Endangered dusky langurs have successfully begun using a new artificial canopy bridge in a major tourism hub on Malaysia’s Penang Island.
Camera traps set up by the Langur Project Penang (LPP) confirmed that the first dusky langur (Trachypithecus obscurus) crossed the bridge made out of old fire hoses on June 1, about two months after it was installed on April 8, 2026.
Known as “The Obscura,” the bridge was installed in Batu Ferringhi, a beach resort town in the northern part of Penang Island. LPP founder Yap Jo Leen previously told Mongabay that the bridge provides a safe path for urban wildlife, such as langurs and macaques, to cross busy roads without risking death by vehicles or electric wires.
LPP, a citizen science-driven conservation initiative, works to mitigate the habitat fragmentation caused by Malaysia’s rapid urban development. Mongabay previously reported that Malaysia has lost more than half its forest cover since 1900 as its human population has climbed. What forest remains is increasingly divided by roads and residential infrastructure, isolating populations of wild animals in residential areas away from their natural habitats.
Yap documented eight langurs killed by vehicles during her research in Penang between 2016 and 2018. Since then, LPP has installed three bridges made of fire hoses, The Obscura being the latest, to help the langurs cross roads.
The first bridge, Ah Lai’s Crossing, was installed in 2019 to help a group of langurs navigate a busy coastal road to find food. While a long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) crossed within three days, it took the langurs nine months to make their first crossing.
The second, Numi’s Crossing, was installed in 2024 to safely route a resident group of eight langurs over a widening multilane road. Prior to the bridge, these langurs would often freeze in traffic or navigate dangerous culverts where they risked dog attacks. The group began using the bridge in just six days.
Yap said langurs adopting The Obscura in two months was sooner than they’d expected and a welcome surprise. “This tells us that through citizen science-based primate behavior monitoring on the ground, selecting the best bridge installation location through patience, comprehensive data collection and analysis enables us to select the best coordinates for the dusky langurs,” she said.
Yap previously told Mongabay the bridges are constructed from repurposed fire hoses donated by local fire departments, offering durability while mimicking natural vines. She added that urban primates are intelligent and adapt quickly to artificial structures. The langurs near Numi’s Crossing, for example, were already accustomed to using cable wires to move.
The success of The Obscura in Batu Ferringhi has drawn federal attention. In April 2026, Malaysia’s deputy minister of natural resources and environmental sustainability visited the site to evaluate canopy bridges as a potential national model for animal-friendly urban solutions.
Banner image of a dusky langur using The Obscura in June 2026. Imagae courtesy of the Langur Project Penang.
This story first appeared on Mongabay
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Mongabay, and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.