Saturday, February 21, 2009

Fun Fundy job: Seagull watcher

Well this job might just beat becoming a Bay of Fundy tidal bore rafting guide, alpaca breeder, or stag party planner: it's seagull researcher!


A chap from the Université de Montréal's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine just conducted an extensive research study on Bay of Fundy seagulls. He compared the activity of gulls that were sleeping relative to the alertness of their neighbours.

Apparently, gulls sleep with one eye open and constantly scan the group and this study suggests that the theory of a collective group awareness can be applied across the animal kingdom. Although humans don't worry about predators, we do pay attention to the behaviour of our peers. For example, we assess the value of others based on their social or physical interactions - we are looking at an individual's strengths. The animals who pay attention are the ones who gain. Who knew?

1 comment:

Ocean Explorations Zodiac Whale Cruises said...

Terri,

how 'bout being a whale-guide!??

we have a position open! (psn for "owner in training" too! LOL)

jobs posted on cooljobs (this job actually only describes assistant, until I update it)

http://cooljobscanada.com/job_view.aspx?id=15059&app=false&ishow=false&prn=true

tom