The Roadkill Project
by Luke Dollar
June 27, 2005

Madgascar does not have many paved roads, in fact there are less than ten fully paved RNs (“route nationale”) throughout the country, which is about the size of Texas. Most of the roads connect the port cities to the capital, Antananarivo, in the center of the country, on the high plateau. One of these roads, the RN4 to be exact, transects Ankarafantsika National Park. While there may in fact be a speed limit on Madagascar’s roads, I’ve seen few or no signs describing it outside of the cities. It is mainly limited by a vehicles capacity for further acceleration. Within Ankarafantsika, along the 17.5 km stretch of RN4 that runs north to south through the Park, there are accidents monthly and human fatalities every year. In addition to people who get hurt on these roads, are countless animals that fall as roadkill, including two radiotracked fossa over the last few years.

This year, we’ve initiated a pilot project to begin quantifying the direct impact of roads and traffic on the species within the park. Every day, two Earthwatch volunteers and a student from the University of Antananarivo are trekking the entire surface of the road in the Park. They are noting all animals hit or injured by the hundreds of cars and trucks that go through the park each day. Our ultimate goal is to have enough data to recommend setting a low speed limit and the installation of speed bumps every 500 m or so throughout the length of the Park. Thereafter, in future years, we’ll see how that number changes. Gathering practical data to be applied for conservation management purposes is our goal. You’ll probably hear from some of our roadkill crews throughout the next weeks. Stay tuned to hear from them!