Colchester Zoo has just completed its yearly ‘big count’ and has taken a look back at the wonderful creatures they have gained in the last 12 months.
Colchester Zoo is currently home to 240 animals made up of 72 mammals, 60 fish, 39 birds, 33 reptiles, 28 invertebrates, and eight amphibians.
The tricky challenge of counting each resident takes the zoo keepers around seven days to complete and collate. To help with the counting the animals are recorded.
A spokesperson for Colchester Zoo said: “Insects such as our ants are counted in colonies rather than individuals, however counting flying birds can be a little trickier.
In order to count our 59 rainbow lorikeets, keepers have trained them to the sound of a bell, when the bell is rung, they fly into their aviary therefore helping the keepers count them one by one as they enter.
“Our 25 cheeky ring-tailed lemurs enjoy nothing more than jumping and climbing and so food was a sure way to keep them steady whilst they were counted by the team.
“We also have to count the many different fish species in our various marine tanks across the park, this is one of the more time-consuming species to count but the team make sure everyone is accounted for.”
In 2018 the zoo welcomed a range of delightful animals including two Amur leopards, three new wolves, and two cheetah’s.
Their successful breeding programmes also meant they gained more than 11 animals including three bush dog pups, penguin chicks, and an aardvark.
You can read the full list of the animals they gained on the graphic below.
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