The plan was simple. Make a quick stop at a geologic feature that would provide a real-world example of topics that were being discussed in my biology classes. The topic was evolution and I was specifically looking for an example of rock formations that were being reshaped by the elements. It really couldn’t be any more straightforward, right? Well, perhaps a little background would help.

In 1788 the Scottish geologist James Hutton published his masterwork, “Theory of the Earth.” In this book, Hutton argued that there was evidence that rock formations were being destroyed and reformed by processes that require time. Weathering turns solid rock into sediment, sediment is laid down in layers in aquatic environments, and (over extremely long periods of time) then those layers were compressed into new rock. The important part of this process was the amount of time required because this suggested that Earth was millions of years old. Hutton went on to be named the “Father of Modern Geology,” so he was definitely on to something.

Well, in my travels back and forth to school I pass a particularly interesting section of layered rock formations that were exposed when the road was built. Every spring the freeze-thaw cycles cause small avalanches of rock fragments that gently slide down onto the pavement behind the white line at the side of the road. This is a modern-day example of just the sort of weathering and erosion (mass wasting) that Hutton had talked about, and I thought my students might gain something from seeing it.

So, with my camera in the back seat of my car, I headed directly to the spot where I already knew that I would find exactly what I was looking for. On the opposite side of the road there was a pull-off where motorists could stop and enjoy a very scenic vista and I decided to go to the very end of this spot where I would be closest to the rocks that I had come to photograph. Who could have known that in doing so I would randomly happen to park right next to something extraordinary.

I got out of my car and retrieved my camera from the back seat. I then just happened to turn to the right (toward the side of the road) instead of pivoting to the left. Because of this random decision I found myself staring at the remains of a black bear lying on the forest floor just beyond the guardrail. I was absolutely stunned. For months I had passed this spot two times a day and I was completely unaware that anything of interest was there. The condition of the carcass suggested that it had been present for quite some time; hidden in plain sight.

If not for the exposed ribcage, the bear might have simply been sleeping. Pine needles and some debris from the snowplows had covered the bear’s body and the cold temperatures had preserved most of the tissues on the extremities. However, in the bright sun of the afternoon of March 19, it was evident that flies had found the carcass. There were maggots all over the place and even a few adult flies made visits to the remains in the short time that I was present. The arrival of spring certainly suggested that the tissues wouldn’t last much longer.

So, why was the bear dead? Well, when you find an animal dead at the side of the road you have to guess that the road and the vehicles that travel upon it might have had something to do with it. An examination of the remains might have turned up broken bones, but I was in no mood to attempt an autopsy. I took a few photos, then turned my attention to the rocks that had been my initial goal, and then departed. I felt that my hypothesis was sufficient. No need to experiment on this one.

And now I can ask my students about one of Darwin’s great ideas: Survival of the Fittest. When discussing evolution, fitness is described as, “an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce.” Individuals that are particularly well suited to their environments will live longer and produce more offspring, thus flooding the future population with their outstanding traits (and the DNA that provides the recipes for those traits). But had this bear died because it lacked high-quality traits, or was it simply the victim of an accidental death? Is it possible that an exceptional bear had died for no good reason and that its outstanding genes were lost, permanently? Had the bear had a chance to reproduce in previous years, or was its genetic legacy zero? Certainly interesting questions to ponder.

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The return of warm weather means that all sorts of animals will wake from their winter slumber and venture out into the world to look for food. Raccoons, opossums, skunks, chipmunks and bears that have managed to survive the winter are all vulnerable to roads and cars and this may be a sort of selective pressure that favors the cautious over the bold. Regardless of this possibility, it behooves us all to take a little extra care when we pilot our vehicles down the roads and highways that are instrumental features of modern-day human life. Stay alert and consider slowing down just a little bit.

Give yourself a chance to see the animals in the road and give the animals a chance to get out of your way. You might end up saving the life of an exceptional individual and that can only be a good thing for the future of life on Earth.

Bill Danielson has been a professional writer and nature photographer for 27 years. He has worked for the National Park Service, the US Forest Service, the Nature Conservancy and the Massachusetts State Parks and he currently teaches high school biology and physics. For more in formation visit his website at www.speakingofnature.com, or go to Speaking of Nature on Facebook.