Endangered orangutan filmed using canopy bridge to cross public road in Indonesia: “World first”

A Sumatran orangutan has been photographed for the first time using a man-made bridge to cross a public road on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, conservationists said Monday.

Rapid development has been shrinking forest habitat endangered speciesand deadly conflicts with people have been on the rise.

The fleeting scene, captured by a motion-sensitive camera, showed a young Sumatran orangutan pausing at the edge of a forest, carefully holding a rope and stepping out into the air. When he was in the middle of the road, he stopped and looked down the road.

“Then, looking at the camera, he continues on his way,” the Sumatran Orangutan Society, or SOS, said in a social media post showing the video.

Conservationists say this is the first recorded sign of an endangered species using an artificial canopy bridge to cross a public road that separated its habitat.

“This was the moment we’ve been waiting for,” Erwin Alamsyah Siregar, executive director of Indonesian conservation organization Tangguh Hutan Khatulistiwa, or TaHuKah, told the Associated Press. “We are very grateful that the canopy here provides benefits for orangutan conservation efforts.”

He said the bridge crosses the Lagan-Pagindar road in Pakpak Bharat district, an important corridor connecting remote villages with schools, health and government services. But the road also cuts directly through orangutan habitat, dividing the approximately 350 orangutans into two isolated forest areas: Siranggas Wildlife Reserve and Sikulaping Protection Forest.

When the road was developed in 2024, the gap in the forest widened, removing the natural crossing of tree-dwelling wildlife.

“Development was needed by the people,” said Siregar. “But without intervention, it would have left the orangutans stranded on both sides.”

TaHuKah, working with SOS and local and national government agencies, proposed a simple solution: rope bridges suspended between trees, allowing the tree-dwelling animals to cross over traffic.

Although other species including gibbons and long-tailed macaques have also been seen crossing there, “this is a world first for Sumatran orangutans,” SOS told AFP.

“One orangutan has twins, but the population of 350 is still isolated,” SOS said in a statement on social media.

Five canopy bridges were installed, each with a camera trap, carefully placed after monitoring orangutan nests, forest cover and animal movements. The structures were designed to support the weight of the orangutan – no small feat for the world’s largest tree-dwelling mammal.

The system is closely monitored, with cameras on every bridge and regular surveillance to prevent trespassing. Conservationists hope that more orangutans will follow the first pioneer.

“Seeing this young male orangutan crossing the road with confidence is a major conservation milestone – proving that it is possible to bring together fragmented forests,” SOS said on social media.

They waited two years before the first orangutan crossed the bridge. Before doing this, only small animals were used. Camera traps recorded squirrels, langur monkeys and macaques, followed by gibbons – a promising sign.

The orangutan was walking slowly, building nests near the bridge, sitting on its edge and examining the ropes from time to time.

“They see,” said Siregar. “The chasers look, they try, they retreat. Only when they are sure that it is safe do they move.”

Then one day, he fell in full – the first time not only for Sumatra, but for animals from all over the world on a public road, say conservationists.

Similar bridges have been used by orangutans elsewhere, but usually over rivers or private forest roads. Conservationists say public roads – noisy, busy and unpredictable – pose the biggest challenge.

For orangutans, the stakes are high. Isolation leads to inbreeding, genetic reduction and eventual population collapse. Restoring communication gives them a chance to survive.

Once widespread in southern Asia, this animal now survives only on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. Fewer than 14,000 Sumatran orangutans remain in the wild, along with 800 Tapanuli orangutans and 104,700 Bornean orangutans, according to conservation groups.

“These bridges allow orangutans to travel, socialize, and maintain healthy populations,” Siregar said. “Reduce the risk of extinction.”