Sumatran Orangutan Uses Canopy Bridge Over Road

A young Sumatran orangutan has been captured on camera for the first time using a human-made canopy bridge to cross a public road in Indonesia's North Sumatra province, conservationists announced this week. The footage, recorded by a motion-sensitive trap on the Lagan-Pagindar road in Pakpak Bharat district, shows the animal carefully gripping a rope midway across before glancing at the traffic below and completing the journey.

The bridge connects the Siranggas Wildlife Reserve and the Sikulaping Protection Forest, home to an estimated 350 orangutans now split by the road's 2023 upgrade. That widening of the forest canopy gap severed natural treetop pathways for the arboreal primates, who spend over 90 percent of their time above ground. Without safe crossings, the animals face isolation, limiting access to food, mates and genetic diversity, which heightens risks of inbreeding and population decline.

Indonesian conservation group Tangguh Hutan Khatulistiwa, known as TaHuKah, collaborated with the Sumatran Orangutan Society, local communities and government agencies to install five rope bridges along the route. Ranging from single ropes for agile species to sturdier ladder and...