Roadkill Experiment Using Rubber Animals Finds Some Drivers Go Out of Their Way to Hit Animals

Posted on July 19, 2012

NASA engineer Mark Rober conducted an interesting experiment to test divers reactions to animals on the road. Rober put rubber animals on the shoulder of the road in his "Roadkill Experiment." They included a turtle, snake and tarantula. Rober also put a leaf on the shoulder of the road as a control. Rober watched patiently as 1,000 cars drove by.

Even though the fake animals were off the actual road, 6% of drivers intentionally swerved to hit the rubber creatures. Rober calls these drivers "cold blooded rubber animal killers." Tarantulas were the biggest target of drivers that decided to run over the rubber creatures. Without tarantulas the number of drivers intentionally running over creatures falls to 2.8%. The vast majority of vehicles driven by animal killers were SUVs (89%).

There were also a few drivers - 60 (6%) - that stopped and tried to save the animals they thought were real. Turtles were saved the most. Tarantulas and leaves were never saved. Take a look:

More from Science Space & Robots

  • Boston Dynamics Teases New Electric Atlas Humanoid Robot


  • Researchers Observe Many New Species on Seamounts Off Chile Coast


  • CSU Researchers Forecast Extremely Active Atlantic Hurricane Season


  • Hyundai Motor and Kia Unveil DAL-e Delivery Robot


  • H5N1 Discovered at Texas Egg Facility


    • Latest Tech Products

  • Apple Mac Mini with M4 Chip

  • Apple iPad Mini A17 Pro