The Welsh LOVE Their Dormice

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Freeways make transportation easier for us humans. They are signs of progress that most of us welcome. They tend to increase commerce and decrease travel time.

Freeways seem to have their downsides, too. First, they are very expensive. Second, they seem to increase automobile travel & some think this leads to increased pollution.

A third critique of freeways is that they make changes to ecosystems, sometimes making it difficult for species to move freely. If you need proof of this, just drive the interstates in Pennsylvania in a couple months. You'll see dead deer (as in roadkill) EVERYWHERE. It's kind of disgusting, not to mention dangerous.

In Wales, highway developers have come up with a unique solution to this ecosystem problem. Their beloved dormice are already an endangered species, and a new freeway threatened to further decimate the critters. These dormice apparently live entirely in trees. So when they chopped down the trees and laid asphalt, they knew they had subdivided the species. To keep them attached, they spent $250,000 to build a dormice suspension bridge. I heard about it today on The World, a radio program. You can see some photos of the bridge & the mice above. And you can learn much more about this story & see a short video on the BBC website by clicking here.

Comments

Julie said…
Well, I would have to side on the "that's absolutely ridiculous" side of things. As that song says, "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with." Perhaps they could just set up some cheap speakers and play that song for them instead.
September 2, 2010 at 3:41 PM
Angel said…
There is something similar in the Smoky Mntns for squirrels. The squirrels won't cross roads, so they built lines for them to go across the highway.
September 7, 2010 at 3:25 PM
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