Herring Gull

• Chicks learn to associate the red spot on an adult's bill with the cue to beg for food, a behaviour extensively studied in ethology.
• It eats fish, marine invertebrates, eggs, carrion and human refuse.
• One ringed bird reached a record 49 years.
• fisiologíaIt can drink both fresh and salt water thanks to specialised glands near the eyes that strain the excess salt out.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - pneumatised bony skeleton (bird)

Habitat & environment

Coasts, cliffs and increasingly towns of western and northern Europe, with a notable knack for living alongside people

Birth weight

~67.5 grams at hatching

Size at birth

Covered in mottled down on hatching, able to walk hours later

Sexual maturity

~4 years

Gestation / incubation

26-30 days

Litter / clutch size

2 to 4 eggs per clutch (most commonly 3)

Lifespan in captivity

Documented record of up to 49.3 years in a ringed bird in the wild

Sources consulted: A-Z Animals; Via Pontica; AnAge (genomics.senescence.info); Animal Diversity Web; Nature Table; Animalia.bio; Birdfact; Birds of the World

Best time: All year round on Atlantic and North Sea coasts; numbers rise in winter with the arrival of birds from the north.