Pheasant roadkill peaks in autumn and late winter

Date:  October 3, 2017

Source: University of Exeter

Chickens' motives for crossing the road are often questioned -- but pheasants should probably avoid it altogether, new research suggests. Researchers from the universities of Exeter and Cardiff compared roadkill figures from the 1960s and 2010s -- before and after the start of mass release programmes of pheasants for shooting -- and found pheasants remain disproportionately likely to be run over compared to other birds. "There may be a number of reasons why pheasants are so commonly killed on the roads, including their short flight distances and relatively small brains," said Dr Joah Madden, of the University of Exeter.

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