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Everyone counts! Dudley Zoo in annual animal census

The animals went in two by two at Dudley Zoo as bosses started their annual census.

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With more than 1,500 animals at the Castle Hill site it is no easy task for the staff who have just a week to complete their count.

And while it might be simples to record the number of meerkats and larger animals, like giraffes, it can drive workers batty trying to count all the short-tailed bats which call the zoo their home.

Curator Richard Brown said: "It's easy to count our four Bornean orangutans, three giraffes, two Sumatran tigers or one Asiatic black bear.

"But it's trickier to count heads in penguin bay, which is home to more than 80 identical Humboldt penguins, or making sure we've got the right number of Egyptian and Seba's short-tailed bats."

The yearly task is part of the licensing requirements of all UK zoos and wildlife parks and involves keepers having to tot up all mammals, invertebrates, birds, amphibians and reptiles in their care.

Keepers in Dudley have a week to complete the census before delivering the results to DZG's registrar and research co-ordinator, Dr David Beeston, who collates and inputs the data into the zoo's official records.

Dr Beeston said: "As keepers work with the same animals day in, day out this is really just a confirmation exercise that we have to do for the local authority.

"But we have lots of new arrivals being counted by DZG for the first time this year from births on site or animals being brought in from other collections including 20 flamingos, 23 rainbow lorikeets, one snow leopard, one giant anteater, one gelada baboon, two ring-tailed lemurs and six pygmy marmosets, who will all boost our numbers."

The animals are identified through various methods including microchips, ear tags, body markings, flipper bands and foot rings.

The zoo, which is now in its 80th year, has plenty of plans to celebrate the milestone anniversary along with a number of redevelopment plans totalling £295,000.

In December, Dudley Zoo enjoyed a record number of visitors to its Santa grotto.

A total of 15,206 people visited the grotto during the three weeks that it was open – 2,615 more than in 2015.

In total, visitor attendance rose by 10 per cent during 2016.

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