Birds have a clear preference when it comes to choosing between men and women

Birds have a sense of identifying the sex of humans, according to a study. They also have a preference and like males over females, as they fled much quicker when women came near them. Study co-author Yanina Benedetti, an ecologist at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, said in a statement, "As a woman in the field, I was surprised that birds reacted to us differently." Scientists included 37 bird species from five European countries and found that the birds flew away quickly when approached by women as compared to men. This showed that city birds can distinguish between male and female approaches. Researchers measured the distance from a human at which the bird flew away to make their conclusions, in which women emerged as the ones they disliked. However, the study authors have yet to find the reason for this behaviour. It was published in the journal People and Nature.

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Benedetti stated that the findings have "implications for urban ecology and equality in science" and show how animals in cities see humans. The researchers expanded on these encounters to determine whether they were just coincidences or part of a broader response pattern. They analysed over 2,700 approaches across five European countries (Czechia, France, Germany, Poland, and Spain) involving birds like magpies and pigeons. The latter were more tolerant of humans and fled only after humans got really close. However, others, like magpies, took off faster and had a longer flight initiation distance.

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Birds fled faster, seeing the women approach them

To remove other factors from the study, researchers paired male and female participants of similar heights and dressed them in the same colours. They walked up to a bird in a straight line while keeping their gaze fixed on it. They then measured the distance at which the bird fled, which is the metric used in the study, Flight Initiation Distance. Across all species and locations, they were amazed to find that birds consistently fled sooner when approached by a woman than by a man.

The observations gathered between April and July of 2023 found that, on average, men could get around 3 feet closer to the birds than women could. "I fully believe our results, that urban birds react differently based on the sex of the person approaching them, but I can't explain them right now," study co-author Daniel Blumstein said in the statement. The researchers admitted that follow-up studies are required to understand more about this behaviour, such as movement patterns, scent cues, or physical traits.