Deer in headlights! Alligators in crosswalks! A possum in the oven? If you love wildlife, this is a must-listen to avoid killing critters with your car. Ben Goldfarb wrote the book on road kill and we chat about: wildlife crossings, skunk smells, moose impacts, ocelot facts, what to do if you see roadkill, how to avoid making more of it, and whether it's okay to pick up a dead thing. Ben is an award-winning science journalist with a Masters in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and I’ve waited LITERAL YEARS to talk to him about this topic as he wrote his latest book: “Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet.” Also: flip phones, sleep hygiene, and how to ask your boss for a raise.

Listen via Apple, Spotify, Google, Podbay, Podcast Addict, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

transcript

Visit Ben Goldfarb’s website and follow him on Twitter and Instagram

Shop Ben’s book, Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet (2023), and his award-winning first read, Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter (2019)

A donation went to Wildlands Network

Links to things we discussed:

An introduction to the wildlife crossing structures that help animals move over and under Highway 93 in the Flathead Reservation, Montana

Montana Treasure: The 66-year history of white cross highway markers

American Legion Highway Fatality Markers

New State Farm® data reveals the likelihood of hitting an animal while driving in every state

Fatality Facts 2021: Collisions with fixed objects and animals

An Environmental History of Roadkill: Road Ecology and the Making of the Permeable Highway