A road through forest is, to an animal that lives in trees, a gap where the world stops. Eight rope bridges strung through the canopy above a road in Alta Floresta, in Mato Grosso, Brazil, close that gap.
Over fifteen months, arboreal animals used them 15,000 times [1]. In that period, not one was killed on the road below [1].
The project is called Reconecta, founded by the biologist Fernanda Abra, and eight more bridges are planned for urban areas [1]. Six primate species have been recorded crossing, among them the Alta Floresta titi monkey and the black-faced black spider monkey [1].
It is not the first time the method has been tested. Earlier work on the BR-174 highway, carried out with the Waimiri-Atroari people, logged roughly 1,250 primate crossings over five years across 32 bridges [1].
Fifteen thousand crossings is a large number for a small intervention: rope, height, and a route that was always there until a road was put through it.
