Marwell Zoo starts its annual count of all the animals in its care. This is because keepers at the Hampshire conservation charity are required by law to complete an audit of all animals. This includes all the mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and invertebrates.
Among the latest arrivals to be added to the count is four-year-old white rhino Zahra, who was born as part of the endangered animals breeding programme and has recently joined the zoo.
A Marwell Zoo spokeswoman said: “It’s is hoped one day she may mother calves to secure the future of the species. Southern white rhinos were previously hunted to near extinction, leaving approximately 20-50 individuals at the end of the 19th century.”
Debbie Pearson, an animal registrar, said: “Every year we complete the audit to ensure the numbers we have on record match with the animals we have on the ground, before sending the final figures to the local authority. It’s been an exciting year with some additions to the breeding programmes, and this year we have more then 2500 different animals across 141 different species in the zoo.”
Marwell Zoo, located in Hampshire, has had other arrivals since the last count. These additions include a male Linne’s two-toed sloth, a bearded emperor tamarin, parma wallabies, coppery titi monkeys, a male tapir and red river hogs.
The zoo spokeswoman added: “Although the audit is undertaken once a year, keepers continually count the zoo’s animals and the record is published at the end of January. The annual inventory of animals is shared around the world via a database.”
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