London Zoo counts its new residents in census

3 January 2023

A squirrel monkey leans over a clipboard as a zoo keeper writes. — Image caption,
The zoo's squirrel monkeys helped out with some of the mental arithmetic in this year's list

Penguin chicks and pygmy goats are among the new entries in the list of residents at London Zoo, which is conducting its annual census.

Plenty of new additions arrived in 2022, including a western lowland gorilla and two tiger cubs.

Each year, keepers take a record of all the animals at the zoo, which houses about 300 different species.

The count of every mammal, bird, reptile, fish and invertebrate usually takes about a week to complete.

A Western lowland gorilla named Kiburi eats in front of a chalk board during the annual stocktake

EPA

Western lowland gorilla Kiburi double-checks names on a chalkboard

As well as the annual full count, required as part of the zoo's licence, keepers also have an inventory that is updated continuously.

Humboldt penguins queue up to be counted by a keeper at London Zoo.

PA Media

Humboldt penguins push to the front of the queue to be counted

Dan Simmonds, operations manager of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), which runs the zoo, said: "With more than 14,000 to count at ZSL London Zoo, our keepers all have their own ways of tallying up the animals in their care.

He said this included some keepers "taking pictures of the coral tank in Tiny Giants to avoid counting the same fish twice", to others "using training and rewards to count larger groups, such as our squirrel monkeys and Humboldt penguins".