Hundreds of monkeys can now safely cross roads in Alta Floresta, a city in the southern Brazilian Amazon. Seven canopy bridges have reconnected rainforest fragments that were separated by urban roads.
Camera traps have recorded more than 3,000 crossings by canopy-dwelling wildlife, an average of more than 12 a day, since October 2024, when the bridges were installed by the Reconecta (Reconnect in English) Project in partnership with the city council. Before the bridges, local firefighters reported an average of one primate collision a day within the city’s perimeter.
The black-capped capuchin (Sapajus apella) was the first to use the bridge, crossing just days after installation. In the weeks and months that followed, several rare species also began using the bridge, including the endangered Schneider’s marmoset (Mico schneideri), black spider monkey (Ateles chamek) and the critically endangered Alta Floresta titi monkey (Plecturocebus grovesi).
“It was incredible,” road ecologist Fernanda Abra, founder of the Reconecta Project and a postdoctoral researcher at the Smithsonian, told Mongabay in a phone interview. “When we saw the animals exploring the bridges just two, three days after installation, it was the best result we could have hoped for.”
According to Abra, local wildlife has taken up to a month to begin using canopy bridges in other areas.
The Alta Floresta municipality, in Mato Grosso state, has around 60,000 residents and lies on the edge of the Amazon Rainforest’s Arc of Deforestation. Since the 1980s, deforestation for farms and urban growth in the region have been pushing farther into the Amazon, leaving behind forest fragments. The region is home to 12 primate species, six of which are common in urban areas.
The project in Alta Floresta was driven by locals who were troubled by the high number of primate road deaths and set up a group to share images and news about collisions. They raised their concerns with authorities and local organizations, who reached out to Abra’s project.
In one of the city’s main squares, Parque das Capivaras, a billboard now tallies the number of safe crossings by the monkeys, which Abra said helps engage the local community with the conservation effort. They also installed road signs signalling the presence of monkeys to raise awareness for drivers. “The whole city is really content because they were very aware of the problem,” Abra added.
Each bridge, made from concrete poles connected to rope and steel cables, costs around $3,000 in materials and is expected to last at least 20 years with minimal maintenance. An additional eight bridges are planned for September 2025. The local utility company is working to insulate power lines in the areas to prevent risks such as electrocution.
Mato Grosso’s state-level environment department noticed the project and announced its intentions to expand the effort to other municipalities.
Banner image: The critically endangered Alta Floresta Titi monkey (Plecturocebus grovesi) crossing one of the bridges in February 2025. Image courtesy of NZCBI.
