‘Cries of delight’ as Sumatran orangutan filmed using canopy bridge to cross road for first time | Endangered species
The critically endangered Sumatran orangutan has been filmed for the first time using a canopy bridge to cross a road. In 2024, conservationists in the Pakpak Bharat district of North Sumatra in Indonesia built the bridge high over the Lagan-Pagindar road, which provides an essential route for local people but which became a barrier for animals. Natural crossing was “impossible for wildlife”, said Erwin Alamsyah Siregar, director of Tangguh Hutan Khatulistiwa (TaHuKah), the environmental organisation that helped install the bridge. For two years, the Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) and TaHuKah, its local partner, had been watching camera-trap footage of the bridge, waiting for the day that an orangutan would finally cross. Sumatran orangutan filmed using a canopy bridge to cross a public road in North Sumatra “You should have heard the cries of delight from the team,” said Helen Buckland, chief executive of SOS. “After two long years, it’s finally happened.” This is the first time the species has been caught on camera crossing a wildlife bridge, offering a glimmer of hope to conservationists worried …







