Birds aware of roads' speed limits

Birds though unable to read road signs are aware about the speed limits n them, according to a study.

Pierre Legagneux of the University of Quebec at Rimouski and Simon Ducatez of McGill University in Montreal found that on the roads where the speed limit was 50-kilometre-per-hour, birds on the road flew away when the vehicle was about 15 metres from them and on a 110-km-per-hour road, the birds flew off when the vehicle was 75 metres away, New Scientist reported.

The birds were able to do the same thing even when a vehicle was going at a much higher speed than allowed speed or slower on the higher limit road.

The authors of the study believe that the birds think of vehicles as predators, and believe that in some parts of their environment the predators are more dangerous than in others.