All kinds park birds from sparrows to thrushes, magpies to doves allow a man to walk closer to them than a woman on average before flying away.
An international team of researchers found it by testing the flight distances of 37 bird species during their breeding season in urban green spaces in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, France and Spain.
In tests a person calmly walked straight towards one individual bird.
The escape distance varied by species and by environment, but on average the birds let the newcomer within less than ten meters.
They ran away from the woman an average of one meter further than from the man. The result was repeated from country to country.
with that gender had this effect surprised the researchers. In the past, it has been observed, for example, that monkeys have a more fearless attitude towards women than men.
There is no certain explanation for the phenomenon. In the walking tests, women and men did not look clearly different, as they were the same size and dressed the same.
At least the smell of blood did not act as a deterrent, as the women did not participate in the study during their periods.
Likely such a general tendency is not learned in today’s environments, but is inherited from the winged ones who, thanks to their characteristics, survived to continue their family in the past.
Humans threatened birds as hunter-gatherers, but it has been assumed that game was primarily hunted by men.
Perhaps small animals like birds have been caught more by women, the researchers suggest People and Nature in the journal.