Seagulls: Are males the weaker sex?

Male seagulls may be more vulnerable to their environment during embryonic development than females, according to Maria Bogdanova and Ruedi Nager from the University of Glasgow in the UK. Until now, the sex differences in developmental rate and susceptibility to unfavorable conditions during the embryonic stage in birds have received little attention. The paper has just been published in Springer’s journal, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.