Road kill a Yowie food source?

[paulmcleod67]

On a recent trip to Mitchell (near Roma Queensland) in order to interview pig hunters that had a yowie encounter whilst hunting in the scrub, I was struck with the volume of road kill along the Warrego highway. Although this has always been a hazard on Australian roads, being “winter” the numbers should be a lot lower than what I witnessed going to Mitchell last week.

During the interview I happened to bring this up with the two local pig hunters. Both men said that it was always a problem along the Warrego. I asked if there was a clean up crew working the highway?

They said that they had never seen one, to which I asked what happens to the big roo’s on in the middle of the road?
One of them said “No idea what goes on day to day, but mate I seen a big grey dragged off the road into the tree line, by something that looked like a huge bloke….it was dark around 2am and my lights just caught it as I approached. It looked like it was bending to pick this roo up, but then it just dragged it away into the dark”.
On the way there I noted certain area’s where a lot of kangaroo’s had been hit. I also took a lot of video on the way there of the thicker areas of road kill. We stayed in town that night and headed back towards Tivoli at 730am. When we got away from town, going back down the Warrego, I noticed far fewer carcasses on the road. I had assumed that they had been cleaned up by the government roads dept. Then we got the place where they were thick on the road only to find then in worse state but still near were they had fallen.

Where had the other gone I wondered?

And so I began watching the tree line off the roadside (my wife was driving) remembering what the pig hunters had said. Sure enough away from the roadside lip and on into the visible fringe of the scrubline where kangaroo’s, mostly big greys laying there in pairs and sets of three in groups very close to one another. They were too far in to be the work of motorists and in my opinion too big for even a dingo to quickly pull over the embankment only to leave them in groups amoung the shadowy trees.
When I got home I did a little research into this area and came up with this….

Every year close to 2 million native animals die on Queensland Roads.

Qld Highway Wildlife Roadkill Media Release
Last updated: January 22, 2013
A winding paved road the Queensland outback
“Road kill” is a sad fact of life (and death) on highways throughout the State. But the current situation is fast spiralling out of control, particularly out west. Tourists to the outback now commonly refer to the Warrego highway as “the highway of blood and fur.” This is a sad indictment on our road system and hugely detrimental to the tourism industry.

“What is particularly disturbing is the “domino” slaughter that could easily be curbed, if not completely eradicated,” says RSPCA Qld Wildlife Coordinator Janet Gamble. “Currently, animals hit by vehicles often remain on the road for days and sometimes weeks. Other animals are then drawn to feed on the carcasses and they in turn become victims. These are common, not occasional, occurrences and thousands of animals are dying slow and painful deaths.”

Which gels with an account of Yowie activity reported by Tony Healy…

“A FRIGHTENING 1997 yowie sighting in Toowoomba has come to light recently, but Yowie hunter Tony Healy said it wasn't the only sighting around that time.
He said in 1998 a family of migrants encountered a yowie when it ran in front of their car in a suburban area at the bottom of the Toowoomba Range”.

I’ve posted some I.R footage that night drive to Mitchell and you can see the grey roo’s on the road fringe. I used this clip mainly because for the first time since 2012 my wife talks about the West Wyalong encounter with her sister in the car with us.

https://youtu.be/AEb3k2gn2R0

Cheers

[Yowie bait]

I agree Paul. Cant get a much easier meal than fresh road kill. The bloke you mention sounds similar to one of the ayr audio reports where they see the thing dragging a roo off the side of the road on the newell hwy. What an amazing AND terrifying thing to see!

Bin scabbing or gathering roadkill could have been what the hairy buggers were doing when you had your horrible encounter!

[Mad Academic]

Interesting topic.
Some apes are strictly vegetarian. For example, despite their size and reputation, gorillas are vegetarians.
On the other hand, chimpanzees are largely vegetarian but definitely form hunting groups to catch and eat other, smaller monkeys and bush animals. They are very aggressive and frighteningly strong. They can literally tear a human to pieces with their bare hands....makes you wonder what a yowie could do!!

Given the size of yowies they would need a lot of calories to maintain themselves. Calorific needs would be in line with weight, which increases in a cubic fashion as height increases (because a taller person is also wider and thicker). Most descriptions of yowies support the view that they are probably vegetarians, but opportunistic carnivores. In other words, their diet is probably mainly vegetable matter, but if they come across a freshly dead carcass or slow-moving, defenceless animal, then they will probably have it.

So, it would come as no surprise that they would make use of road kill. It would be cheap protein and calories for them that they did not have to expend energy to chase and catch. In fact, they may very well increase in numbers in the vicinity of highways such as the Warrego due to the increased food supply. Under normal circumstances they would never be very numerous simply because the land wouldn't support many of them as they would be restricted to a mostly plant-based diet. So we may in fact be seeing a form of evolution at work.

I seem to remember in one of the audio reports from Coonabarabran the witness said he thought the yowie was crouched down eating something (road kill?).

All just my speculation and FWIW.

MA

[Simon M]

This makes perfect sense, Paul.

[Yowie bait]

Interesting topic.
Some apes are strictly vegetarian. For example, despite their size and reputation, gorillas are vegetarians.
On the other hand, chimpanzees are largely vegetarian but definitely form hunting groups to catch and eat other, smaller monkeys and bush animals. They are very aggressive and frighteningly strong. They can literally tear a human to pieces with their bare hands....makes you wonder what a yowie could do!!

Given the size of yowies they would need a lot of calories to maintain themselves. Calorific needs would be in line with weight, which increases in a cubic fashion as height increases (because a taller person is also wider and thicker). Most descriptions of yowies support the view that they are probably vegetarians, but opportunistic carnivores. In other words, their diet is probably mainly vegetable matter, but if they come across a freshly dead carcass or slow-moving, defenceless animal, then they will probably have it.

So, it would come as no surprise that they would make use of road kill. It would be cheap protein and calories for them that they did not have to expend energy to chase and catch. In fact, they may very well increase in numbers in the vicinity of highways such as the Warrego due to the increased food supply. Under normal circumstances they would never be very numerous simply because the land wouldn't support many of them as they would be restricted to a mostly plant-based diet. So we may in fact be seeing a form of evolution at work.

I seem to remember in one of the audio reports from Coonabarabran the witness said he thought the yowie was crouched down eating something (road kill?).

All just my speculation and FWIW.

MA

Very informative post Mad Academic. Sure is handy having a biologist on the forum.

[ChrisV]

Interesting story and account Paul.

As others above has said, it makes complete sense that this would be a viable and easy food supply. It also worries me that these carcasses are being left on the road for other animals to be put at risk for another hit. So the cycle perpetuates. I think the QLD gov oor local council needs to step in and either have a daily crew that clears the road or erect some kind of fence in the bad areas although that would be quite expensive and problematic.

Whats also interesting is even though we believe that all Yowies are generally similar - it could be the case that some regions might possess more meat eating animals opposed to other regions that have more herbivore tendancies.

[Mad Academic]

MA[/quote]
Very informative post Mad Academic. Sure is handy having a biologist on the forum. [/quote]



Kind of you to say so, YB, but I feel quite useless as I rarely get "out in the field".
I cannot imagine the excitement a biologist would feel getting a first look at a yowie.
It would literally be the "find of the century" in biological terms.

MA

[Yowie bait]

MA

Very informative post Mad Academic. Sure is handy having a biologist on the forum. [/quote]



Kind of you to say so, YB, but I feel quite useless as I rarely get "out in the field".
I cannot imagine the excitement a biologist would feel getting a first look at a yowie.
It would literally be the "find of the century" in biological terms.

MA[/quote]
Yes the encounters seem to be wasted on bushwalkers and campers. Just imagine if a couple of biologists had a good encounter. I think we would get a better idea of what were dealing with . Maybe the hairymen say " oh dont chase him. Hes a biologist. Go for those drunken teenagers instead. No one will believe those chumps". Lol

[gregvalentine]

MA

Very informative post Mad Academic. Sure is handy having a biologist on the forum. [/quote]



Kind of you to say so, YB, but I feel quite useless as I rarely get "out in the field".
I cannot imagine the excitement a biologist would feel getting a first look at a yowie.
It would literally be the "find of the century" in biological terms.

MA[/quote]
Unless the particular biologist says to himself, "Nah, according to my scientific dogma, they don't exist, so I must not of seen anything".

[paulmcleod67]

The number of kangaroo's near the roadside at night has always been attributed to them wanting to feed on the tender grass that grows in the drainage ditches.

I'm wondering if it's conceivable that in some cases they are "herded" towards roads in order to be knocked over?

Would be like the Yowie version of "WOOLIES MEAT" .

Makes sense and would save them a lot of energy and time as opposed to pursuit and ambush.

Cheers

[Mad Academic]

The number of kangaroo's near the roadside at night has always been attributed to them wanting to feed on the tender grass that grows in the drainage ditches.

I'm wondering if it's conceivable that in some cases they are "herded" towards roads in order to be knocked over?

Would be like the Yowie version of "WOOLIES MEAT" .

Makes sense and would save them a lot of energy and time as opposed to pursuit and ambush.

Cheers

That's a neat theory, Paul. But it probably doesn't hold up because down here in the "civilised south" (where there are no reports of Yowies), the roos still get bowled over by the roadside....eating the green grass growing from the rainfall runoff from the road. Also, in the area you visited there are evidently so many roos getting killed by cars while eating near the road (and jumping in front of cars & trucks) there would simply not be a need to cause further "carnage" by trying to herd them. A third point; if Yowies were herding roos toward the road to be killed, I'm sure there would be even more reports from motorists than there already are.

Cheers,

MA

[paulmcleod67]

The number of kangaroo's near the roadside at night has always been attributed to them wanting to feed on the tender grass that grows in the drainage ditches.

I'm wondering if it's conceivable that in some cases they are "herded" towards roads in order to be knocked over?

Would be like the Yowie version of "WOOLIES MEAT" .

Makes sense and would save them a lot of energy and time as opposed to pursuit and ambush.

Cheers

That's a neat theory, Paul. But it probably doesn't hold up because down here in the "civilised south" (where there are no reports of Yowies), the roos still get bowled over by the roadside....eating the green grass growing from the rainfall runoff from the road. Also, in the area you visited there are evidently so many roos getting killed by cars while eating near the road (and jumping in front of cars & trucks) there would simply not be a need to cause further "carnage" by trying to herd them. A third point; if Yowies were herding roos toward the road to be killed, I'm sure there would be even more reports from motorists than there already are.


Cheers,

MA

Cheers matey I'm just spit balling.

[sensesonfire]

No doubt Paul that roadkill would be an easy acquisition to their food requirements.

I have travelled over great distances, all hours of the day and night through national parks, open paddock areas when I was involved in harness racing for twenty years and witnessed the road kill, kangaroos and pigs mainly and yet I have to say I never had a sighting of a Yowie over the entire period and some of these areas did have Yowie sightings back in the 80's.

I think this would entitle me to an extreme sceptic award as to their existence but I do know they are out there, some will encounter them but the vast majority will not. The unbelievers would ask well if you've never seen one how do you know they are real and they would have a legitimate argument unless of course, you are on a different tangent of thought.



















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[paulmcleod67]

No doubt Paul that roadkill would be an easy acquisition to their food requirements.

I have travelled over great distances, all hours of the day and night through national parks, open paddock areas when I was involved in harness racing for twenty years and witnessed the road kill, kangaroos and pigs mainly and yet I have to say I never had a sighting of a Yowie over the entire period and some of these areas did have Yowie sightings back in the 80's.

I think this would entitle me to an extreme sceptic award as to their existence but I do know they are out there, some will encounter them but the vast majority will not. The unbelievers would ask well if you've never seen one how do you know they are real and they would have a legitimate argument unless of course, you are on a different tangent of thought.



Cheers mate. Yeah I understand the travel time you must have clocked up. I was raised in a family of interstate truck drivers, bikers and diesel mechanics. I was seven when my step dad first pulled me away from school to sit in the "offies" seat and keep him awake doing line hauls across
Australia in the 70's when interstate roads barely deserved the term. And old Keithy was all eye balls for weeks on Duramite and speed.

No servo's, or road phones or god forbid mobile phones not in existence ( except those massive Nokia car battery sized
mongrels, Keithy had one, I know because he was pissed on Bundy one night doing flatbed national grid wire spools to Cairns camps and chucked it at me for some long forgotten transgression I apparently committed.

we carried bulk fuel and cooked our meals on home made
BBQ's or fire Pitts. Didn't see much school in those years but I knew what was inside most of our animals. Had a big red jump into an on coming
truck and be airborne into my side of the cab of an old gold motor Mack, most of what was left of the roo ended up through the winsheild and cracking my sternum. Hitting Emu's was the worst, like hitting a bag of s#@t at 100kls...the stink . Only time I seen that crusty ol basterd shed a tear was when an eagle flew into the windshield going across the Nullabore.

So yeah mate I'm feelin yah.

Cheers

















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