Highways running through the countryside, towns, cities, jungles, hills, mountains, borders, deserts, plains; highways running relentlessly, adamantly, imperially; highways—our yardsticks of development, our saviours from the dark bygone days of non-connectivity; highways dug mindlessly through wilderness, wetlands, and even homes, sometimes through historical sites and at other times, cultural and agricultural. Yes, they are imperative. For business, transportation, avoiding congestion, and moving fast. But there are other stakeholders as well who don’t depend on migration just for business through transportation, but for their very survival. While the highways facilitate commutation for humans, they have exactly the opposite effect on wildlife by isolating them. Why can’t we have highways for wild animals as well?

The co-author (Raza H Tehsin) suggested in his article titled “Highways for Survival” published in Tigerpaper, the periodical of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1998, that migration corridors be provided for animals along with our highways; a two-pronged practical approach that would help overcome not only the man-animal conflict, but also the development versus environment debate. The problem of isolation of animals since this idea was floated has become more acute.

It is an accepted fact that the rapid pace of human civilization and the provision of basic living facilities for the ever-expanding human population have eaten into our invaluable forest resources. Today, jungles and wildlife reserves exist only in isolated pockets and the animal species surviving within them face several threats. Inbreeding among animals is rampant, giving rise to a whole generation of genetically inferior animals.

The Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica), once widely distributed in India from Sind to Bihar, was gradually exterminated by the turn of the twentieth century and is now confined to the Gir Forest of Saurashtra. The wildlife equations in the country changed rapidly with the decimation of large jungle tracts and their conversion into agricultural lands and cities, resulting in widespread destruction of animal habitats. Species like the Asiatic Lion are now confined to remote pockets in relatively small jungle reserves and this has led to the threatening imbalance between the predator and the prey. With the disappearance of the Asiatic Lion from Central India, its chief prey animal, the Neelgai or Blue Bull (Boselaphus tragocamelus), has gradually grown in numbers to become a menace to both man and the delicate ecosystem. It is roughly estimated that in Rajasthan state of India alone, about 150,000 Blue Bulls roam destructively on farms, zealously guarded by religious sentiments, presenting naturalists with all sorts of problems for which practical solutions are yet to be found.

Species like the Asiatic Lion, the Great Indian Rhino, and the Wild Buffalo have been confined to singular jungle reserves and are not seen elsewhere. Confinement further exposes the species to the grave threat of total extinction through epidemics, natural calamites or further destruction of the confined habitats. Naturalists are desperately looking for alternative habitats, but here again, the basic problem remains unsolved: How can the animals be shifted to the chosen reserves? Will they survive there? Does the delicate fabric of the ecosystem permit artificial translocation of animals? In our quest for practical solutions, we have overlooked the behavioural tendencies of animals for far too long.

Before the advent of man on earth, the major part of the land was appropriately forested, teeming with innumerable species of animals. Large herds of these animals constantly moved in well-guided directions in search of food and water, regularly treading on the jungle undergrowth along chosen routes, thereby creating game paths. Due to adverse climatic conditions, over population, instinct or curiosity, the animals were forced to migrate to other suitable habitats. They naturally created game paths that served as highways and made migrating conditions easy and comfortable. When man appeared on earth, he too utilized these game paths for hunting. In the search of new hunting grounds and better climatic conditions, man also followed the long distance game paths from one jungle zone to another, created by migrating wild animals. Today, the best example of these game paths is goat tracks. If you want to climb a hill or low mountain, you should follow the goat tracks, which is less strenuous, rather than climbing haphazardly on your own. When man progressed and mechanization developed, he broadened most of these game paths of the plains and hills to make way for vehicular traffic.

Migration is one trait of animal behaviour that can be reasonably exploited to solve one of the most acute problems faced by wildlife today. Isolated jungle reserves can be effectively linked to other reserves by creating strips of jungles by planting trees, bushes, and herbs alongside paths leading out of these jungles to enable the animals to migrate under natural conditions. The plantation of trees, herbs, and shrubs in these strips should be according to the local vegetation of each area and in the same density, without introducing any exotic species. Naturalists have already started taking steps in this direction, by linking sanctuaries and reserves. But this effort needs to be enhanced manifold. There should be a network of at least 300-metre-wide, strictly protected corridors linking all national parks, sanctuaries, and protected areas of the country. This should be taken up at a slow, but steady pace, linking one or two regions at a time.

Most animal species have lost their migratory instinct, but it can be revived and specific animal species can be effectively induced to migrate to chosen reserves. This calls for concerted efforts, but there is little doubt that this is the best and most practical solution.

Not just the migratory instinct, animals possess a high skill level of engineering too, which aids them in their migration as well. Burrows of several mammals are a marvellous engineering feat. If you dig into them, you will find excellent tunnels and chambers for rest, food storage, and escape. Several species of birds like Weaver Bird and Tailor Bird that build complicated nests are awe inspiring. Similarly, beavers build dams and are capable of changing the micro-environment of a particular place in a very short period. Complicated problems of wildlife can be solved by simple methods like providing corridors for migration, and their evolutionary instincts will take care of the rest.

An extension to the idea of corridors for migration is to provide tunnel crossings for wildlife, like sky-walks for humans, across the highways. A highway fragments the forests and results in extinctions, inbreeding, and inferior gene pools. While countries like the USA are working seriously on environmental impact assessment, we are still to ensure that environmental considerations become an integral part of the corridor selection as well as design and planning of roads.

When highways are built, especially in a country like India, thousands of trees are cut, leaving barren patches. Scenic value and environmental aesthetics are considered a necessary casualty, and so are killing endangered species, damaging wetlands and woodlands, and causing erosion. The debris dug out of the hills is discarded in pits and valleys. This not only hinders the flow of water, but also impedes the movement of wild animals. It destroys the topography and jungles too.

An example is the NH76 constructed near Udaipur, surrounded by the Aravali Hill Ranges—one of the oldest hill ranges of the world. The countryside around this highway has transformed unrecognizably. All the old landmarks, temples, hills, and streams are unmarked now, wiped away from the landscape without a trace. The distinct character of the Aravalis has been lost forever. And to top that, there is hardly any traffic on this newly built highway. Sometimes, it stands silent and desolate for long minutes until a truck or a car roars by. The hills are so mindlessly cut that landslides have become a regular feature at some places. But even on a comparatively empty road like this one, you’ll often see an animal squashed on the road.

Many animals die an untimely death by crashing against the speeding vehicles on the highways and expressways. The death of bigger animals is reported more often than not. Smaller animals like wild cats, civets, mongooses, snakes, lizards, and frogs dying in road accidents don’t make any news. These creatures are as important for our survival as the bigger animals and the unnatural deaths are resulting in heavy decline in their numbers.

Every creature, be it big or small, has fixed demarcated paths on which it travels to and fro in the wilderness. Even after the construction of roads, the animals prefer to take the old routes. Only a naturalist can locate these. Before implementing these mega road building projects, it is of utmost importance to have surveys done by the experts. The road authorities should construct tunnels below these roads, in continuation of the animal paths, to provide risk-free crossings for animals. Accidents that involve bigger animals like Blue Bulls pose a threat not only to the animals themselves, but also to humans. The experts can determine the required breadth and length of tunnels at different places. This should be in consideration of all animals, big and small, so that they can cross the roads easily, without the risk of being run over. At many places on both sides of the road there are pits or ponds, which get filled up in the rains. Many creatures like frogs go from one pit to another for mating. Tunnels, which connect the ponds on either side of the road, should be made for the slow-moving animals. The experts can also leave a trail of pheromones in these tunnels so that the animals follow it and become acquainted with the safe passage. But what both these approaches—jungle corridors for migration, and crossing tunnels—need is a stronger, much more active political and bureaucratic will; not just a change in policies, but their firm implementation, just like the political will displayed in the implementation of road projects! The damage causing highways can be turned into a conservation tool by planting strips of jungles alongside it and making tunnel crossings for animals. This will ensure soil, wetland, and water protection, noise reduction, and cause minimum damage to regional topography.

Once this is achieved, the problems of isolation and confinement of animal species, the spilling over of animals into human habitations, man-animal conflict, and the grave danger of total extinction of animals can be addressed effectively. It is in such a direction that we must strive to work, for only nature is capable of solving its problems; even those created by us.