Which zoos and which species have crossings over visitor paths, so that animals, e.g. monkeys, orangutans or binturongs walk over visitors heads? Especially interesting are open ones (not closed passages) where an animal could theoretically jump down. How high are those approximately?
Banham zoo has a route for howler monkeys to go alongside and above the visitor path and they regularly go out into their trees across the walkways and ropes to create some very atmospheric noise! It looks about 30-40 feet up and small climbing barriers on the trunks lower down prevent the monkeys descending the trees. They don’t appear inclined to jump down. They do seem to enjoy it and can go on the walkways / rope ladders and into the trees as they like. They don’t directly cross the path but run alongside and over so you are below them.
Of course there's Denver's Toyota Elephant Passage, where their elephants, rhinos, (and ideally tapirs) would pass over from one yard to another.
Hogle Zoo has a tiger crossing - as does Jacksonville, Philadelphia, and Cleveland. Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo has a small primate crossing (I can't remember the species) in the children's adventure garden. I think that one is my favorite I have seen because the monkeys were very active and so it was exciting to have them running around over you. Large animal crossings can be quite dramatic, but in all my visits to zoos I have yet to actually see one of the larger bridges in use.
Kyoto Aquarium has one for their African Penguins, however it's pretty small and unremarkable, and easily missed. It doesn't seem to really lead anywhere so it doesn't seem the penguins have much motivation to use it. Also, do tunnel tanks technically count as an overhead crossing? In that case, overhead crossings are pretty common in aquariums.
Gladys Porter Zoo has one now between the viewable Angolan colobus night house and the exhibit yard. San Antonio recently opened the Jaguar bridge over the visitor path. The Jaguars seem to love being up there.
Adelaide Zoo in late 2020 built Colobus Crossing a series of caged pathways for their black and white colobus monkeys to utilise. The zoo said it was a cost effective approach in expanding exhibit size, providing enrichment and providing a unique visitor experience. Believe they also have this set up for their tamarin and marmoset exhibits.
There are many examples around the world and here are a few: Blijdorp Zoo (Netherlands) has a superb 'animal crossing' exhibit. There are a pair of enclosures on either side of the visitor pathway, with Michie's Tufted Deer and Red Pandas as the inhabitants. The pandas have full access to mature trees and there is a log that goes over the heads of visitors. Denver Zoo (USA) has a gibbon exhibit with ropes that stretch over the visitor pathway to interconnected islands: BestZOO (Netherlands) has a Binturong exhibit that allows the animals to go overhead: Here's a coati exhibit at Planckendael Zoo (Belgium):
Edinburgh Zoo have (or used to have, not sure if they still do) a good set-up for their tiger enclosure: you have a glass tunnel above a path going through the enclosure, and the glass has wooden walkways going across them that the tigers can climb across, so as you're walking through you can see a tiger walking across.
