A wild Sumatran orangutan has been seen crossing a road through the jungle with the help of a canopy rope bridge for the first time.
This landmark moment, recorded on a camera trap in the Pakpak Bharat district of North Sumatra, is a world-first for the species, and because of the incredible social skills and intelligence of these animals, is predicted to become normal behavior in the future.
While other primates, including gibbons, langurs, and macaques, have previously been observed using the canopy bridges to cross the public road, this event confirms that Critically-Endangered Sumatran orangutans can and will use canopy bridges to overcome forest fragmentation.
“Waiting for this moment to happen for over 2 years has been excruciating, but now that it has, we’re just overjoyed,” said Hellen Buckland, CEO of SOS.
Pakpak Bharat is located in a landscape known as West Toba, where a population of 350 wild orangutans try to continue their ancestral lifestyle in the face of an advancing human population.
Buckland told the BBC that orangutans are especially susceptible to genetic problems from overly concentrated genetics, and it was feared the road which now bisects West Toba would isolate two halves of this population, leading to these very problems. The other issue is obviously collisions with vehicles.
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A solution simply had to be found, and the rope bridge seemed like the only hope. With the help of local partner Tangguh Hutan Khatulistiwa, and the government, several rope bridges were fastened to sturdy trees in areas the apes frequent.
As Buckland said, they had to wait ever so long to see an orangutan use them. In the meanwhile they saw a whole host of arboreal species take advantage of them, including plantain squirrels, giant black squirrels, Sumatran langurs, and the agile gibbon.
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Eventually though, their camera trap frame showed an unmistakable fuzzy orange color.
“This is absolutely fantastic news for Sumatran orangutans and we would really like to see these bridges go up across all orangutan landscapes, across Indonesia where roads are cutting through forests,” said Buckland. “It can really help the people and wildlife to live in coexistence.”
WATCH the moment below (paired with some truly beautiful music)…
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