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​A New Type of Wildlife Sky Bridge is Being Tested on the UK’s Rare Dormouse

One of nature’s sleepiest creatures needs special help from conservationists.
Rachel Pick
New York, US
A captive bred dormouse ready for reintroduction in the UK. Image: Getty

One critter that conservationists in the UK have been trying to protect for decades is the tiny, dozy little hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius). Habitat fragmentation, especially disruptions in tree and forest canopy caused by human development, have isolated small populations of the mostly arboreal creature, and can be deleterious to the species' overall health.

The possible solution? Building sky bridges.

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One of the earlier styles of bridges used in the UK. Image: Highways England/Flickr

Dormouse conservationists have actually been trying variations of this for awhile, but proving their efficacy has been elusive: According to the BBC, different small skyways bridging gaps over railroad tracks and highways have been constructed, but so far the only proof of dormice using any kind of bridge to move between territories was on a wildlife bridge over the A21, which was a far bigger construction project with real sod and vegetation.

Now, the People's Trust for Endangered Species is testing a new kind of mini suspension bridge that has been successful with dormouse populations in Japan, and is also much cheaper than current options.

Previous aerial bridges built in the UK have drawn criticism for being overly expensive, with three wire walkways in South Wales costing £190,000. Over in Japan, the new style of walkway only cost about ¥2 million, or £10,000. It may still seem like a lot of money for one tiny dormouse-sized bridge, but these animals are strongly associated with the UK countryside, and their Beatrix Potter-esque faces are hard to resist. They've won their share of fans in both countries: In Japan, dormouse advocate Koichi Otake left his engineering job to found the Animal Pathway and Wildlife Association, saying he "fell in love" with dormice.

Currently, a prototype of the new style of bridge spans two areas where dormice are already present, and being monitored just to see if the animals are comfortable using it. Early results look promising, as both dormice and red squirrels were captured on a night vision camera scampering around.