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Bears don't attack seagulls because it's easier to catch salmon.In food terms a seagull provides a comparatively poor return for the effort expended in catching it whereas a salmon provides the bear with a great deal of meat for very little effort.The bear knows instictively that it's energy would be better employed catching salmon and furthermore it has physical characteristics such as long sharp claws which mean it is ideally suited to catching fish rather than birds.For the same reason sharks-one of nature's most voracious predators seldom expend the effort on attacking healthy fish.They have evolved physical characteristics such as sensory organs which are stimulated by certain things like the presence of blood in the water or the distress signals of an injured fish.I recently watched a documentary about squid which showed that these creatures can live in relative harmony in social groups however once one of their number receives even a slight injury it will literally be torn to shreds by other squid.This is a conditioned response just as the bear is conditioned to hunt salmon rather than seagulls and the shark is conditioned to hunt wounded prey rather than waste valuable energy pursuing healthy fish.
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