List of The Dead (up-dated as we travel)

One of the joys of cycling is that you get to see (and smell!) all the wildlife killed by traffic and smeared all over the road in gory detail! With all the fuss about carbon emissions and pollution the fact that deaths from traffic take a toll on wildlife is conveniently forgotten. I find these deaths really depressing but they do sometimes offer the only opportunity to see wildlife up close (albeit dead and deformed) and to know what wildlife lives in the area.

After a couple of days of cycling past The Dead I thought it may be worthwhile to record all the species we saw killed by traffic as we cycled around the world and to start my own one man campaign. So what follows is a species list of The Dead - R.I.P

(note I am recording domestic animals to give you some idea of what we have to deal with smeared all over the road)

Mammals:

Badger

Polecat

Domestic cat (lots of!)

Brown Rat

Rabbit

Hedgehog

Stoat

Fox

Vole sp

Mole

Shrew sp

Red Squirrel

Field Mouse

Domestic Dog (lots of)

Doormouse

Donkey

Horse

Camel

5 Striped Indian Palm Squirrel
Indian (Desert) Fox

Cow

Feral Pig

Domestic Buffalo

Indian Mongoose

Flying Fox Bat

Domestic Goat

Thai Squirrel

Thai Bat Species

Racoon Dog (Tanuki)

Japanese Weasle

Chinese Waterdeer

Korean squirrel

American fox

Skunk x 2 species

Oppossum x 3 species

mexican mouse

Prarie dog

Tamandua Anteater

Mexican bat sp

Racoon

Nine-banded Armadillo

Eastern Cottontail rabbit

White-tailed deer

Coypu

Grey squirrel

Groundhog

Eastern Mole

Other Animals:

Toad

Frog

Salamander

Tortoise!

Common Lizard

Slow Worm

Grass Snake

Sand Lizard

Marsh Frog

Turkish desert toad (made up name but you get the idea!)

Turkish bright green lizard

Indian black snake
Indian bright green "rope" snake (more usuallly seen in coffee table books of indian wildlife than pressed into the tarmac)

Indian viper snake - some may consider a dead one a good thing!

Indian brown stripey lizard

Indian brown snake

Andaman toad

Thai snake species (numerous! incl python)

Thai frog and toad species (numerous)

Thai lizard species (numerous)

Thai Tortoise Species

Monitor lizard

Thai Crab Sp

Vietnamese land crabs

Vietnamese snakes & lizards

Chinese snakes & lizards

Japanese snakes & lizards

Black Iguana

Coral snake

Mexican snake species

Giant toad

Eastern Box turtle

Snapper Turtle

Alligator

Painted Turtle

Gopher Tortoise

American snake species

Red spotted newt

Birds:

Woodpigeon

Blackbird

Blue Tit

Mallard (duckling)

Linnet

Greenfinch

House Sparrow

Italian Sparrow

Collard Dove

Little Owl

Tawny Owl

Chaffinch

Turtle Dove

Goldfinch

Serin

Tree Sparrow

Red-backed Shrike

Bee-Eater (see photo)

Blackcap

Kestrel

Carrion Crow

Swallow

Corn Bunting

Kingfisher

Red-rumped Swallow

Buzzard

Melodious/Icterine warbler

Sand Martin

Great Black Backed Gull

Willow Warbler

Tawny Pipit

Winchat
Crested Lark

Pied Wheatear

Asian Koel

Greater Coucal

Rose-Ringed Parakeet

Spotted Owlet

Red-Vented Bulbul

Jungle Babbler

Red Wattled Lapwing

House Crow

Domestic chicken

Bank Myna

Indian Roller

Thai owl species

Thai nightjar sp

Thai bittern sp

Thai bulbul sp

White Vented Myna

Scaly-breasted Munia

Paddyfield Pipit

Cinnamon bittern

Bright-capped Cisticola

Weaver Bird

Savannah Nightjar

Plain Prinia

Collard Finchbill

Yellow-throated bunting

Vinous-throated parrotbill

Oriental Turtle Dove

Durian Redstart

Black Vulture

Hooded Oriole

Vermillion Flycatcher

Groove-billed Ani

Yellow warbler

Southern House Wren

Blue Bunting

Yellowthroat

Solitary Vireo

Quail sp.

Hooded Warbler

Rufous-sided Towhee

Golden Fronted Woodpecker

Turkey vulture

Boat-tailed grackle

Mourning Dove

Indigo Bunting

Black & White Warbler

Mangrove Cuckoo

Dickissel

Common Nighthawk

Whip-poor-wil

Laughing Gull

Red Cardinal

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Broad winged Hawk

Brown Pelican

Scissor-tailed flycatcher

Snowy Egret

Cattle Egret

Green Heron

Clapper Rail

King Rail

Northern Mockingbird

Cliff Swallow

Barred Owl

Red-winged Blackbird

Least Tern

Killdeer

Loggerhead Shrike

Least Bittern

Eastern Kingbird

Great Horned Owl

Orchard Oriole

Eastern Screech Owl

Brown Thrasher

Grey Catbird

American Robin

Wood Thrush

Veery

Insects:

Slug

Damselfly

Dragonfly

Dung Beetle

Bumblebee

Stag Beetle

Swallow Tailed Butterflies

White Admiral Buttrfly

Speckled Wood Buttrfly

Millepede

Hornet

Brown Scorpion
Giant Milipede

Beautiful tropical butterflies (dozens of species)
Black scorpion

Giant Thai Beetles

Stick insects

Praying mantis

Locusts
Loads of pretty black/red/green swallowtail butterflies

In the final analysis roadkill was one of the low points of the trip and this list of species doesn't do justice to the scale of the carnage. The sheer numbers of dead wildlife was numbing. Through parts of the USA there were several dead armadillos and turtles every mile for hundreds of miles.

From an analytical point of view the amount of roadkill increased in proportion to the speed and volume of traffic (especially at night) and the amount of wildlife. So for example there was little roadkill in Turkey and Iran due to the scarcity of wildlife in desert regions and the low volume of traffic, even though the traffic was fast. In developing countries the traffic was often slow or non-motorised and low in volume (especially at night) but there was a lot of wildlife. The USA was unboubtedly the worse, especially in parts of the South, where the combination of abundant wildlife and high volumes of fast traffic (including at night) was a disaster.