Red-barbed Ant Conservation
The Red-barbed Ant (Formica rufibarbis) is probably the rarest animal in Britain.
Found throughout Europe the ant can only be found in two sites in the UK making the population extremely vulnerable and so a conservation programme was set up to help stabilise and increase the Red-barbed ants chances of survival.
Field Cricket
In the 1980’s, a single population of less than 100 Field Crickets existed in Sussex and so ZSL joined forces with English Nature and other partners to try to help save the Cricket from extinction in Britain.
Social Insect Research
Analyzing patterns of diversity for wild species, their associated parasite community, threats to habitat and biological impact from pollution ZSL aims to try to understand pollinating species and their ecological requirements and try to save remaining populations.
Survey and Monitoring
One of the priorities of ZSL’s UK Native Species Programme is to obtain comprehensive and up-to-date records of which native species are present at ZSL London Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, and to monitor population numbers of rare and threatened species.
Survey and monitoring work is regularly carried out by ZSL staff and volunteers, for example there is a weekly butterfly transect during the warmer months of the year and also regular bat walks on summer evenings.
This information is vital for informing habitat management work and site plans.
