Seagulls fat, 'infertile' from fast food

July 22, 2007

By Glenn Cordingley

July 16, 2007 04:20pm

SEAGULLS gorging themselves on greasy junk food in Hobart are so fat it is

affecting their reproduction.

University of Tasmania researcher Heidi Auman has found that silver gulls

feeding on fatty scraps being thrown to them from seaside cafes has caused

them to become overweight.

Ms Auman has been comparing city birds to those on the remote Furneaux

Islands, off

Tasmania's northeast, as part of her PhD for almost four years.

She said the urban gulls were about 10 per cent fatter and had higher

cholesterol, which was leading to poor quality eggs and a possible nosedive in

their populations.

" They are scavenging outside cafes and at tips on things like chips,'' Ms

Auman, who has been studying human impacts on sea birds as an ornithologist

for 20 years. said.

" This has led to the Hobart birds laying smaller, lighter eggs, with less

yolk.

" It is hard to say what impact this is having on their populations, but their

numbers have been dropping significantly over the past 25 years and this could

be the reason.''

Ms Auman said the roly poly gulls were still able to fly but the junk food was

having the same effect on them as it does on humans.

" Silver gulls have capitalised on our wasteful society and some of the same

effects of junk food on people seems to be manifesting in birds as well.''

2007 News Limited.

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