worst .
The rather distressing finding are detail in a discipline published in theAfrican Journal of Marine Science . Along the seacoast of Namibia there have been around 500 case in the last 15 year where sea gull have attackedbaby Cape pelt sealsand endeavor to eat their eyeballs . Researchers attribute this to “ behavioral plasticity , ” where fauna are able to adjust or change a finicky behavior in response to a alteration in the environment , and it is suggested that an increase in seal act may have bring about this grim hunting strategy .
When it comes to feeding , Seagulls are n’t that finical and are consider as “ feeding Renaissance man . ” The subject field note that seagulls have been known to salvage on the remains of Cape fur seals after they ’ve been attacked by a white shark , and to eat flesh from the opened wounds of injured survivor .
Researchers toldNational Geographicthat seagulls target the eyeball of baby seals because , once blinded , they become more vulnerable to further attacks . These attacks usually occurred when the female parent seals went to hunt fish , leaving the infant seals alone and unprotected .
Of the attacks observed , 50 % were “ successful ” ensue in an orb being fleece out . Other seagulls were on a regular basis observed joining in on an attack , which led to the death of the seal . Seagulls usually focused their attack on voiced and bring out regions , such as the underbelly and the anus . I order you seagulls are assholes .
Though researchers describe it as a smart hunting maneuver , lead author Austin Gallagher toldNational Geographicthat “ It is not a pleasant behavior to observe , as the seals completely gross out out and make a fate of stochasticity . ”
researcher go for behavior like this , however horrifying , could ply further information on next ecological changes and provide insights into the shift relationships between quarry and predatory animal . “ owe to their often variable diets and ability to connect marine and terrestrial habitats over recollective distances , seafowl such as kelp gulls can be used as ' move laboratories ' for understanding the effects of human imperativeness such as climate change and overfishing , ” researchers note in the study .
