Trail deaths while gravel biking: Natural history of the guilty conscience

1 | Grass snake

The misunderstood

Snake equals danger - this reflex is often the grass snake's undoing. Hikers and bikers kill them out of fear, even though they are completely harmless. No poison. No attack. Rather escape. Or playing dead. In fact, the grass snake sometimes puts on a show when in danger: it rolls its eyes, lets its tongue hang out and plays dead. Oscar-worthy.

Yet grass snakes are one of the most elegant animals in our forests. Olive grey, with the typical yellow half-moon spots on its head, it is also an excellent swimmer. Grass snakes dive for minutes on end, hunt frogs, toads and small fish and love warm paths and sunny trails. This is exactly where humans become a problem for them.

Particularly bitter: the grass snake is strictly protected and can live for up to 25 years. A quarter of a century of slithering - ended by a 40 millimetre front tyre.

2 | Shrew

Heart racing at six centimetres

The shrew looks like a mouse. But it is not. It is biologically closer to hedgehogs and moles - and lives under constant stress. Its heart beats up to 1000 times a minute. If it is startled, its pulse rises to over 1200 - an animal on constant espresso.

Because its eyesight is poor, the shrew uses echolocation to orientate itself - almost like a miniature bat. At the same time, it is a merciless hunter. With its venomous bite, it kills beetles, worms, even young mice or small amphibians. Harmless to humans. Less so for prey.

The problem: shrews are hectic, but not fast. Especially not fast enough for a gravel bike. While field mice often flinch away, the shrew's escape often ends under our tyres.

Service life: usually only one to two years. No wonder with the pulse!

3 | Alpine newt

The little dinosaur

Anyone who sees a newt immediately understands why children love dinosaurs. Dark back, bright orange belly, clumsy movements - as if someone had shrunk a dinosaur from prehistoric times.

In 2019, the alpine newt was voted "Amphibian of the Year". Well deserved. Because it has superpowers. If it loses a leg, skin or part of a joint, much of it simply grows back. Wolverine in the wetland biotope.

From March to October, it lives in ponds, puddles or water-filled ruts. At night it hunts worms, insects and larvae. On land, however, the alpine newt is slow. Very slow. All it takes is a light rain and suddenly they are crawling along paths and trails - right into our lane.

Particularly tragic: Alpine newts can live up to 30 years. Three decades of evolution. Defeated by Schwalbe G-ONE RX.

4 | Earthworm

The invisible man

Few animals are more important for the forest - and few are as overlooked as the earthworm. Yet it is a biological powerhouse. The worm loosens soil, transports nutrients and pulls dead plant material deep into the earth. Without earthworms, forest soil would practically be dead matter.

And it's strong too: an earthworm can lift 60 times its body weight. If a human could do that, they could lift a coach.

It breathes through the skin and must therefore remain moist. If it comes across dry ground, a race against time begins. Anyone who has ever seen an earthworm crawling over tarmac will recognise this tragic image: a man dying of thirst in a desert of tar.

It doesn't stand a chance on the trail. Our tyres turn it into biologically correct humus.
Life expectancy in captivity without crows, hedgehogs and bicycles: up to 10 years!

5 | Grass frog

The brown frog with the bad image

The grass frog has a PR problem. "Frog" - and everyone thinks green. But Germany's most common frog prefers to wear brown, a camouflage colour instead of a tropical look. Clever, actually, because its life is a struggle for survival. Cars, bicycles, pesticides, drained ponds, gravelled gardens - the grass frog lives dangerously. Especially in spring, when thousands migrate to their spawning grounds, the great amphibian love often ends under tyres.

Yet the grass frog is a high-performance animal. It can survive temperatures just above freezing, dives at lightning speed and jumps up to one metre. Its skin must remain moist, otherwise it dries out like a forgotten jelly baby on the windowsill. During the day, he likes to sit quietly in the grass or at the edge of the trail. A bad idea when a gravel biker comes flying up at 30 km/h.

In the wild, the grass frog rarely lives longer than ten years. In a safe terrarium, it can live almost twice as long. So nature would actually be a better place - if we humans weren't constantly turning it into an obstacle course.

6 | Sand lizard

Sun worshipper with a turbo start

The sand lizard loves exactly what gravel bikers love: warm, dry trails. There it lies in the sun like a tourist in Majorca - until suddenly, chunky tyres roll up. Although the little lizard reacts in a flash, even the fastest sprint is often of little help against the Wilier Rage, Rose Backroad FF or Bianchi Impulso.

In spring, males have bright green flanks, as if they had been specially painted for the mating season. Females remain rather brown and inconspicuous. Both are united by an amazing trick: if the lizard is grabbed, it can throw off its tail. It continues to wriggle and distracts enemies. Practical - but unfortunately useless against gravel tyres.

The sand lizard eats ants, beetles, grasshoppers and spiders. This makes it a miniature pest controller. Nevertheless, their habitats are disappearing more and more. Too much order, too little wilderness. This is why it is strictly protected in Germany. It can live to be seven years old. If it doesn't encounter a fox, a crow - or a euphoric trail hero.