I was driving home early this morning and I drove by some deer. It got me thinking about roadkill and about why some animals like to hang out near roadways. Practically everywhere in the DC area you'll see squirrel, racoon, and oppossum. On roads near and in wooded areas you'll also find groundhog, skunk (ya smell them real quick when they're dead), and deer. In the summer you'll also see snake and turtle. (you also find all types of feathered roadkill which has always surprised me since I thought birds were pretty skittish around cars anyways... not to mention they can fly! i mean, how do you get runover when you can fly?!) thats about it when it comes to roadkill... but i've seen fox in places like rock creek park and along the clara barton. i guess they must be wilier, tho, since i dont recall seeing fox roadkill. oooooh i almost forgot: i once saw a bear (yes a live BEAR) on the side of I-68 just west of Cumberland, MD but thats hardly the DC area, and most likely an aberration.
Anyways all this thinking also reminded me how recently I was surprised to find out that some people (from the west) had never seen a groundhog "in the wild." So I looked it up and it appears that in the western United States (practically speaking, east of the mississippi), groundhogs are only found in northern Washington state and northern Idaho. Most people are familiar with Phil of Punxsutawney fame. But they've never seen his kin outside of the realm of film, video, zoo, etc. We'll I've been to Texas and Arizona and I've never seen an armadillo in the wild, so maybe that makes us even?!? right?
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