If fish is brain food, does that mean coastal seagulls are smarter? 

If you were to chart out intelligence — or at least our impressions of intelligence — in birds, surely the wise old owl would be at the head of a long, decreasingly impressive list of avian intellect, with the lamentably named dodo bringing up the rear.

But on the scale of biggest birdbrain, where would you rank the seagull?

If you said "none too high," you're not alone, but one graduate student at Memorial University wants a more scientific answer to the question of seagull smarts — particularly in relation to what they're eating.

Jessika Lamarre says she was drawn to studying intelligence in seagulls when she compared what she saw seagulls eating in Newfoundland and Labrador with what she remembered from her native Quebec.

"There's a lot of studies in mammals, and especially in humans, that shows that eating omega-3s, mostly through fish, really helps with intelligence and developing the brain in infants," she said, referring to the fatty acids that are bountiful in seafood. 

"But there's no study of that on birds. So I was wondering if the seagulls here, since they're eating fish and marine organisms, would be more intelligent than the ones that are in Quebec that eat a lot of french fries and garbage and things like that."

Lamarre, a master's student in MUN's cognitive and behavioural ecology program, is now engaged in a study comparing the gulls in the metro St. John's area, which — like their feathered friends in Quebec — have a largely garbage diet, with those in gull colonies farther away from town, which subsist mainly on sea life.

Clever gulls

"We know they are smart because they are so good at adapting and colonizing new environments," said Lamarre.

"That's why they're everywhere now. And they're a nuisance, actually, for most people because of that."

So, how do you go about testing the intelligence of a seagull? As you can imagine, they don't perform well on exams. 

So Lamarre devised a test involving a closed box with a delicious piece of sausage inside and a pull string to get it out. If the seagull is wily enough to recognize there is food in the box — and that they can get a free meal by pulling the string — they pass with honours.

So far, the Conception Bay South gulls, with their garbage diet, passed about 20 per cent of the time, which she said isn't a bad score.

To the surprise of no one from outside the proverbial overpass, Lamarre's thesis is that intelligence rises as you get farther from town.

"We are thinking that [C.B.S. seagulls] are the less likely to be eating fish, so they would technically be less intelligent if the hypothesis is true," said Lamarre.

"We're in Spaniard's Bay now. There's definitely a Mary Brown's around that they visit, but there's also a lot of fish here available for them. And then our next colony after that will be Old Perlican, where they can only eat fish."

Rising temperatures, more trouble

So far the study is only in the early stages, but it could have a far-reaching impact.

Lamarre says gulls were chosen because they are easy to get to, but if there's a connection between bird intelligence and omega-3s, it has implications for many species that have a fish-heavy diet.

The news there isn't always good.

"With climate change now, ocean acidification and temperature warming, there's less and less omega-3s in the water," said Lamarre.

"So we're worried about other types of seabirds that rely on those omega-3s and would have to show the intelligence to overcome this real world problem, with maybe a decrease in intelligence at the end."

In the meantime, gulls who have been tested at each of the sites are given a coloured band on their right leg, along with an aluminum band on their left.

So if you see a seagull sporting a pair of anklets, wish them well. They may have just passed finals.

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