Fauna monitoring cameras made the first record of a “collared sloth”, an animal critically endangered, using a footbridge for crossing fauna, on a stretch of the BR-101, in the interior of Rio de Janeiro.
The sighting of the animal, native to the coastal Atlantic Forest, was recorded at km 240 of the highway, in Silva Jardim. The device installed on site connects the treetops and allows the safe crossing of arboreal animals from one side of the road to the other.
Since the beginning of the duplication works in the section between Rio Bonito, in the Metropolitan Region, and Campos dos Goytacazes, in the North of Fluminense, 36 devices were installed for the crossing of fauna, including aerial structures (canopy to crown), underground passages and under bridges, in addition to more than 30 kilometers of fences for wildlife transport and the vegetated viaduct, built over the highway in an unprecedented work in Brazil, considered one of the landmarks in the conservation of biodiversity in the country.
The Environment coordinator of the concessionaire responsible for the road, Marcello Guerreiro, highlights that the initiatives help in the preservation of endemic animals in the region, as is also the case of the golden lion tamarin, another endangered species.
“With this equipment, some of them developed by the concessionaire, in addition to reducing accidents, the animals gain more opportunities to circulate between the preserved stretches of forest, increasing the chance of reproduction and the genetic variability of individuals”, explains the coordinator of Arteris Fluminense. .
The images of the “collared sloth” were taken on March 31, but the record is not the first of wild animals caught crossing the highway through the footbridges for the passage of fauna.
In August of last year, as soon as the cameras were installed, crab-eating foxes were seen walking among the tree saplings planted on the vegetated viaduct and, even last year, a group of golden lion tamarins was also seen by the first time on one of the catwalks.
vegetated viaduct
Opened in August 2020, the vegetated viaduct was built at km 218 of the BR-101, close to the Poço das Antas Biological Reserve, at the height of Silva Jardim. The work is the first to be built on a federal highway.
The stretch was chosen for the construction after a mapping that identified the most environmentally sensitive places and with high rates of animals being run over. The space received the planting of native Atlantic Forest seedlings.
Source: CNN Brasil
