How do wildlife know to use animal bridges and crossings?

Animal over- and underpasses are a huge conservation success story!

Ever wonder if animals really use those bridges to cross highways? They do! And not because they’re following signs.

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Combining fencing with over- or underpasses together helps wildlife stay safe. That includes large species such as grizzly bears and elk and smaller ones, such as western toads and salamanders.

The fencing is an important part of these crossings, as it helps guide and funnel wildlife to the right spot and keeps them off the road.

Grizzly bears and wolves

There is a “learning curve” for animals to begin using wildlife crossings. For wary animals like grizzly bears and wolves, it may take up to five years before they feel secure using newly built crossings. 

Cougars and black bears 

Researchers have learned that different wildlife species prefer different types of crossing structures. Grizzly bears, elk, moose and deer prefer wildlife crossings that are high, wide and short in length, including overpasses. Cougars and black bears prefer long, low and narrow crossings. 

Elk 

Elk were the first large species to use the crossings, even using some while they were under construction! 

What do the tops of the crossings look like?

The overpasses in Banff National Park are landscaped with soil, plants and trees to help them look like surrounding habitat. The underpasses are low and darker, providing the cover some species prefer.

Do predators use these crossings like traps?

A common question about crossings and fencing is if predators use the corridors to more easily trap prey. The short answer is no.

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Between and , researchers from University of Alberta looked into this idea in a series of 17 crossings in Quebec’s Laurentides Wildlife Reserve.

After examining photos of more than 11,000 mammals using wildlife underpasses, they did not find any evidence of predators taking advantage of the crossing design to capture their dinner.

Additional evidence shows that the carnivores, including wolves, coyotes or lynx, did not follow prey into the passages, either. So it appears these crossings do not provide the easy meal they might seem to.

Over and under, species of all sorts like crossings

Overpasses and fencing may be easier to see while driving on a highway, but underpasses are commonly used for wildlife, too. See what species are caught on camera using this underpass just east of Alberta’s Banff National Park, like the elk above.

Why does keeping wildlife connected matter?

Besides preventing horrific and dangerous wildlife-vehicle collisions, allowing animals to safely move is good for their long-term health — and ours, too!

Healthy wildlife populations need to include animal movement, so that individuals can disperse, find mates, successfully reproduce, and maintain their genetic diversity. Keeping wildlife, including grizzly bears and wolverines, connected means they can move, and that means they can breed.

Y2Y looks for critical linkages that are either fractured or broken and fix them so animals can keep moving.

Creating safe passage from Yellowstone to Yukon

Learn more about our current projects to help wildlife and people move more safely across roads cutting across the region:

Interstates, highways, roads – these all act as barriers to movement for plants and animals.  Efforts to build underpasses and overpasses in places such as Banff National Park or the Netherlands wildlife have helped keep large animal populations connected and reduced wildlife-vehicle collisions.  While these wildlife crossings are often surrounded by fencing to funnel individuals safely, there is little guidance for managers on how long to make the fencing and how effective it may be.

A recent study  by Huijser et al. looks at fencing length around wildlife crossing structures in western Montana to better understand how different management approaches might influence wildlife-vehicle collisions and provide safe passage for large mammals.  Through a combination of camera traps at crossing structures and a review of past literature, the study shows a striking difference in the effectiveness of fencing as it gets longer.  When fencing was at least 5 km long, there was an 80% reduction in vehicle-wildlife collisions.  Shorter fences were less effective overall and more variable in their effectiveness, and the fencing location and use of fence-end treatment make an impact on effectiveness.

Several management recommendations emerge from the study:

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