Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
City-dwelling birds are… afraid of women? At least they seem to be more afraid of women than men. In a new pilot study, men could get about three feet closer to birds than women could before the birds flew away. This indicates that the birds could somehow tell the sex of the person approaching them — but the researchers don’t know exactly how.
🎤: Marta Hill
📝: Claire Cameron
📷: Getty Images, Morelli, F. et. al
Morelli, F., Benedetti, Y., Mikula, P., Blumstein, D. T., Díaz, M., Page, A., Tryjanowski, P., Nowak, M. K., Vincze, E., & Lövei, G. L. (2026). Sex matters: European urban birds flee approaching women sooner than approaching men. People and Nature, 8, 316–326. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.70226
#birds #biology #science #birding
City-dwelling birds are… afraid of women? At least they seem to be more afraid of women than men. In a new pilot study, men could get about three feet closer to birds than women could before the birds flew away. This indicates that the birds could somehow tell the sex of the person approaching them — but the researchers don’t know exactly how.
🎤: Marta Hill
📝: Claire Cameron
📷: Getty Images, Morelli, F. et. al
Morelli, F., Benedetti, Y., Mikula, P., Blumstein, D. T., Díaz, M., Page, A., Tryjanowski, P., Nowak, M. K., Vincze, E., & Lövei, G. L. (2026). Sex matters: European urban birds flee approaching women sooner than approaching men. People and Nature, 8, 316–326. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.70226
#birds #biology #science #birding
