Painting eyes on takeaway boxes may stop gulls stealing chips, study says

It's a sunny day, you're at the beach, you've just got yourself some lunch - and before you know it, a greedy seagull has stolen your chips!

If this has happened to you, it might be wise to draw or paint eyes on your box of fish and chips, researchers at The University of Exeter say.

The drawn on eyes reduced chip-nicking by as much as 50% in some cases, according to the study.

Researchers ordered a number of tempting takeaways to eat at seaside towns in Devon and Cornwall.

When faced with a choice between a box with eyes painted on it and a plain box, they found gulls were slower to approach the box with eyes and less likely to peck at it.

Even after the gulls had been around the googly-eyed takeaway for a while, they remained wary of pecking them.

The study was published in the scientific journal Ecology and Evolution.

Painting eyes on objects has been shown to be a good deterrent in other situations.

Starlings and other birds have been kept away from crops, whilst painting eyes on livestock may reducing predator attacks.

So, if you're planning on a chippy takeaway at the beach this summer - maybe take a biro with you!

And if that doesn't work, you could always shout and flap your arms!