Lead exposure & predator avoidance behaviours in house sparrows

In this study, we conducted vigilance, gaze aversion and escape flight assays on a population of house sparrows inhabiting a chronically lead-polluted city. We found that in higher-leaded areas sparrows were more vigilant, and displayed aversion towards direct human gaze, compared to lower-leaded areas, whereas higher-leaded birds were marginally worse at escape flight.