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Why Researchers Are So Pumped About an Orangutan Crossing a Rope Bridge

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28.04.2026

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Why Researchers Are So Pumped About an Orangutan Crossing a Rope Bridge

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You were probably delighted when you saw an orangutan shimmying across a rope bridge at the zoo, but not as delighted as a team of researchers who saw one do it in the wild.

In North Sumatra, a young Sumatran orangutan has been filmed using a human-made canopy bridge to cross a busy public road, making it the first documented instance of the critically endangered species doing so.

It didn’t last for long, but it was the culmination of over two years of patiently waiting for it to happen.

Scientists Built Orangutans a Bridge. Two Years Later, One Finally Used It

The Guardian reports that the bridge spans the Lagan-Pagindar road, a pathway used by........

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