London Zookeepers Brave Big Freeze To Conduct Annual Animal Stocktake

Zookeepers at London Zoo readied their clipboards, calculators and steady counting skills, as they braved freezing weather to count the animals for their annual stocktake. Caring for more than 10,000 individual animals, London Zoo's keepers face the challenging task of tallying up every mammal, bird, reptile and invertebrate at the Zoo. Among the animals counted were the Zoo's colony of 65 Humboldt penguins, including five new arrivals. Also new to the zoo are critically endangered Western lowland gorillas Juno and Venus who were counted despite clinging to their mothers. Lemurs and spider monkeys were also among the cute critters counted in the cold weather - with the former snuggling up to a heat lamp during the process. In fact, zookeepers had to count every animal - from majestic lions to tiny honeybees! The annual stocktake takes keepers almost a week to fully complete and the information is shared with other zoos around the world.