Fly electrocution racket: I want lightning and thunder

[Militoy]

Continuing that rabbit trail...Actually, that would be Darwin, not Pavlov unless we're talking about non-lethality. I've also noticed a similar effect.....there just isn't as much road kill as there was when I was a kid.

Perhaps that's the effect of things being less rural now, but I don't think so...even when I visit EBF Maine. When I was a kid in NH there was a clobbered chipmunk or squirrel speedbump every quarter mile. I think over the many generations, only the ones that avoid the traffic (or look both ways or jump up to hit the walk button) survive.

I wasn't thinking so much about survivors being more wary, as I was of bystanders (fliers?)learning to avoid the whine after smelling the burnt remains of thier late buzz-buddies.

On the road-kill - living in a rural desert area for the past 25+ years, I can absolutely state that road-kill events have increased greatly - while visible road-kill has diminished. Our local predator population has exploded - with the main visible culprits being Ravens (Corvus corax) and Coyotes (Canis latrans). Our hawks, vultures, and other predators - mammals, avian, insect, etc - have definitely taken advantage of the bountiful windfall of food provided by the increased road traffic. A squirrel or rabbit killed on the tarmac won't even be cold, before it is snatched up!

 

[tgm1024]

I wasn't thinking so much about survivors being more wary, as I was of bystanders (fliers?)learning to avoid the whine after smelling the burnt remains of thier late buzz-buddies.

On the road-kill - living in a rural desert area for the past 25+ years, I can absolutely state that road-kill events have increased greatly - while visible road-kill has diminished. Our local predator population has exploded - with the main visible culprits being Ravens (Corvus corax) and Coyotes (Canis latrans).

Why the genus (or whatever) names?

Our hawks, vultures, and other predators - mammals, avian, insect, etc - have definitely taken advantage of the bountiful windfall of food provided by the increased road traffic. A squirrel or rabbit killed on the tarmac won't even be cold, before it is snatched up!

This sounds more like the explosion is from the ground up. Perhaps there is an explosion of the food source before the traffic increased? Causality is hard to pin down here.

In any case I still get the sense that dinky critters have evolved into something more road savvy. Evolution is so very shaped by numbers of generations. The generation length is usually very short for such creatures.