AVERTING EXTINCTION
Roadkill studies help put wildlife species on the path to survival
The country needs to find a balance between conserving biodiversity and development
Bridges for monkeys, tunnels for toads and fences for reptiles? These are some creative solutions that could save animals from ending their lives as roadkill. The Endangered Wildlife Trust’s wildlife and roads project specialises in "road ecology": a discipline that studies the impact of roads on the natural systems they bisect. The most obvious sign is roadkill, but the scale of the slaughter is difficult to establish – in the US alone, 1-million vertebrates are estimated to be squashed daily beneath the wheels of cars and trucks. In SA, insurance claims suggest that collisions with wildlife cost about R70m a year, but as Wendy Collinson, project executive of the wildlife and roads project, says, there is no clear idea of the cost to wildlife populations. Roads also cause habitat loss and fragmentation, noise can drive changes in bird song and road surfaces can alter the detectability of pheromones, reducing the breeding success of reptiles. "SA is a developing country with tourism...
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