Counting Millennium Bugs at London Zoo

COUNTDOWN OF THE MILLENNIUM BUGS AT LONDON ZOO

London Zoo will be checking out its own breed of Millennium Bugs, as part of its annual ‘stocktake’ of over 600 species housed at the Zoo. As the new century dawns, London Zoo’s keepers will be helping to count up and record the many invertebrates, mammals, reptiles, birds and fish in their care.

‘While the rest of the world has been trying to eliminate the Millennium Bug,’ commented Invertebrate Curator, Paul Pearce-Kelly, ‘we have been trying to ensure the survival of many threatened invertebrates into the next Millennium. The stocktake is an important annual event - we’ve had a lot of new additions to the Zoo since last year so we have to update our records.’

Photo opportunity:
Paul Pearce-Kelly will be counting real-life Millennium bugs - the domino beetles, cockroaches and dung beetles at the amazing new exhibition, Web of Life. The exhibition is an exploration of biodiversity - the astonishing variety of life on Earth - and is housed in the Millennium Conservation Centre at London Zoo.

For further information please contact:
Debbie Curtis/Joe Laing
Tel: 020 7449 6363/6236