Zookeepers start annual census
Zookeeper Sarah Hall carries out Bristol Zoo Garden’s annual animal census with the meerkats, joining other zookeepers across the country in the mammoth task of counting each and every animal in their collection.
The time-consuming chore can throw up interesting challenges – from finding a suitable method for counting thousands of tiny insects to distinguishing one penguin from another.
At Bristol, the arrival of three meerkat litters, a baby ring-tailed lemur, two fruit bats, a critically endangered golden lion tamarin and a Brazilian tapir are just some of the new additions that will be included in this year’s count.
John Partridge, senior curator of animals at the zoo, said: “The last 12 months have been very successful in terms of animal births at the zoo so the annual count is a big job again this year.”