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Australian Fence of Sound Halves Roadkill On One Deadly Stretch of Road (digitaltrends.com)
Researchers in the Australian state of Tasmania are using a "virtual fence" system, consisting of alarm units mounted on posts along the side of a three-mile stretch of road, to reduce the number animals that get struck and killed by cars on a particularly deadly stretch of road. "These alarm units, around 80 feet apart, emit sounds and flashing lights to warn animals when a car is approaching," reports Digital Trends. "These do not distract drivers because the sound and light are directed to the edge of the road. They are also only loud and bright enough to be noticeable to wildlife in the immediate vicinity." From the report: "The virtual fence technology involves small devices, approximately the size of a mobile phone, mounted on a pole on the side of the road which are triggered by car headlights when they hit a sensor in the device," Samantha Fox, the researcher who led the project, told Digital Trends. "This sets off blue and yellow flashing lights and a high pitched siren. These together warn local wildlife that a car is coming, and give the animal time to move away from the road." Over the course of a three-year trial, the technology has reduced roadkill on one particular road by a massive 50 percent. On this stretch of road alone, this has meant saving the lives of around 200 animals, ranging from wombats to possums.
But finally, Samantha Fox and headlights in a news article, meant something entirely different.
In more serious matters, I've driven in Tasmania and I can confirm without question, I've never seen so much roadkill in my life. So much so it was disturbing and creepy for my girlfriend and I. At least 20 dead things a day there, maybe twice that and we weren't driving very fast either.
Why does slashdot link to a paywall, and "digitasltrends" crap?
Here is a proper link. This program is not for the wombats and possums, but for the endangered Tasmanian devils that feed on their carcasses.
https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/wild...
they are awful to hit, Kangaroos have such a low center of gravity they do a lot of damage unless you have a bulbar (even then that doesn't always help, last year a big 7 footer bent his bulbar back into the bonnet). Wombats (or walking rocks as we refer to them) can also do huge damage.
A big problem with roadkill in Tasmania is that Tasmanian devils are attracted to the carcasses. As they feed on the roadkill, they are nearly oblivious to oncoming traffic. You might think this will exert evolutionary pressure for them to become less stupid, but that doesn't work because they are few in number and have very little genetic variety. The are all nearly identical twins of each other. So similar that cancer cells can be transmitted directly between individuals with no immune rejection.
Tasmanian devil road mortality
Americans are familiar with Tasmanian devils mainly through Taz, an occasional character in the Bugs Bunny Roadrunner Hour. Why don't they make quality TV like that anymore?
Australian Fence of Sound Halves Roadkill
And I started out thinking it was a safety measure to prevent cars from hitting animals by cutting the animals in half before the cars come near. I was expecting lasers or Army NewGen sonic weapons or something. Instead: "small devices ... mounted on a pole on the side of the road."
Well, I guess with an amp cranked up to 11 they might could still manage it.
If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
Yes. Wombats leave a wombat-shaped tunnel underneath your car.
They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
You left out, Hate to break it to ya,mate,but...
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So that's where cartoon physics come from: Australia. I shouldn't be surprised.
The only thing about this that does surprise me is that the opossums caught on to the meaning of the alarm. They're not as dense as koalas, but they're pretty stupid.
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
I remember as a kid seeing a picture of a real Tasmanian Devil for the first time.
I just shook my head because it doesn't look anything like Taz. I can't really blame WB for making a cartoon version of an animal that isn't entirely accurate. After all, what animal looks like Bugs Bunny, but I was a bit let down upon seeing a picture in a book.
The key there is "like that". There's plenty of quality TV nowadays IMO. Just not "quality TV like that".
Phil Spector's Wall of Sound
Grateful Dead's Wall of Sound
There's probably a joke about Trump and a border wall in here somewhere too, but I'll leave that alone.
Think of it as evolution in action.
I wish we had something like that here.
Lots of little critters get obliterated where I live which is bad enough, but out in the country where the rest of my family resides, deer are the biggest threat. Due to the proximity of the forest on either side of the road, you may have two seconds to take action before impact if they decide to bolt from tree cover.
Since it IS Texas, I've come to realize one reason why so many drive the oversized pickups. You hit an adult deer in one of those and it will mess up the bumper and grill a bit unless you have an aftermarket super bumper on there.
You hit a deer in anything lower to the ground ( any car ) and that deer is going to flip over the hood, go right through the windshield and become a passenger. All at 70mph.
A full sized white-tail is not a small animal and your survival will be based on luck at this point.
God help you if it's a cow or a horse that managed to get out and is standing at the top of a hill that you can't see. ( Aunt managed that one. Nearly killed her. )
This might work with Australia's smarter wildlife. But a similar technology used in the USA, involving illuminated signs at intersections with a big red hand have no effect the hobos.
Have gnu, will travel.
Pictures don't do them justice. You should see some real devils. On a trip to Australia, my family and I went to the Hobart Zoo, and they had a devil enclosure, and we got there just at feeding time. We watched them devour chicks (baby chickens, not the other kind of "chicks"). They definitely reminded me of Taz.
If that were a Children's petting zoo, and they were feeding the critters live baby chicks, then the devil enclosure would be quite appropriate.
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Yes, Australia has been metric for 50 years. So I'm guessing the distance apart is something like 25 metres. The difference is that '25 metres' will be understood by everyone, everywhere in the world (except for one isolationist country).
I remember as a kid seeing a picture of a real Tasmanian Devil for the first time.
They got their name because of the terrible noises they make at night.
Devils are nocturnal, rarely seen (alive) but were often heard.