Video of gull swallowing a squirrel whole is perfectly normal and fine, researchers say

Warning: This story contains graphic video and images.

A viral video of a herring gull swallowing a whole squirrel has shocked and horrified many people. But the people who study these birds say there’s nothing to be alarmed about.

the clip, which was posted on an animal-focused TikTok account, captures the seagull swallowing a fuzzy black squirrel in a serpentine fashion. Each time the bird swallows, the hind legs and bushy tail of the unwitting prey disappear further into its esophagus.

“This isn’t barbaric behavior. It’s just the norm,” Rock, an urban gull researcher from Bristol, England, told me. As it happens host Nil Koksal.

“Seagulls are expected to eat whatever is available. And if it’s a weak animal, they’ll kill it and they’ll eat it.”

WATCH: Seagull Swallows Squirrel:

Seagulls may be best known for stealing chips from people on the beach, or tearing open garbage cans in search of a discarded sandwich — but Rock says they’re the ultimate omnivores.

“Food is key to everything, of course, and they know how to get it,” he said. “For these birds, they know everything about everything within their range. So when one food source dries up, they know exactly where to go for something else.”

And that includes everything from blueberries to half-eaten Big Macs to animals.

“I’ve seen them eat rats, I’ve seen them eat pigeons and so on. So it’s not uncommon,” he said. “Although this is, I must say, the first time I’ve come across a squirrel.”

Louise Blight, a custom associate professor at the University of Victoria’s School of Environmental Studies, says seagulls on the west coast will often feast on large starfish.

“I think people are partly shocked by this video because they’re not used to seeing gulls as marine predators — but their natural diet isn’t french fries,” she said. “They eat a range of prey around the world, from krill and fish and bivalves to other seabirds.”

John Anderson, a professor of ecology and natural history at the College of the Atlantic in Maine, has studied gulls for decades. He says that while they can and do hunt, he has rarely seen one kill a small mammal. He suspects that the squirrel was already dead when the seagull found it.

“Honestly, it’s a herring gull doing what a herring gull does,” Anderson told CBC. “They are scavengers.”

‘They have cast iron stomachs’

But he cautioned against painting seagulls with a single brush. Even gulls that nest right next to each other can have completely different routines, personalities and food preferences, he said.

“I can, you know, sit in my lighthouse all day watching the birds. And it’s like being in the middle of a wonderful soap opera, because each pair has its own personality,” he said.

“Some are aggressive and some are really passive. And some are really exploratory. And some of the nests are incredibly decorated and some are just little dimples in the ground. So it’s the variety that I find really fascinating.”

Swallowing a whole squirrel may seem unpleasant, but gulls don’t like large snacks, says Rock.

That’s because gulls — like owls — have gizzards that allow them to swallow large prey and filter out the not-so-good-to-eat parts, which they then expel in the form of pellets.

And unlike when humans chew a little too fervently, the seagulls don’t experience any unpleasant digestive effects.

“They have cast iron stomachs,” Rock said.

‘Seagulls are poetry in motion’

Anderson says he hopes the video doesn’t further demonize what he says is an important and misunderstood species.

Gull populations are declining worldwide, he said, and they play an important role in ecosystems — not to mention the important job of humans clearing them out.

“That’s what things like this video worry me about, because people start with a negative image of seagulls and don’t stop them from actually watching them,” he said. “Seagulls are poetry in motion. Watching them fly is absolutely amazing.”

Rock agrees. He has been tagging city gulls and publishing papers about them for decades, saying they get a bad reputation simply because they are resilient and resourceful.

“What I’m trying to put forward is the truth about these birds, not the assumptions,” he said.

“The pest control industry makes a lot of money by presenting seagulls as the enemies, the seagull threat, all that sort of thing. And in fact, they have a lot to teach us, provided we have the ears to listen.”

Anderson said he was reminded of a quote from the 1971 film Harold and Maud: “Dreyfus once wrote from Devil’s Island that he would see the most beautiful birds. Many years later in Brittany he realized that they had only been seagulls. For me they will always be beautiful birds.”