‘When your wings don’t work like they used to’: Swoonworthy seagull recreates ‘Titanic’ by carrying lovebird on his back

Romance is well and truly alive and thriving in the animal kingdom as demonstrated by what seems to be a wholesome TikTok of a seagull giving another seagull a lift.

The video, posted by @big_fat_rave, shows two seagulls, one flying and the other sitting on his back, just enjoying the ride. It’s certainly not something you’d expect to see everyday, and furthermore, you have to wonder how something like that is even possible. Like, how is that seagull standing on the other one like that without falling off?

It’s nice to see Scuttle from The Little Mermaid living life to the fullest. The whole thing is very reminiscent of that scene in Titanic when Jack and Rose are standing at the front of the ship; all you need is a bit of Céline Dion playing over the video and you’ve got a short love story with gulls instead of humans. Of course, the drum ‘n bass music chosen by the original poster works just as well.

It’s only a short 6 second clip, but it tells so many stories in such a short amount of time. Are these seagulls lovers? Is the bottom one carrying their lover like some cheesy rom-com? Is the one on top just being cheeky? Who knows, it’s up to the viewer to decide the story here. Regardless, it could make a great animated Pixar film; I know I’d definitely watch it. 

One commenter chose to believe, that it was definitely a bet: “i bet you a tenner I can fly with you on my back.” Others compared the scene to other movies like Toy Story: “Uhh Buzz we missed the truck.” One commenter even took a jab at Boeing, a company whose reputation has dropped like bird poo in recent months. So maybe this isn’t the romantic scene it initially appeared to be, maybe they aren’t lovebirds, but instead just two mates getting up to mischief. Well, whatever, they’re doing it looks fun, and I want in.

Is this normal behavior for seagulls?

The video has actually done the rounds on the internet before, being shared on platforms like Reddit a few years ago. But this isn’t exactly a common activity for Seagulls. In fact, it seems to be a one off freak occurrence, which makes it all the more interesting. 

Seagull expert (yes, those exist) Peter Rock offered a few theories when speaking to The Dodo back in 2021. While he admitted he’d never seen footage like it before, he claimed that: “This is the exact position the gulls adopt for mating.” So there you have it, not only were they lovebirds all along, but apparently these gulls are exhibitionists too. Maybe it really is Jack and Rose reincarnated as birds re-living scenes from the movie. If that’s the case, I really hope they don’t try to recreate the car scene.