When I walk into my back yard and see a few deer on the corners of my field they usually see me and bolt. If I walk out to the field with my dog and see some rabbits they scatter. Same with the ground hogs. So why is it that when I’m driving down the highway I sometimes see deer/rabbits/ground hogs foraging by the side of the highway completely oblivious to the two ton cars wizzing by them. Not running away, just sitt’in there eat’in. I drove by a rabbit the other day, my car wasn’t 12 feet from it. I can’t get that close even if I tried, if I was walking up to it…
Whats up with that?
As I don’t think this question has a definitive answer, I’ll risk the wrath of the Mods by posting a non-definitive one. The theory I’ve seen/heard most often is that the critters have had millenia to learn to recognize that upright gait of ours as bad news, while the big, loud, moving “rocks” have only been around for a hundred years, or so. They’ve had even longer to learn to avoid wolf-like critters. I suspect that animals also recognize the difference between a car hitting and killing one of their number at random and being actively hunted and killed. So, they probably view cars as being some sort of natural hazard, but not a predator.
My guess would be that it’s a smell thing not a visual thing?
Its an evolution thing, the ones that don’t move get hit and the ones that do go on and breed. So eventually you end up with animals smart enough to keep away from large hunks of metal moving at breakneck speeds and a bunch of low IQ roadkill. Thus the balance of nature is restored!