A conservationist is building bridges in the Amazon so monkeys can cross the road

Whitley Award-winning biologist Fernanda Abra’s Reconecta Project is building canopy bridges across highways in Brazil to protect endangered primates.

The first time Brazilian biologist Fernanda Abra saw a Groves’ titi monkey, one of the most 25 endangered primates in the world, it was positioned right next to a road. “It was totally exposed to road mortality,” recalls Abra. Although figures vary wildly, by some estimates, 475 million vertebrate animals are killed by vehicles every year in the South American country, which is home to the world’s fourth biggest road network, and the Amazon rainforest. It’s a problem that Abra, who is a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian’s Center for Conservation and Sustainability, Conservation Biology Institute, has been trying to solve by building bridges at the canopy level, so tree-dwelling species can safely traverse roadways. Working with local partners including the indigenous Waimiri-Atroari people, who hold important knowledge about the wildlife in their territory in the Brazilian states of Amazonas and Roraima, Abra’s Reconecta Project has built more than 30 canopy crossings on the BR-174, a 3,300-kilometer (2,000-mile) highway slicing through the Amazon. In 2024, she was among the winners of the Whitley Fund for Nature Award, which celebrates grassroots conservationists, for her efforts. Abra hopes the structures can help turn things around for some of Brazil’s vulnerable and endangered species, like the Groves’ titi, the Schneider’s marmoset, and the Guiana Spider Monkey.