This kind of looks like the new one they’re building in Banff National park. I drove through over the summer when they started it. They have a bunch of them set up throughout the park.
Honestly my first thought was snow shed but when I saw the nature bridge comments I was like oh derp yah that’s it. The slope isn’t steep enough to warrant a snow shed.
I mean, I thought it was obviously a joke, and you’re there with me. Right? I took the use of land bridges, nature bridges, animal bridges, whatever term is used, and used it to compare the State of New Jersey to a continent, neither of which are homogenous enough to be able to even make a comparison.
I’m just curious why you really hope it’s a joke though. I suppose I have the ire of some Europeans in drawing such a conclusion, and I’m genuinely curious why that’s the case.
I guess the best place to start would be what’s European?
The thing that made me question it is that Americans have a tendency of saying dumb stuff like you did, and mean it. Cos like you said, there is very little to properly compare them.
Get back to me when you have mandatory vacation time, universal healthcare, universal college-level education, universal pre-k, family leave, modern public transportation, non-crumbling infrastructure, climate-friendly policies, etc, etc.
NJ offers free community college, they’re working on universal preschool but it varies district to district (my district is about to move it to thee years old), NJ Transit trains are built in Germany, so that’s something right? We are working on offshore wind farms but the Dutch company backed out (and to be fair the economy is a shit show and I get it and I won’t point fingers). NJ is pretty much as progressive as it gets in the US, which is why I referred to it, tongue in cheek, as the Europe of America.
Some of the US is trying, and the amount of unjustified shit reddit, and now Lemmy, throw indiscriminately at the US is foolish. To suggest Mississippi and Vermont are the same is just not true, but that’s the vibe I get when I scroll through “America Bad” after “America Bad” post.
There’s no reason for people to be up on their high horse when we’re all a decade away from collapse. Let’s be friends and joke with one another. Sometimes all you got is jokes.
My point is everyone is talking about how great this is for wildlife but there’s no way they would build this if only the wildlife were benefitting from it.
You think people built entire highways just because they wanted the most inefficient and expensive way to screw over some deer? No fucking shit all this infrastructure is for driving.
They disrupt the nature a little less. Animals aren’t hit crossing the street because they can go over and other small benefits like that. They also look nice and tunnels are fun when your car sounds nice
These are great for wildlife as they provide a safe crossing over high-speed highways. They are usually design to be in already existing migration paths where moving a proposed highway may not work and not disrupting migration paths is of importance.
There have been study’s, these crossing are usually design to feel like open fields in a sense, so most animals will cross quick and on high alert to get through the “opening” in the field.
Are there any predators smart enough to strategize like this? I know that some use water holes as hunting grounds, but that’s probably more instinctive than actual strategy.
Are there any predators smart enough to strategize like this?
it is the predators that build such passages. Have you ever seen any construction company building them? Even in the first photo that is under construction, there is not any human worker in sight
I know octopi have been escaping their aquarium enclosures and covering their tracks that humans would see. Just to take one at a time pray from their tank. If I recall correctly even killer wailes have been taking down human boats. In conclusion there are for Shure aquatic predators that use genuine strategy. Granted with my killer waile example is a similar case of is it strategy or instinct.
Good point, not sure the the strategizing octopi will be a major concern for this crossing tho. I guess you’re never really save from those devious creatures…
I just think it would be dope to drive under as a dramatic fight between an elk and wolves tumbled off the side onto my vehicle. Killing all of us instantly. What a way to go!
Would they need to be that smart? Ambush predators that stay in roughly one area, for example, could naturally grow their numbers in the area around such a chokepoint simply by virtue of the ones in that area having more food available and therefore better survival chances.
I think that these human-made structures provide such a different environment (loud sounds from cars, moving/flashing lights etc.) that previous instinctual adaptations wouldn’t trigger.
They can track other species by smell at least. If that path is used by too many and smells like a farm, they would probably get used to hang around it naturally.
I don’t imagine it would be a major problem though maybe it would let them get one or two easy meals but predators don’t hunt unless they’re hungry. So once they’ve taken down one prey animal they’ll ignore the rest. On a species level it’s probably not a major issue.
As opposed to roads which will kill lots of animals.
I’d like to read about that,understand how it’s done. it’s a thought I have whenever I see them but of course the professionals designing them would have thought about it.
There was a documentary I watch years ago where they went into great detail into this, as well as the design of these things. Can’t remember where i saw this documentary though.
Anyways, researchers setup cameras trigger by movement and body heat to watch these overpasses and found no evidence of higher predetor active.
They also went into detail about how these things are design with extra width and gentle slopes to make them as “friendly” as possible depending on the specific species that will be migrating in the area, as different wildlife species prefer different types of crossing structures.
For example:
Grizzly bears and wolves
Wary animals like grizzly bears and wolves there is a “learning curve”, it may take up to five years before they feel secure using newly built crossings. Grizzly bears, elk, moose and deer prefer wildlife crossings that are high, wide and short in length, including overpasses
Cougars and black bears
Cougars and black bears prefer long, low and narrow crossings such as underpasses.
Elk
Elk are usually the first large species to use the new crossings, even using some while they are still under construction!
Here are some articles that talk about some of the studies:
Yea elk don’t give a fuck about much really. We have a few herds where I live and they don’t even move when we walk our dogs nearby. I even have a video of one coming right up to the fence around my property, both my great pyrenees were losing their minds with the elk less than a foot away, the elk seemed more curious about the noisy little things (“little” relative to a full grown elk that is) than anything else.
It’s also amazing visually! Forget regular highways! Let’s have buried highways! That’s especially good for if our country is invaded because we can install physical barriers to logistical supply lines against us!
Buried highways would be insanely expensive, and in the case of invasion, one well placed shot would completely kill logistics for the defenders as much as it would for the invaders, so probably not the best idea to rely on those
This is the one! They’re ridiculously effective, so much so that my home provinces is sinking like 250 million into building 5 more of them over the next 5 years
Nature is already a “nature highway”, we fucked it up and now consultants sell the term “nature highway” to act like they are doing someone a favor. This is just restoring SOME man-made damage to an area to a less functional state than original for (hundreds of?) millions of dollars. Better than nothing sure, but not a “nature highway” for Simba, Timon and Pumba to dance and sing songs upon.
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