Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LONDON (AP) — Animals stood up to be counted — or in some cases swam, crawled or flew — as London Zoo began its annual census.
Zookeepers with cameras, calculators and clipboards counted critters Monday, the start of a weeklong campaign to record every resident mammal, bird, fish, invertebrate, reptile and amphibian.
The zoo is home to 17,500 animals of more than 750 species, from silverback gorillas to tiny leaf-cutter ants. New arrivals in the past year include a baby Western lowland gorilla and a litter of African hunting dog pups.
Ants and other extremely tiny creatures are counted in colonies, but all others are recorded individually.
The annual stock-taking is required under the license terms of British zoos. The data is used for zoo management and international breeding programs for endangered animals.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
