Building bridges for human-wildlife coexistence: Interview with Yap Jo Leen
Yap Jo Leen, a conservationist, initiated the Langur Project Penang to protect endangered dusky langurs from road accidents on Penang Island. Since 2019, her team has constructed three canopy bridges from repurposed materials, significantly reducing roadkill incidents. The project also emphasizes community involvement and education to promote coexistence between humans and wildlife.
- ▪Yap Jo Leen launched the Langur Project Penang after witnessing langurs being struck by vehicles.
- ▪The project has built three canopy bridges, resulting in zero recorded langur roadkill deaths at the first bridge site.
- ▪Yap's initiative combines wildlife conservation with citizen science, training volunteers to track langur movements and engage local communities.
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Conservationist Yap Jo Leen launched the Langur Project Penang after witnessing dusky langurs, an endangered monkey she was studying for her Ph.D. research, getting struck by vehicles on Malaysia’s Penang Island.Since 2019, her group has built three canopy bridges made from repurposed fire hoses to help langurs and other tree-dwelling wildlife safely cross busy roads, with no recorded langur roadkill deaths at the first bridge site since its installation.The project combines wildlife conservation with citizen science and environmental education, training volunteers to track langur movements, collect ecological and social data, and work with local communities to reduce human-wildlife conflict.Yap says the long-term goal is not simply to build more wildlife bridges, but to foster a broader…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Mongabay — News.
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