Keepers at Colchester Zoo Counting Up the Animals Two by Two!

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With enough rain to necessitate the possibility of building an ark it is ironic that the keepers at Colchester Zoo have been conducting their annual stock take of all the animals! At the end of each year, all the zoo’s updated animal records which take into account births and deaths, new arrivals and movements to other zoos are sent off to ISIS, a global information network that all zoos contribute to in order to ensure there is an accurate global record of animals in zoos.

Whilst this is straightforward with species like elephants and giraffes it is slightly trickier with smaller species such as the leaf cutter ants and some of the fish and even the penguins!

Penguin keeper, Kate Broad says, “All the keepers at Colchester Zoo have to report in the numbers of each of the species that they are responsible for. Some of the keepers have it easy and are able to provide an estimate such as for the ants or fish. Luckily we know all the penguins individually anyway as they each have their own markings and personalities so it is a formality to confirm their numbers with the zoo’s records office”.




EssexTouristGuide.com 4th January 2012

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