NEARLY half of the US’s 55 turtle species are in decline, and cars could be partly to blame.
Turtles like to roam, but stand little chance on a busy road. As road kill counts are unreliable, James Gibbs of the State University of New York at Syracuse modelled turtle movements along with road densities and traffic volumes for each state. He calculates that cars kill 5 per cent of the turtle population every year, with land turtles and large pond turtles most at risk (Conservation Biology, vol 16, p 1647). That’s enough to seriously deplete turtle numbers, says Gibbs. They…
