Roads are directly responsible for nearly 10% of large mammal mortality in North America 7 and each year hundreds of millions of vertebrates die on roads worldwide 8, 9, 10. There are 6.2 million km of roads in the United States alone, and an estimated 20% of the land is impacted by the presence of roads 5, 6. Roads are an important means by which this occurs as roads fragment habitat 1, facilitate transport of pollutants into the environment 2, and aid the spread of invasive species 3, 4. Human development is increasingly encroaching into natural areas. Because some scavengers readily consumed carrion on roads, this resource has the potential to influence the ecology of these species. We suggest that scavenger use of carrion near roads at this location during winter relates to factors other than carrion availability. Turkey vultures ( Cathartes aura) and coyotes ( Canis latrans) scavenged equally across treatments, whereas gray foxes ( Urocyon cinereoargenteus) scavenged along roads and power lines, but not in forests. No species arrived at roads quicker than other treatments. There was no difference in proportion of carcasses scavenged or scavenger arrival time across treatments. We used motion-activated cameras to compare arrival times and presence of vertebrate scavengers among treatments. We examined scavenging of carrion along linear features by placing 52 rabbit carcasses in each of three treatments in forested habitat during winter (Dec 2016-Mar 2017) in South Carolina, USA: roads, power line clearings (linear feature with fewer carcasses than roads due to lack of road kill), and forest interior. Scavengers may use roads for reliable foraging opportunities, but might also use roads for other purposes and encounter carrion opportunistically. Wildlife-vehicle collisions introduce a considerable amount of carrion into the environment, but scavenger use of this resource has not been extensively investigated.
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