Hot Steamy Roadkill
 

On the recent Florida tour, the amount of roadkill seen was pretty unimaginable. It seems that once you get out of the big city, its everywhere.

1> Raccoons
2> Squirrels
3> Armadillos
4> Opossums
5> Alligators
6> 2 Dogs
7> Pig
8> Grasshoppers
9> Frogs
10> Turkey Vultures
11> Other assorted small birds
12> Calf
13> A cat (I think...)
14> Rabbit

Anyone ever see some really strange roadkill? I guess the weirdest thing I saw was the fact that the turkey vultures eat the dead raccoon roadkill on the road, but then are hit by cars because they get greedy and try to leave the kill at the last moment...so you'll find dead vultures next to raccoons.

Seems like every season a different species is on the top of the road kill list up here.
This year it's turtles. I've seen plenty of 'em smashed flat since spring arrived. Kind of sad.

It must suck bein' a turtle in Ohio. :rolleyes:

Lots of kangaroos.

Assortment of snakes and lizards.

A bunch of camels.

An Emu.

A wombat or two.

A variety of birdlife.

Cats.

Dogs.

Heard someone say they help turtles across the street, so I started doing the same. Is it normal for water (pond scum or pee) to erupt from the shell? Or did I put him on the wrong side of the road and he was pissed?

Last fall I was riding in remote, desert country in SE Washington State when I saw a deer get clobbered by a truck. The truck drove on, but the deer was still alive, lying paralyzed below the front shoulders (broken back). I jumped off the bike and slit the deers throat to put it out of its misery. Two days later I was riding back that way, heading for home, when I passed that same dead deer on the side of the road. As I passed, a fat, dirty, and well fed badger crawled out of the deer's anus. It had eaten its way in through the bung hole and was enjoying a royal feast.

We have a lot of rattlesnakes in our region and a bunch of them end up as additional stripes on the asphalt. Last weekend I was riding with some friends and we were chatting, not paying close attention to what was in front of us, when one rolled over a good size rattler. I was right behind my buddy, so I saw the snake flip up and try to bite whatever had just hit him. The snake ended up getting its head caught in the spokes of the rear wheel and went round and round a couple times before being thrown clear and scuttling off into the sagebrush as fast as it could go. We watched the road a lot closer after that.

Good story Sagerat.
I wonder if the saying "So hungry I could eat the a$$ hole out of a dead rhino" has got something to do with roadkill in africa. Or maybe it was just started by a badger. Who knows!? Maybe I just made that up...

Dave