Why Did the Newt Cross the Road?

Escorts:

The black salamander with yellow spots sat on the roadside in the dark, ready to make a go of it.

But it was not on its own. It got help from an escort — one of 45 people who volunteered on a recent night to carry salamanders, frogs and newts across the road during their annual migration to mate.

On rainy nights in early spring, roads between forests and vernal pools are hopping and crawling with activity. On some nights, hundreds of amphibians cross small stretches of asphalt to mate. But many don't make it.

From rural Vermont to urban centers like Philadelphia, human escorts, called bucket brigades in some places, help amphibians make it to their mating areas without getting squashed by cars. It's part education, part conservation, and part science.

Science? What "science" would that be? Last I looked, natural selection was still science -- while interfering with it is most definitely not scientific. It's feel-good, guilt-assuaging, mealy-mouthed liberalism. Let's not confuse it with real science, shall we?

On the other hand, maybe they froze to death in the ice wave that's sweeping the country this April. That's global warming, you know; just ask any salamander-herder.