25 Animal Bridges That Are Saving Wildlife Across The World

Because the bridges are so effective, the United States and Canada have upped the construction of these crossings in the last 30 years.

Like this gallery?Share it:

Flipboard

And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts:

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Stretches 1,600 Miles And Won’t Be Safe For Humans For Another 20,000 Years

India’s Living Root Bridges Could Be The Future of Green Design

Missing Iditarod Sled Dog Found Safe — Months After Disappearing Into The Alaskan Wilderness

1 of 26This wildlife crossing can be found under a highway in Finland.Bored Panda 2 of 26This tree-covered pass is in Singapore.CheekyAsian/Bored Panda 3 of 26Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. reddit 4 of 26Wildlife overpass in the Netherlands. reddit 5 of 26Wildlife crossing in Alberta, Canada.Joel Sartore/MyModernMet 6 of 26Deer use a Colorado ecoduct.notlorinashton/Bored Panda 7 of 26The only bridge on Christmas Island, Australia, is to facilitate crab migration from the rain forest to the ocean. Wondrous World Images/ABC.net 8 of 26A wildlife crossing in Germany.reddit 9 of 26The Flathead Reservation Overpass near Evaro, Montana.Wikimedia Commons 10 of 26Seen in the underpass through the Flathead Indian Reservation.CSKT, MDT, WTI-MSU/ Missoulian
11 of 26The Colorado Highway 9 Overpass.Wikimedia Commons 12 of 26An elephant underpass in Kenya.AP/Bored Panda 13 of 26Cockatoos occupy a rope bridge meant for squirrels in Victoria, Australia.Bored Panda 14 of 26As seen in Keechelus Lake, Washington. Bored Panda 15 of 26An ecoduct in the Netherlands. zenhamster/Bored Panda 16 of 26A wildlife crossing in Belgium.reddit 17 of 26A turtle tunnel under train tracks in Japan.sumasui/Bored Panda 18 of 26An animal bridge in New Jersey. Wikimedia Commons 19 of 26Cattle travel through an underpass in Victoria, Australia. Bored Panda 20 of 26Wildlife bridge in Brisbane, Australia. Rob Tilley/Bored Panda 21 of 26A grizzly bear emerges from an underpass after crossing the Trans-Canada Highway in Banff National Park, Canada. HighwayWilding/Bored Panda 22 of 26A Black Bear takes a selfie on a Colorado corridor camera on I-70. KDVR/Denver 23 of 26Nutty Narrows Bridge in Longview, Washington.springfieldhomer/Flickr 24 of 26An overpass reconnecting the forest in Banff National Park, Canada.Allie Banting/Parks Canada 25 of 26A rope bridge over a roadway in Brazil. _gosh/Bored Panda 26 of 26Like this gallery?Share it:

Flipboard

25 Animal Bridges That Are Keeping Wildlife Safe From Humans And Their Cars View Gallery

When nature meets asphalt, it’s rarely a good thing. That’s why conservationists and architects got together to engineer animal bridges over busy highways for our wild animal friends. These wildlife crossings reduce fatalities for both animals and humans alike.

Like this gallery?Share it:

Flipboard

And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts:

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Stretches 1,600 Miles And Won’t Be Safe For Humans For Another 20,000 Years

India’s Living Root Bridges Could Be The Future of Green Design

Missing Iditarod Sled Dog Found Safe — Months After Disappearing Into The Alaskan Wilderness

Flipboard

Like this gallery?Share it:

Flipboard

And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts:

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Stretches 1,600 Miles And Won’t Be Safe For Humans For Another 20,000 Years

India’s Living Root Bridges Could Be The Future of Green Design

Missing Iditarod Sled Dog Found Safe — Months After Disappearing Into The Alaskan Wilderness

Flipboard

Like this gallery?Share it:

Flipboard

And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts:

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Stretches 1,600 Miles And Won’t Be Safe For Humans For Another 20,000 Years

India’s Living Root Bridges Could Be The Future of Green Design

Missing Iditarod Sled Dog Found Safe — Months After Disappearing Into The Alaskan Wilderness

Flipboard

Share
Flipboard
Email

Flipboard

1 of 26This wildlife crossing can be found under a highway in Finland.Bored Panda

2 of 26This tree-covered pass is in Singapore.CheekyAsian/Bored Panda

3 of 26Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. reddit

4 of 26Wildlife overpass in the Netherlands. reddit

5 of 26Wildlife crossing in Alberta, Canada.Joel Sartore/MyModernMet

6 of 26Deer use a Colorado ecoduct.notlorinashton/Bored Panda

7 of 26The only bridge on Christmas Island, Australia, is to facilitate crab migration from the rain forest to the ocean. Wondrous World Images/ABC.net

8 of 26A wildlife crossing in Germany.reddit

9 of 26The Flathead Reservation Overpass near Evaro, Montana.Wikimedia Commons

10 of 26Seen in the underpass through the Flathead Indian Reservation.CSKT, MDT, WTI-MSU/ Missoulian

11 of 26The Colorado Highway 9 Overpass.Wikimedia Commons

12 of 26An elephant underpass in Kenya.AP/Bored Panda

13 of 26Cockatoos occupy a rope bridge meant for squirrels in Victoria, Australia.Bored Panda

14 of 26As seen in Keechelus Lake, Washington. Bored Panda

15 of 26An ecoduct in the Netherlands. zenhamster/Bored Panda

16 of 26A wildlife crossing in Belgium.reddit

17 of 26A turtle tunnel under train tracks in Japan.sumasui/Bored Panda

18 of 26An animal bridge in New Jersey. Wikimedia Commons

19 of 26Cattle travel through an underpass in Victoria, Australia. Bored Panda

20 of 26Wildlife bridge in Brisbane, Australia. Rob Tilley/Bored Panda

21 of 26A grizzly bear emerges from an underpass after crossing the Trans-Canada Highway in Banff National Park, Canada. HighwayWilding/Bored Panda

22 of 26A Black Bear takes a selfie on a Colorado corridor camera on I-70. KDVR/Denver

23 of 26Nutty Narrows Bridge in Longview, Washington.springfieldhomer/Flickr

24 of 26An overpass reconnecting the forest in Banff National Park, Canada.Allie Banting/Parks Canada

25 of 26A rope bridge over a roadway in Brazil. _gosh/Bored Panda

26 of 26Like this gallery?Share it:

Flipboard

25 Animal Bridges That Are Keeping Wildlife Safe From Humans And Their Cars View Gallery

25 Animal Bridges That Are Keeping Wildlife Safe From Humans And Their Cars

View Gallery

Indeed, there is a lot more at stake than just roadkill.

Thanks to our ever-expanding roads, wildlife habitats are becoming increasingly fragmented. Highways often cut animals off from resources they rely on for survival. This leaves wildlife with little choice other than to attempt to traverse dangerous roads. It’s a no-win situation.

Who Is Building Animal Bridges?

The idea of wildlife bridges aren’t really new; in fact, they’ve been springing up throughout Europe since the 1950s.

However, the United States and Canada have picked up the pace on construction considerably over the past 30 years. This may be prompted, in part, by the fact that Americans shell out nearly $8 billion annually for vehicle-animal collisions. But certainly, wildlife health and conservation plays a large part.

The Netherlands alone has 66 overpasses to protect its wildlife populations; namely badgers, boars, and deer.

How These Futuristic Wildlife Crossings Work

The idea behind animal bridges is to give native animals a way to get across roads without endangering themselves. Optimally, engineers design the bridges to be inexpensive (so there can be many) and natural-looking so as to not frighten the animals.

Fencing is installed leading up to the crossings in order to direct wildlife to the area. Any details that encourage the animals to use the crossings also increases the likelihood that adults will teach their offspring to use them, too.

One particularly treacherous area of Colorado — along the highway I-70 — is a prime location for increased wildlife crossings. Local project leaders installed motion-capture cameras to help document the wildlife and their travel patterns.

“We can get an idea of where these animals are naturally existing,” said Kara Polansky of the Denver Zoo and the Colorado Corridors Project. “Where they’re trying to cross … how they’re behaviors might be affected by the highway. Then use that information to determine where the best place for the crossing structures might be.”

“In some places, we’ve seen up to a 90 percent reduction in vehicle-animal collisions where these have been built, so they tend to be really successful,” Polansky continued.

Both Over And Under

In addition to overpasses or animal bridges, many places have wildlife crossings that go beneath roadways. They tend to be more compact and are used more by smaller animals.

An underpass beneath Highway 160 between Durango and Bayfield in Colorado was completed in 2016. Remote photos show that the passageway is used by deer, coyotes, raccoons, and other small animals daily.

“Roads all over the state run right through these migration paths, when they go back and forth a lot of animals are hit on the highway every year,” reported Joe Lewandowski, a spokesperson for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. “There are many many needs in transportation across the state and this is just one of them.”

Underpasses in Africa, too, are assisting large animals like elephants in reuniting members of fragmented herds. Building more of these corridors could also ease the human-elephant tensions throughout India.

There are even aquatic corridors linking waterways now separated by roads. The Interstate-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project is building a corridor to restore the natural flow and function of waterways in Washington and will reconnect fish like trout to the habitat they’ve been cut off from for decades.

Animal bridges are a step in the right direction in creating harmony between modernization and animal life. Habitats will no doubt continue to become more fragmented in the future, but with these bridges in place, road fatalities — both animal and human — should only continue to decrease.

After this look at some animal bridges that blend man and nature, find out about how animals in Chernobyl’s Red Forest are surviving — and flourishing. Then, read about the new punishment for wildlife poachers in Kenya.

Because the bridges are so effective, the United States and Canada have upped the construction of these crossings in the last 30 years.#

Who Is Building Animal Bridges?#

How These Futuristic Wildlife Crossings Work#

Both Over And Under#

Because the bridges are so effective, the United States and Canada have upped the construction of these crossings in the last 30 years.

Who Is Building Animal Bridges?

How These Futuristic Wildlife Crossings Work

Both Over And Under