Florida Museum of Natural History Sep 17 2025 A new study has significant bearing on the hackneyed joke about chickens and their numerous reasons for crossing roads. In Florida, there's a good chance that the chicken crossed the road because it had completed its year-long conscripted service as a disease sentinel, a sort of early alarm signal for mosquito virus activity across the state. Mosquito control programs maintain hundreds of chicken coops from the Panhandle down through Miami. Once a