Dawins theory of evolution at work!
Dawins theory of evolution at work!
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baztard

Original Poster:

259 posts

259 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
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My drive to work consists of 15ish miles of lovely country back roads and 15 miles of dull congested A-road.

The backroads are great, the only problem being that you have to dodge suicidal wildlife at least 2 or 3 times a day - mainly hedgehogs,hares and pheasants etc..that is until this moring...............

There is was making progress,well as much progress as a Pug 407 HDi can make when I spot a pheasant about to waddle into my path, there was a van coming in the other direction so avoiding it was not an option. To my amazment the pheasant looked straigt at me then took 3/4 steps back and waited for me to pass. Looked in the mirror to see it cross to the half way point in the road, stop, wait for another car to pass and continue to the far side.

Does this prove Darwins theory of evolution? Where will it all end I ask you.. armour plated hedgehogs - has anyone else noticed strange behaviour from our furry friends lately............


>> Edited by baztard on Thursday 23 June 11:14

beano500

20,854 posts

304 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
quotequote all
It's a right bv553r, isn't it? Technically you can't stop and pick up the peasant you knocked over. Worth driving round the block, mind. Oh, but it's the wrong time of year, really, for game......

alexkp

16,484 posts

273 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
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Interesting - very. But I usspect it might have simply been a couple of random neurons firing in the pheasant's brain that caused it to step back rather than launch itself in front of you.

But I could be wrong... perhaps you have witnessed the birth of a new species, the SuperPheasant, that will before long be armed with a mini-gun and be wreaking revenge upon landed gentry up and down the country.

Killer2005

20,592 posts

257 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
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beano500 said:
It's a right bv553r, isn't it? Technically you can't stop and pick up the peasant you knocked over.


yet the car behind could, very silly indeed.

Einion Yrth

19,575 posts

273 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
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Killer2005 said:

beano500 said:
It's a right bv553r, isn't it? Technically you can't stop and pick up the peasant you knocked over.



yet the car behind could, very silly indeed.

This is why I'm never at the front when in convoy.

srebbe64

13,021 posts

266 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
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Paradoxically, the pheasant to which you refer seems higher up the evolotionary scale than some prats who live in "council chav land".

Some just aimlessly wander into the road, oblivious to the fact that it's a road! And when you nearly run them over they look at you, bemused, as though you're in the wrong. I reckon that in a few years time, these people will be living in bushes and running on to busy country lanes. Meanwhile, the pheasants will be cleaning up the council estates and living in houses.

baztard

Original Poster:

259 posts

259 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
quotequote all
I could accept that the step back was random behaviour , it was the fact it stopped in the middle of the road and waited for traffic to pass before continuing its crossing that convinced me it was some mutant pheasant!!!!!! I tell you give it another couple of hundred years and it will be planet of the apes for real

>> Edited by baztard on Thursday 23 June 11:29

jmorgan

36,010 posts

313 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
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Been in this situation but a pheasant at 60mph isn't really worth stopping for, at least my potential lead free offering was. And yes I was aware of the law but thought who the heck was going to shop me.

We used to have to drive through an estate that reared the little beggers and the seemed to aim for us at full tilt.

Einion Yrth

19,575 posts

273 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
quotequote all
baztard said:
I could accept that the step back was random behaviour , it was the fact it stopped in the middle of the road and waited for traffic to pass before continuing its crossing that convinced me it was some mutant pheasant!!!!!! I tell you give it another couple of hundred years and it will be planet of the apes for real

>> Edited by baztard on Thursday 23 June 11:29

Planet of the Pheasants? You could try to pitch it to a studio I suppose, wouldn't hold out much hope though.

pdV6

16,442 posts

290 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
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I suspect its a live trial of the latest stealth speed cam technology...

groucho

12,134 posts

275 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
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Did you ever see the crows in Japan, I think, that were featured on a David Attenborough programme?
They would wait above the pelican crossing on a wire, drop what I think was a nut on the crossing.
The cars then ran over the nuts, the crows then waited for the bleeping to sound again and then went down to enjoy thier nuts.

s2gonzo

6,257 posts

269 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
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groucho said:
Did you ever see the crows in Japan, I think, that were featured on a David Attenborough programme?
They would wait above the pelican crossing on a wire, drop what I think was a nut on the crossing.
The cars then ran over the nuts, the crows then waited for the bleeping to sound again and then went down to enjoy thier nuts.


I saw that, quite long time ago?

Raify

6,556 posts

277 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
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My girlfriend regularly sees a cat crossing the street at a pelican crossing! :shudder:

freaky...

Wildfire

9,948 posts

281 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
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In this strange new world we will not spank the monkey!!! The Monkey will spank us!!

zebedee

4,595 posts

307 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
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whats this about not picking pheasants up?

I hit one with a ladder on the car - it got its head trapped between the roof and the ladder and I had to stop to extract it. I put it in the car cos it was flapping and I assumed on its way out of this world, but if I'd passed a vet in the local market town I then drove through, I'd have dropped it in there to see what they could do. Anyway, after about ten minutes in the footwell, it ceased to be, and I didn't stop to throw it out - funnily enough I was on my way home for christmas and my dad thought it was a present!

groucho

12,134 posts

275 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
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zebedee said:
and my dad thought it was a present!


And it was, or was it a partridge?

beano500

20,854 posts

304 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
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zebedee said:
I hit one with a ladder
Don't want to let peasants out on the loose with ladders, no telling what they might do!

Einion Yrth

19,575 posts

273 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
quotequote all
zebedee said:
whats this about not picking pheasants up?

I hit one with a ladder on the car - it got its head trapped between the roof and the ladder and I had to stop to extract it. I put it in the car cos it was flapping and I assumed on its way out of this world, but if I'd passed a vet in the local market town I then drove through, I'd have dropped it in there to see what they could do. Anyway, after about ten minutes in the footwell, it ceased to be, and I didn't stop to throw it out - funnily enough I was on my way home for christmas and my dad thought it was a present!

Aye well, technically, that's poaching that is. And you've confessed to it online, I'd be waiting for a heavy knock at the door.

Balmoral Green

42,561 posts

277 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
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c c

8,052 posts

268 months

Thursday 23rd June 2005
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Crows and magpies look out for cars all the time when thy are clearing up the road kill. They usually just hop or flap to the side of the road as a vehicle approach and then after it’s passed they are back on the job.