Why urban birds fear women more than men: Scientists puzzled by new study

Urban birds are showing gender-based fear responses in a new yet surprising research study.

According to researchers, the birds could identify someone's gender and men get more leverage coming closer to them before birds take flight.

The findings published in the British Ecological Society journal also demonstrated the pattern consistency in around 37 bird species. Here is the catch, even the scientists are puzzled over birds’ unusual behaviour and unable to figure out what makes women scarier than men and what traits birds can identify based on sex.

Researchers conducted a study across five European countries, including Czechia, France, Germany, Poland, and Spain, analysing a total of 2,701 observations to determine how human gender affects avian behaviour.

There is one possibility that birds could be distinguishing between sexes based on people’s pheromones, gait, and body shape, but this is conclusive, so more research is needed to uncover this mystery.

Professor Daniel Blumstein, a co-author of the study from the University of California, said, “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.”

Federico Morelli, a co-author of the study, from the University of Turin, “This is maybe the most interesting part of our study. We have identified a phenomenon, but we really don’t know why. However, what our results do highlight is the birds’ sophisticated ability to evaluate their environment.”

Dr Yanina Benedetti, the co-author of the study, said that this study demonstrates the underexplored relationship between urban birds and humans which could further impact equality in science and urban ecology.