A New Year, a new head count
Thursday 8 January 2009
Three giraffes, four zebras and eight colobus monkeys...no it’s not a list of the animals on Noah’s Ark - but it is that time of year again, ZSL London Zoo’s annual stocktake.
© ZSL - Paul Hutton
Do the animals come in two by two? Well the complete head count of every animal will find out this week. With more than 650 different species to tally up, including penguins, meerkats and dragons, zookeepers have got quite a task on their hands.
Last year was a bumper year for ZSL London Zoo with baby animals including Harry the Zoo’s first warthog to be born in nearly 100 years and Conchita, the UK’s first hand reared white-naped mangabey whose Video Diary has inspired over 350,000 YouTube hits.
All of these animals and over 100 birds in the Zoo’s brand new beautifully restored Victorian Blackburn Pavilion will be included in the new count.
After a great year which saw more than 1m visitors coming to see new exhibits including ZSL London Zoo’s very own Australian Outback, 2009 promises to be yet another fantastic year. The opening of the Zoo’s new Animal Adventure Exhibit will offer budding animal lovers, the chance to nurture their interest in nature and get close to a host of animals including secretive aardvarks and curious coatis.
2008 proved to be a baby boom year for ZSL London Zoo all of the new faces will be included in this year's count.
