S. Dale, Necrophilic behaviour, corpses as nuclei of resting flock formation, and road-kills of Sand Martins Riparia riparia, ARDEA-T NED, 89(3), 2001, pp. 545-547
Many animal populations are affected by road-kills. In this note I report t
hat corpses of road-killed Sand Martins Riparia riparia attracted conspecif
ics and thereby increased mortality risk. Close to a lake in northern Greec
e I observed large numbers of Sand Martins, many of which rested on a road,
and seven dead martins were found among them. In six trials I placed the c
orpses at different places on the road or on a nearby parking area, and in
every case new resting flocks of 50-500 individuals formed by the first ind
ividuals landing < 0.5 m away from the corpses. Further, in each experiment
at least 1-5 individuals mounted and attempted to copulate with the corpse
s. Thus, attraction of conspecifics to corpses, possibly enhanced by necrop
hilia, may increase rates of road-kills.