# What is the most common road kill in your area? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 14, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378 "2011-02-14T23:11:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/1 "2011-02-14T23:11:07Z")
I just got back from a long bike ride and saw yet another squished armadillo, and that got me to thinking about this very important topic. Even though this isn’t an opinion question, I’m putting it here because a poll is on its way. Darn, I forgot the one that’s my answer: Squirrel!!! Any way to edit the poll entries? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/2 "2011-02-14T23:13:55Z")
You don’t see much roadkill in my area. I guess it’s seagulls, but only just. edit: Rabbits too. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/3 "2011-02-14T23:14:04Z")
Gophers. Sorry, [Richardson’s Ground Squirrels](http://fusion.uleth.ca/crdc/rgs/photos/Juvon2.JPG), which are commonly known as gophers on the prairies. I even made up a joke about it - “Why did the gopher cross the road? To prove it could be done.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/4 "2011-02-14T23:17:01Z")
Squirrels are the most common, but there are also a fair number of raccoons, skunks, and porcupines. Chipmunks and foxes are far more rare as roadkill, though I’m not sure why in the former’s case since they’re no brighter than the grey and red squirrels when it comes to darting out in front of cars. Woodchucks and rabbits are pretty rare considering their populations too. Fortunately big things like deer, bears, coyotes and moose seem shy-er around traffic, or there’d be a lot more damage to cars. > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Gophers. Sorry, [Richardson’s Ground Squirrels](http://fusion.uleth.ca/crdc/rgs/photos/Juvon2.JPG), which are commonly known as gophers on the prairies. Awww, it looks like someone painted a chipmunk beige. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/5 "2011-02-14T23:21:20Z")
I also vote for squirrel. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/6 "2011-02-14T23:22:31Z")
Badger. I don’t expect it’s the most common, but it’s the one I most commonly see. Smaller animals such as pheasants, rabbits and songbirds are probably killed more frequently, but are collected by scavengers fairly quickly. Badgers tend to stay put once killed. ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/7 "2011-02-14T23:27:06Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I also vote for squirrel. Yeah, I could kick myself for forgetting to include them in the poll. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/8 "2011-02-14T23:28:07Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Badger. > > I don’t expect it’s the most common, but it’s the one I most commonly see. Smaller animals such as pheasants, rabbits and songbirds are probably killed more frequently, but are collected by scavengers fairly quickly. Badgers tend to stay put once killed. Where are you? I don’t think we have badgers here in Florida (although I could be wrong; I didn’t think we had otters until I saw one crossing the road). ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/9 "2011-02-14T23:29:34Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > \ > Awww, it looks like someone painted a chipmunk beige. Don’t you be “awwwing” the gophers, devil beasts that they are (they kill horses and cows all the time - the holes are just the right size for leg-snapping). ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/10 "2011-02-14T23:35:42Z")
I guess most people round here would say hedgehogs, and they are renowned (justly or otherwise) for being squished by cars. But my impression is that it’s mainly birds, rabbits and foxes. In the urban area where I live, I guess rabbits are less common. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/11 "2011-02-14T23:41:05Z")
I voted deer, but that may be the most roadkill only by total mass. Porcupines and skunks probably think they are immune to injury due to their defense system, but I can’t explain the reasoning of squirrels and chipmunks, who dart across the road on a suicide mission. Deer will run along your car at full speed or wait until you come up to them, then instead of veering away, charge headlong into the vehicle or the vehicle’s path. I think they are paid by the auto body shops. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/12 "2011-02-14T23:51:35Z")
Skunk. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/13 "2011-02-14T23:53:30Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Don’t you be “awwwing” the gophers, devil beasts that they are (they kill horses and cows all the time - the holes are just the right size for leg-snapping). Oh. Chipmunks are ground squirrels too, but they have wee little holes that don’t seem to bother our hoofed friends. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/14 "2011-02-14T23:56:27Z")
Kind of a tie here. Skunks and deer. I see at least one or the other every week. ---
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/15 "2011-02-14T23:58:10Z")
Raccoons by far. Every spring through fall, I find myself wondering if they have some kind of suicide pact going on. I see dozens by the side of the road. Actually “dozens” seems conservative. By contrast, in the eight years I’ve lived in this area, I’ve seen exactly one deer, one rabbit and one fox dead on the side of the road. (I’ve seen plenty of live specimens of each, so I know they are around.) Squirrels, skunks, and opossums are a little more common, but don’t come near matching the sheer number of raccoon corpses. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/16 "2011-02-15T00:01:30Z")
Out amidst the cornfields it’s raccoons by far followed by possums and then deer. In town (where I live) it might be squirrels first and then possums. Due (I think) to the drought last summer/fall I noticed an unusually large number of snapping turtle road kill. I believe they were moving around more as smaller bodies of water began to dry up. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/17 "2011-02-15T00:01:46Z")
Toss up between chipmunks/squirrels and porcupines, here in Maine. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/18 "2011-02-15T00:03:44Z")
I don’t know for sure that deer are numerically the most common. But a dead deer is more noticable than a dead squirrel or dead possum. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/19 "2011-02-15T00:07:16Z")
Suicidal frogs. Seriously, I have never seen so many frogs until I moved to this town. I almost felt like I was in a plague of frogs last summer. While driving through my town at midnight one night, I squashed at least 10 suicidal frogs. I love frogs. It really bothers me but they’re impossible to miss. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378/20 "2011-02-15T00:08:20Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > I voted deer, but that may be the most roadkill only by total mass. > > Porcupines and skunks probably think they are immune to injury due to their defense system, but I can’t explain the reasoning of squirrels and chipmunks, who dart across the road on a suicide mission. Deer will run along your car at full speed or wait until you come up to them, then instead of veering away, charge headlong into the vehicle or the vehicle’s path. I think they are paid by the auto body shops. There’s a highway I travel frequently that’s not an interstate but most traffic is travelling at interstate speeds and there’s cornfields and woods on both sides of the highway. The deer kills are often quite spectacular. When they get hit by a semi they seem to explode with blood and parts strewn over an impressive stretch. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-road-kill-in-your-area/571378.md?page=2)