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Mon 24 Jul, 2017 12:48 pm
This is my first post on this fourum, I hope this is the correct section for my question.
Today next to my flat a group of 9 European herring gulls were attacking a single gull of the same species, they did not kill it, but the assault went on for like 5 minutes, than they left it there, where it stayed with it's head down.
Could somebody please explain why birds would do this? Could it have been revenge?
If it helps it happend in an urban area in Eastern Europe.
@dobbleextra,
Revenge implies a lot more brain power than these birds probably have. Likely it's one (or more of a few things):
- The attacked bird had food.
- The attacked bird stole food from an attacker.
- Maybe it's feather pecking like seen in chickens and other poultry (http://articles.extension.org/pages/66088/feather-pecking-and-cannibalism-in-small-and-backyard-poultry-flocks)
Or something else.
But it's probably not something requiring the kind of planning and intelligence of revenge, except in the basest sense of the word, where one bird took from another and the first one wants something back.
@jespah,
Thank you, but what I found weird was that, it was a group attack, could it have been a flock attacking a "froreign" bird.
@dobbleextra,
The lone gull might have been sick in some way.
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