News Excerpt:
The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has earmarked funds to construct canopy bridges for India’s only ape to move across a railway track bifurcating its prime habitat in eastern Assam.
More about News:
- The 1.65-km-long railway track divides the 2,098.62-hectare Hollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary in Jorhat district, Assam.
- The sanctuary has the largest concentration of the hoolock gibbon, one of the 20 species of apes on Earth.
- The fragmentation of the forest along the track has disturbed the arboreal nature of the gibbons, putting them at risk while crossing the track.
Canopy Bridge Project:
- The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has decided to install canopy bridges inside the sanctuary to facilitate the movement of gibbons across the track.
- The decision was made in consultation with the Assam State Forest Department, Wildlife Institute of India (WII), and other stakeholders.
- The canopy bridges, designed by the WII in consultation with NFR, will be constructed at several identified points to allow easy movement of the arboreal species between the two halves of the sanctuary divided by the railway track.
- The ends of the canopy bridges and knots will be secured and clamped using appropriate high-grade fastening materials and techniques.
- Safety nets will be installed below the main twin-rope bridge as a fail-safe mechanism to save the gibbons from accidental falls.
- The canopy rope bridges will be installed in such a way that lianas and creepers can be guided along them to make the bridges look as natural as possible.
- The NFR had previously attempted to build an artificial canopy bridge, while the State Forest Department and Aaranyak (Wildlife NGO) had erected a natural canopy bridge, but the gibbons did not use the artificial bridge and preferred the natural canopy.
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Hoollongapar Gibbon Sanctuary
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