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Posted: 7th January 2013

Animal census begins at London Zoo
The zoo begins the week-long count of its animals

London Zoo has opened its doors to the press for its annual census, where the majority of its 17,500 animals will be counted, including snails, locusts and fish.

Most animals are microchipped and will be scanned, though some creatures pose more of a problem than others. The meerkats are more than happy to be counted and photographed, with one climbing onto the keeper's clipboard for attention. Otters however are too difficult to catch so are not scanned and keepers count the fish by photographing their tanks. Tiny camouflaged creatures also provide a challenge to keepers and leaf cutter ants are counted by colony rather than individually, though their number is estimated at 10,000. The tiny, camouflaged Partula snails are similarly difficult but as they are highly endangered it is important that they are individually counted.

"We've got hundreds," says the zoo's director, David Field. "But they're an incredibly endangered species so we count them individually. We are looking to reintroduce them in the wild, and knowing the precise number we have is crucial."

New additions to the zoo that will be counted are Baby Ziggy, an endangered white-naped mangabey monkey, and Maxilla, a Colobus monkey. The zoo has also recently introduced a new pair of Sumatran tigers, Jae Jae, a male from a zoo in Ohio, and Melati, a female from Perth, Australia. The pair have been matched by an international breeding program for a genetically diverse population of animals, and it is hoped they will soon produce cubs. Field says:

"We breed them in the zoo because they are running out of time in the wild."

The census is taking place in zoos across Britain, as a required part of their license terms. The final tally could take weeks. Data will be assessed by animal researchers, and used for both zoo management and international breeding programs for endangered species.



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