Wildlife Crossings by Catherine Barr

Catherine Barr is widely known for her environmental and animal based non-fiction books. In her guest blog, she shares some insight into how Wildlife Crossings came to be!

Wildlife crossings: Protecting animal pathways around the world

Driving at dusk, I was desperately hoping for an elephant or two to cross the road. But as the sun sank, just a hazy line of skinny African cattle wandered across our sandy path. I was travelling with Botswana children’s authors Monty Botumile and Onica Lekuntwane at the invitation of National Geographic in the Eastern Panhandle of the spectacular Okavango Delta. We were dusty, tired and exhilarated after sharing our books in rural schools. We were driving back to our hotel past Elephant Express school bus stops in an elephant corridor.

Every child in every class we visited had seen an elephant and most had heard a lion’s roar. The Elephant Express guaranteed a safe passage – without bumping into an elephant on your walk to school. Living close to an ancient migration path crossed daily by elephants at dawn and dusk seeking water and food posed risks to the local community.

‘Our planet is criss-crossed by ancient paths. Endless journeys made by 8.7 million species searching for food water, mates and safe places to breed…. People are turning habitats into isolated patches of nature, already under threat from climate change. As space is squeezed, tensions between wildlife and people rise.’

As wild landscapes shrink and human populations expand, such human: wildlife conflict is one of the greatest challenges of conservation. Nature is sliced up, whether by roads, railways or towns into unconnected fragments. In the buffer zones around unfenced protected spaces, there is inevitable potential for conflict. Rural communities are trying to eke out a living alongside predators like tigers as well as elephants on the move.

Having recently researched Let’s Save the Okavango Delta and The Story of Conservation, I was keen to investigate the ways in which communities can live peacefully alongside wildlife and explore the role of wildlife corridors in species survival around the world.

Wildlife corridors are vital pathways being identified and in some places protected to link nature so animals like elephants can roam. In our new book, Wildlife Crossings: Protecting animals pathways around the world illustrated by Christiane Engel, we explore the stories of gibbons, elephants, hedgehogs, bears, cougars, fish and spoonbills sandpipers or ‘spoonies’ seeking wetlands to rest and refuel on their global flyways.

‘Track the journeys of seven amazing animals. Discover why they are in trouble and follow their paths to find out how ‘wildlife corridors’ are helping them to survive.’

As ever in work, I seek to learn from experts in the field. For Wildlife Corridors I consulted a road ecologist in Banff in Canada, Zoomed with the extraordinary US campaigner Beth Pratt who initiated the construction of what will be the biggest wildlife crossing (close to LA) in the world; learned from the Rights of Passage Wildlife Corridors Project in India, had fascinating conversations with local gibbon expert and primatologist Carolyn Thompson and advice from the Hedgehog Society in the UK. Their fascinating insight and stories are translated into words and pictures on the pages of this book, which I am so proud and excited to share.

From swinging gibbons to fish ladders, hedgehog hospitals and elephants road signs, there are a wealth of global stories to explore. Children will discover how to become a Hedgehog Champion, track birds on flyways around the world, find out why gibbons stay high in the trees, notice that grizzlies go over a bridge and black bears head under it and be amazed by a cougar named P-22 who scaled the heights of Hollywood fame.

Young readers are encouraged to zoom in and spot the numbers of each animal wandering or flying across the page. They learn about the challenges each creature faces in its journeys and the way in which very different kinds of wildlife corridors can help. I hope this book sparks curiosity and conversation about conservation and the role we play in protecting wildlife and their habitats around the world.

Wildlife Crossings by Catherine Barr and Christiane Engel is published by Otter-Barry Books.