Discover the fascinating reasons behind the annual stocktake at London Zoo and its importance for wildlife conservation efforts
London: It’s stocktake day at the zoo, and it’s quite the task! Zookeepers are counting every animal, from lions to frogs. They’ve got their hands full with five Asiatic lions, seven gorillas, and a bunch of penguins. It’s a big deal, but they do this every day to keep track of the animals.
Every January, they officially tally up the numbers and report them to the local council. This is part of the zoo’s licensing requirements. Some animals are easy to count, like the giraffes, but the monkeys? That’s a whole different story! The zookeepers have to get creative to gather them all in one spot.
And for the little critters, like ants and bees, they get a bit of a break. They can count them as a colony instead of individually. It saves a lot of time! Plus, this count helps keep their records accurate in a global database called Species360, which is super important for conservation efforts.
Zoos play a big role in protecting endangered species. They not only educate visitors but also help boost animal populations to support those struggling in the wild. Many people don’t realize that just a stone’s throw away from the zoo, there’s a tech facility working hard to monitor wildlife globally.
These breeding programs are like matchmaking for animals, ensuring they’re genetically diverse and healthy. Knowing how many animals are in these programs is crucial for effective management. It’s similar to how we track wild populations to help with conservation plans.
At ZSL, the charity behind London Zoo, they keep tabs on over 30,000 wildlife populations worldwide. This data is used to create the Living Planet Index, which shows a shocking decline in wildlife numbers since 1970. In Latin America and the Caribbean, populations have plummeted by 95%!
To help with this work, they recently installed a £2 million supercomputer to analyze data from various sources. It’s pretty impressive, and most visitors have no idea it’s right there at the zoo.
So, while counting animals might seem straightforward, it’s a crucial part of a much larger effort to protect endangered species. It’s all about teamwork with partners around the globe.
Matthew Gould is CEO of ZSL