Roads may influence selection on phenotypic traits of wildlife. In particular, the likelihood of vehicle collisions with wildlife may vary depending on body coloration in contrast to the road, which may be exaggerated by cultural attitudes towards the species. The timber rattlesnake Crotalus horridus is a threatened species that varies widely in coloration, and their color pattern could influence thermoregulatory use of roads and visibility to motorists. Moreover, better camouflaged snakes may have higher road mortality in areas where environmental interest is lower and, perhaps, negative attitudes towards wildlife are more prevalent. We used citizen scientist observations of timber rattlesnakes from iNaturalist and categorized for each rattlesnake the surface they were on, color pattern, and whether they were alive. We combined iNaturalist data with Google Trends data to characterize regional variation in environmental interest. We discovered that lighter-colored snakes were more likely to be found on roads, as were snakes further south, west, and on warmer days. Once on a road, coloration didn’t influence survival regardless of road type or environmental interest. However, snakes on asphalt roads or on southern roads were more likely to be found dead. The higher likelihood of lighter colored snakes being found on roads suggests that they are at greater overall risk of road death, potentially selecting for darker coloration. Citizen scientist behavior may at least partly underlie the influence of latitude on the results, however, and further work in the application of citizen science data to such research questions is warranted.

Like coloration of the integument, eye color can be a significant but understudied component of communication and reproductive behavior. Eye color can change with sexual maturation and become sexually dimorphic, but in a few birds and fish, eye color can also change rapidly in response to the environment. There are few cases of the latter, and we report here several instances of such change in eye color in the Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina), the first non‐avian tetrapod in which this capability has been reported. In male turtles, the iris changed from a pale yellow color (often characteristic of juveniles) to a bright red color (characteristic of mature males) in a period of <5 s. The nature of the color change is similar to that observed in some birds and suggests a common mechanism and/or adaptive role, which could be further explored in Eastern box turtles.