In my 7^th grade science class we have been studying the roadkill in Rye and New Castle. We have looked at roadkill and choose something that might have effected the roadkill amounts. I choose to study the temperature each day and record weather the warm days had more or less roadkill than cold days. I set the temperature I would consider cold 59°F and under. Then my teacher printed me a sheet showing the temperature for all of the days we studied roadkill. I then created a table and a graph.

I took the warm days with roadkill and divided it by the total number of warm days. Then I did the same with cold days. I found that 42% of the cold days had roadkill and 48% of the warm days had roadkill. This proves that there is more roadkill on warm days than on cold days. I think this happened because as it got warmer mating season started. During mating season there is a lot more roadkill than in the winter. So as the weather got better animals began to come out of hibernation. This was probably the biggest factor weather played in the roadkill.

This happens because people are used to driving without any animals around in the winter but then the animals come out of hibernation and they are all over the place. So drivers are not prepared for the sudden abundance of animals. Also with mating season in full swing the animals may be running across the road to for another animal.

Another variable that may have effected our roadkill amount this year, is precipitation. If it was raining hard, it may make it harder to see on the road. So drivers may not see little animals on the road. Also if it is snowing the roads are slippery, so if it starts to snow unexpectedly animals may still be out and about. In this case you most likely will not see the animals and it would not be as easy to slam on your brakes with out skidding.

In addition to looking at the temperature I would think it is a good idea to look at the precipitation. Then you may also want to see when the animal died instead of when it is seen it. It is important to have accurate information. There is misinformation when you don't know when the animal actually was killed. I think that that would be one of the most important variables to add to my project. This roadkill project was really fun and I hope that the information I found will help you in learning more bout roadkill.