Clemson University student kills fake turtle repeatedly, finds out humans are cruel.

Clemson University student Nathan Weaver has seen inside humanity's soul, and we're a sad sack of malicious turtle murderers.

Weaver wanted to know a better way for turtles to cross a road (which they do often, slowly). So Weaver used a lifelike rubber turtle to see how often drivers made an effort to run over an innocent, helpless (fake) turtle.

It turns out a lot.

Over the course of one hour on a fairly busy road, seven drivers swerved their car in an attempt to crush the rubber turtle. When Weaver moved his rubber reptile to a rural residential street, two members of suburbia had turtle homicide on their mind within an hour and tried their own brand of reptilian road rage.

So what explains humanity's desire to kill the harmless turtle who's crossing the road to get to a happy new pond? As professor Hal Herzog of Western Carolina University told the Associated Press, it's because humans are in need of feeling superior and dominant. We're also kind of sick.

"They aren't thinking, really. It is not something people think about. It just seems fun at the time," Herzog said. "It is the dark side of human nature."

As an aside, I drive down a busy road that has ponds dotting the entire length of it--and with it comes turtle crossings throughout the warmer months.

Last year I saw a small turtle trying to hoof it across four lanes of traffic to get to a new pond. I pulled my car aside, got out and waited to dart into the road when it was safe to grab the little guy and help him finish his jaunt.

Within seconds, a car swerved so they could drive over the turtle, crushing him.

I ran out and saw his shell flattened, fractured, his body bloodied, his life shortened as his little legs spasmed in the throws of death.

A turtle looking for a new home was killed by a human looking for fun on the way to their own.

This is why I prefer turtles.