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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 19, 2026

Using Enclosed Y-Mazes to Assess Chemosensory Behavior in Reptiles

Using Enclosed Y-Mazes to Assess Chemosensory Behavior in Reptiles

Published on: April 7, 2021

Road avoidance and its energetic consequences for reptiles.

James E Paterson¹, James Baxter-Gilbert², Frederic Beaudry³

¹Environmental and Life Sciences Program Trent University Peterborough ON Canada.

Ecology and Evolution

|September 20, 2019

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Reptiles like turtles and snakes avoid crossing roads, but this behavior does not significantly impact their energy or fitness. Vehicle collisions remain the primary threat to reptile populations from roads.

Keywords:

Blanding's turtle eastern massasauga energetics movement ecology road ecology

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Last Updated: Jan 19, 2026

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Wildlife Conservation
Herpetology

Background:

Roads fragment habitats and increase wildlife mortality.
Road avoidance can incur energetic costs for animals, potentially affecting fitness.
Understanding reptile responses to roads is crucial for conservation.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if reptiles avoid roads and road crossings.
To determine the energetic consequences of road avoidance on reptile fitness.
To assess the primary impact of roads on reptile populations.

Main Methods:

Utilized telemetry data from Blanding's turtles and eastern massasaugas.
Compared observed road crossing and habitat use with simulated random walks.
Analyzed daily travel distances and predicted energetic costs.

Main Results:

Turtles and snakes did not avoid road-adjacent habitats but avoided crossing roads.
Turtles showed varied crossing behavior based on road type and speed limits.
Snakes crossed all road types less than expected; energetic costs of avoidance were negligible for both species.

Conclusions:

Reptile avoidance of roads is unlikely to impact fitness via energetic costs.
Road mortality from vehicle strikes is the most significant threat to reptile populations.
Conservation efforts should focus on mitigating direct mortality.