In the second video, “Growing up”, I was able to observe the fascinating behavior of the seabird Tern for which I chose to write about for the second prompt. In this video David Attenborough happened upon a nursery of over a dozen Terns tending to their young. It was quite the crowded nursery as the parents simultaneously lay their eggs in the spring. While the Terns are busy peacefully gathering food for their offspring, a large seagull attempts an attack. The Terns drop their present task and embark on a mission to drive away the seagull threatening the nursery. In a series of swerving motions and dives the Terns mob the seagull and harass it until it flies away defeated. The Terns are relentless as they aim to fly closer and closer to the …show more content…
The other Terns fly close by ready to attack if the seagull returns. My ultimate hypothesis for why the Terns aggressively mob and distract the seagull is because it is an antipredator behavior for which the Terns have adapted over time in order to protect their offspring by driving away potential predators. The distractions by the Terns will lower the chances of predators, like the seagull, from stealing eggs and attacking the nursery. In order to test this hypothesis, an experiment must be conducted to see if the Tern mobs to protect its offspring or if it is a random behavior. If my hypothesis is true, then Terns will mob or attack in the sight of potential predators. In my experiment I would observe a colony of Terns in their natural environment. I would set up parameters of five, ten, and twenty feet from the center of the colony. I would obtain a common predator of the Terns to use in my observations, such as a seagull. For the first condition, I would place the seagull into a cage, cover the cage with a blanket, and inconspicuously place the cage at the twenty foot point and then at the ten and five foot points from the center of the colony. I