The quick and the dead. Natural Selection via Roadkill?

[Krazyskooter]

Was driving home from work the other night, and noticed eight dead opossums on the way. this is only a five mile drive. It got me to thinking, how long before we stop seeing so many dead animals on the roads? Are we selecting the ones that tend to cross the roads quicker? Are we selecting the ones that tend to avoid the roads altogether? Will animals start looking both ways? Anyway, don't take this post too seriously I just thought it would be a fun topic.

 

[lrkun]

Was driving home from work the other night, and noticed eight dead opossums on the way. this is only a five mile drive. It got me to thinking, how long before we stop seeing so many dead animals on the roads? Are we selecting the ones that tend to cross the roads quicker? Are we selecting the ones that tend to avoid the roads altogether? Will animals start looking both ways? Anyway, don't take this post too seriously I just thought it would be a fun topic.

The event is chance.

 

[ExeFBM]

There's a trend in the uk for hedgehogs to start running away when they're startled, rather than curl into a ball. One of the reasons for this is believed to be traffic. So it looks like natural selection is kicking in. Maybe opossums are just less adaptable.

 

[lrkun]

There's a trend in the uk for hedgehogs to start running away when they're startled, rather than curl into a ball. One of the reasons for this is believed to be traffic. So it looks like natural selection is kicking in. Maybe opossums are just less adaptable.

please provided the reference. It'd be fun to see.

 

[ExeFBM]

After a quick hunt, all of the articles I've found don't have any statistics or references, so the reports may be closer to speculative than I thought. Here's what most of them look like http://www.bbcfocusmagazine.com/qa/will-hedgehogs-ever-stop-look-and-listen-crossing

 

[nemesiss]

quote]
The car has only existed for a hundred hedgehog generations - tens of thousands would be needed for significant evolutionary change.
[/quote]

they fail at evolutionairy biology.

though you do see in residential area's that animals adapt reasonably to cars.
perhaps the low speed of the cars gives them the chance to adapt faster then with highways.

i would place this under "enviromental pressure".
the animals that are smart enough to not get hit by cars get to breed.

couple weeks ago, i saw two cats sitting on the curb waiting for some cars to pass.
their heads followed the car and they looked at the other side of the road and ran to the other street, while like at the side instead of lookin forward.

 

[Anachronous Rex]

Possum numbers are increasing roadkill or no... their territory is expanding northwards and they seem to do very well in suburbia. Perhaps roadkill simply is not enough of a factor to shift the Allies significantly?

On a related note, there is some sort of recessive gene complex which causes male whitetail deer to not grow horns which is becoming more common. The suggested reason being that - while it is an impediment to mating - your head becomes less likely to decorate a wall.

 

[Krazyskooter]

That's interesting about the deer. Seems like I read somewhere that elephants in africa arent growing tusks for the same reason.