Public debut for baby rhino at annual stocktake
Monday 7 January 2013
ZSL Whipsnade Zoo is kicking off the New Year with its annual stocktake – the mammoth task of counting every single animal at the Zoo.
Home to more than 2,500 animals, keepers dusted off their clipboards to tot up each invertebrate, bird, fish, mammal, reptile, and amphibian.
Making his public debut at today's count is one of Whipsnade’s newest arrivals – a greater one horned rhino baby. Born four weeks ago, and weighing a whopping nine stone (59kg) despite being less than three feet tall, the youngster stepped out in his paddock for the first time to be counted, along with mum Behan, dad Hugo, and the rest of the herd.
Also making their public debut at the count are one-week-old twin silvery marmosets.
The pair were born on New Year’s Eve and ended a bumper year of babies for Whipsnade, which also included red panda twins Yin and Yang, lynx kitten triplets, Georgina the pygmy hippo, and Jengo the giraffe – all of which need including in the census.
The compulsory count is required as part of ZSL Whipsnade Zoo’s zoo license, and all of the information is logged into the International Species Information System (ISIS), where it’s used to manage the international breeding programmes for endangered animals.
