JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) \u2014 A Sumatran orangutan has been filmed for the first time using a human-made canopy bridge to cross a public road on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, conservationists said Monday.<\/p>\n
Rapid development has been shrinking the jungle habitat of the critically endangered species, and fatal conflicts with people have been increasing. <\/p>\n
The fleeting scene, captured by a motion\u2011sensitive camera, showed a young Sumatran orangutan pause at the forest\u2019s edge, grip a rope with deliberate care and step out into open air. Halfway across, it stopped, casting a glance down at the road below. Moments later, it crossed.<\/p>\n
Conservationists said that it marks the first documented case of an Sumatra orangutan using an artificial canopy bridge to cross a public road that had divided its habitat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was the moment we had been waiting for,\u201d Erwin Alamsyah Siregar, executive director of Indonesian conservation group Tangguh Hutan Khatulistiwa, or TaHuKah, told The Associated Press. \u201cWe are very grateful that the canopy here provides benefits for orangutan conservation efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that the bridge spans the Lagan\u2013Pagindar road in Pakpak Bharat district, a vital corridor connecting remote villages to schools, healthcare and government services. But the road also cuts directly through prime orangutan habitat, splitting an estimated 350 orangutans into two isolated forest areas: the Siranggas Wildlife Reserve and the Sikulaping Protection Forest.<\/p>\n
When the road was upgraded in 2024, the gap in the forest canopy widened, eliminating natural crossings for tree\u2011dwelling wildlife.<\/p>\n
\u201cDevelopment was necessary for people,\u201d Siregar said. \u201cBut without intervention, it would have left orangutans trapped on either side.\u201d<\/p>\n
TaHuKah, working with the Sumatran Orangutan Society, or SOS, and local and national government agencies, proposed a simple solution: rope bridges suspended between trees, allowing arboreal animals to cross above traffic.<\/p>\n
Five canopy bridges were installed each with a camera trap, carefully positioned after surveys of orangutan nests, forest cover and animal movement. The structures were designed to support the orangutan\u2019s weight \u2014 no small feat for the world\u2019s largest tree\u2011dwelling mammal.<\/p>\n
The program is closely monitored, with camera traps on every bridge and regular patrols to prevent forest encroachment. Conservationists hope more orangutans will follow the first pioneer.<\/p>\n
They waited two years for the first orangutan to cross the bridge. Before the accomplishment, only smaller animals used it. Camera traps recorded squirrels, langur monkeys and macaques, followed by gibbons \u2014 a promising sign.<\/p>\n
The orangutan\u2019s approach was slower, building nests near the bridge, lingering at its edges and testing the ropes over time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey observe,\u201d Siregar said. \u201cThey don\u2019t rush. They watch, they try, they retreat. Only when they\u2019re certain it\u2019s safe do they move.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then, one day, he crossed fully \u2014 a first not just for Sumatra, but for the species globally on a public road, conservations say.<\/p>\n
Similar bridges have been used by orangutans elsewhere, but usually over rivers or on private industrial forest road. Conservationists say public roads \u2014 noisy, busy and unpredictable \u2014 pose a far greater challenge.<\/p>\n
For orangutans, the stakes are high. Isolation leads to inbreeding, genetic weakening and eventual population collapse. Restoring connectivity gives them a chance to survive.<\/p>\n
Once widespread across southern Asia, the animal now only survives on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. Fewer than 14,000 Sumatran orangutans remain in the wild, alongside just 800 Tapanuli orangutans and about 104,700 Bornean orangutans, according to conservation groups<\/p>\n
\u201cThese bridges allow orangutans to move, to mix, to maintain healthy populations,\u201d Siregar said. \u201cIt reduces the risk of extinction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) \u2014 A Sumatran orangutan has been filmed for the first time using a human-made canopy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[1147,1204,28,1687,1685,264863,31938,793,3996,79,168038,201,965,1529],"class_list":{"0":"post-609632","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-asia-pacific","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-climate","12":"tag-climate-and-environment","13":"tag-erwin-alamsyah-siregar","14":"tag-forests","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-indonesia","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-sumatra","19":"tag-wildlife","20":"tag-world-news","21":"tag-zoology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}