Glossary

Wildlife corridor

A strip of habitat or a crossing structure that links separate wild areas so animals can travel between them safely.

Also called: habitat corridor, wildlife crossing, green bridge, animal underpass

A wildlife corridor is a route that connects habitats that have been split apart by roads, farmland, towns or fences. It can be a natural strip of forest or river bank, a green bridge over a highway, or an underpass beneath it. Animals use corridors to find food, mates and new territory, and to move as seasons or climate change.

Wide-ranging cats depend on them. A tiger, jaguar or cougar needs a large range, and young males often travel far to find their own space. When a population is cut off in a small patch, it may become inbred and more likely to die out. Corridors let genes flow between groups. In southern California, mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains are cut off from others by freeways, and a large wildlife crossing over the US 101 freeway was designed to help them.

Corridors work best when they are planned with landowners and communities, because they cross farms and villages and can increase human-wildlife conflict. Fences, lighting and noise can reduce use. Scientists check effectiveness with camera trap surveys. Corridors do not help if the habitat at either end is too small or heavily hunted.

Last reviewed November 7, 2026

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Related terms

Human-wildlife conflict Harm that people and wild animals cause each other, such as big cats killing livestock and herders killing cats in return. Rewilding Restoring natural processes and, often, missing species such as large predators, to a landscape so that it can run with little human management. Camera trap A motion-triggered camera left in the field that photographs passing animals, widely used to count shy wild cats such as tigers and jaguars. Apex predator An animal at the top of its food chain that adults of the species hunt and that has no natural predators of its own. Reintroduction Releasing animals into part of their former range where the species has died out, to re-establish a wild population.