People Are Losing It Over This KFC-Stealing Seagull
We're all familiar with the thieving ways of hungry seagulls. Clips of innocent eaters getting their lunches stolen by the birds seem to go viral once a month, and YouTube has plenty of boredom-curing compilations of such unfortunate events. The birds are so notorious for their pilfering, in fact, that experts have developed tactics for preventing seagulls from stealing your food, like staring them down.
The latest viral victim of robbery by birds is 17-year-old Scottish student Matthew McGill, according to the Daily Record. His sister, Sophie, documented the demise of Matthew's KFC wrap on TikTok, where nearly 2.5 million viewers have watched a sneaky seagull take a bite of food directly out of his mouth with its beak. The incident left Matthew "traumatized" and the remainder of his wrap "in the bin." Though the bird's actions put a damper on Matthew's plans to see if he could eat his entire meal in a single bite, as he told the publication he had wanted to do, the siblings call the surprise "the funniest thing ever."
How to keep your grub safe from seagulls
If you've ever been a victim of a seagull's greediness, you'll want to know how to protect your oceanside chow for the next time a bird tries to strike. Scientists at Exeter University's Center for Ecology and Conservation found that gulls were less likely to steal food if humans were watching them (via Reuters). Researchers left a bag of fries in the open and noticed that many seagulls took about 21 seconds longer to approach the food if people were looking at them, while several other birds just flew away.
But if you're really passionate about your whatever you're eating, you should pay attention to another finding from the same study: Seagulls are more likely to steal food that they've seen a human touch or eat, reports Food & Wine. When left with one granola bar untouched by researchers and another that a researcher had handled for several seconds, about 80 percent of seagulls went for the touched bar. Scientists determined that seagulls "use human handling as a cue" for what's tasty or easy to eat — so if you really want your wrap, just eat it inside.