Do slower speeds reduce wildlife deaths on conservation area roads?

So glad to be contributing to this worthy project! Thank you PDRT!

Awesome! So excited for this project to get off the ground. Great work!

Congratulations! And THANK YOU!

Tammy and Greg!!! You are AMAZING!!!! So happy you exceeded the goal foe this project! Painted Dogs are the BEST!!!

Greg, you are always looking for solutions in different directions! Keep doing your GREAT work for the dogs! Marylou

Hi Cienna! Thank you for your question and for sharing the article. In ecology we have a tenet regarding predators and prey: failure is final. Unfortunately, this also applies to the victims of roadkill. We have not observed any species that have learned to avoid or negotiate traffic. It's particularly heartbreaking when we find endangered painted dog pups (only weeks old) or other young animals who will never get a chance to learn or reproduce.

Does the wildlife seem to learn about vehicle speeds? Some birds seem to: https://phys.org/news/2013-08-reveals-birds-roads-limits.html I know reducing the speed reduces the impact a lot, and it seems like slowing down traffic could also help some by lowering the variation in vehicle speeds. If the people turn out to be unwilling to change their ways, maybe there is a way to make traffic easier for the animals to predict? I'm thinking of deer whistles as an example, though I don't think those worked for deer.

Thank you :)

Greg and Chris, this is such important work. I'm very much looking forward to following your progress.