Reported by Sandeep Sharma
Guwahati: In a major breakthrough for wildlife conservation in Assam, a male Western Hoolock Gibbon was seen using a specially designed canopy bridge over the Lumding–Dibrugarh railway line passing through the Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary on Friday morning.
The development is being seen as a significant milestone in India’s efforts to protect endangered arboreal species and reconnect fragmented forest habitats.
The canopy bridges were installed jointly by the Assam Forest Department and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) as a mitigation measure, under the guidance of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav shared video footage of the crossing on X and described it as an example of “tech-led conservation”.
“Good to see that mitigation measures such as this canopy bridge made over a railway passing through Assam have started being used by Hoolock Gibbon. This shows science-led small-scale efforts can also be of great help in biodiversity conservation,” Yadav wrote.
The video showed the gibbon skillfully swinging across the rope-based canopy bridge suspended above the railway track, highlighting the effectiveness of the structure in enabling safe movement between forest patches.
The bridge has been installed inside the Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary in Assam’s Jorhat district, home to nearly 125 western hoolock gibbons, India’s only ape species. The sanctuary is divided by the Mariani–Dibrugarh railway track, which has long posed risks to these tree-dwelling primates that rarely come down to the ground.
Wildlife experts have repeatedly raised concerns over habitat fragmentation and the risk of accidents involving fast-moving trains inside the sanctuary.
The canopy bridge project was developed by the Wildlife Institute of India in collaboration with the Assam Forest Department and the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR). Multiple such bridges have been planned at identified crossing points to help gibbon families move safely across the forest canopy.
The western hoolock gibbon is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and is known to play a key role in forest regeneration by dispersing seeds across large forest areas.
Conservationists have welcomed the successful use of the bridge, calling it an encouraging example of how scientific planning and low-cost interventions can help reduce the impact of infrastructure projects on wildlife habitats.