Zookeepers count on creatures for survey

Creatures from big cats to creepy crawlies will be included in an annual stock-take by Midlands zookeepers.

The head-count is likely to be a real headache as attractions can have hundreds of species from big cats to creepy crawlies.

All zoos have to keep precise records of every animal birth, death, arrival and departure and are required to carry out the time-consuming count each January.

At Dudley Zoo there are 168 different species of animal and bird but staff say the count is not too gigantic as records are updated weekly.

Staff at the West Midland Safari Park do their sums every month.

Dudley Zoo in Castle Hill is ranked as one of the top 50 worldwide for its Animal Record Keeping Systems (ARKS).

Curator Matt Lewis said: "We know how many animals we have already as our records keeper updates them every Monday.

"We record everything including breeding behaviour, when an animal is given antibiotics or a bird lays an egg."

But he said some zoos had collections which were virtually impossible to count for example Chester Zoo which has thousands of leaf-cutting ants.

He added: "For us probably the most difficult to count would be the cockroaches but even the if we feed them they will come to the food and then it is easy to identify them. We have about 60 cockroaches.

"Another fairly tricky collection would be the stick insects in the Discovery Centre."

Records and research co-ordinator doctor David Beeston has the task of compiling the database.

Among details he recorded last year was the death of Max the lion and the arrival of 16 rare Humboldt penguin chicks, six Meerkats and a giraffe.

Mr Lewis said the other purpose of the keeping data was to enable zoos to swap information on what species they have and for conservation. The records are then available for scrutiny.