Last year, 11 chicks and five new adults were born, and keepers are able to recognize each Humboldt penguin individually.
Armed with tons of lettuce and buckets of nuts, London Zoo began its annual animal count on Friday, ushering everything from goats to gorillas out of their enclosures for a monumental inventory.
The nearly two-century-old zoo holds a nearly week-long formal count at the beginning of January each year, and several new additions are already proving to be highlights.
“Last year we had great breeding success,” animal control officer Dan Simmons told AFP, listing 11 penguin chicks, three Asiatic lion cubs and two gorilla cubs born in 2024. I got it,” he said.
The zoo also rescued 53 Darwin’s frogs from Chile, one of the so-called Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species, and many of which are now extinct in the wild. He bred the Socorro pigeons.
Mr Simmons said the next few days would be “very busy” as keepers at the various enclosures counted more than 10,000 animals from more than 400 species.
“We have been out since before 6am this morning. Today we will continue walking until sunset and then repeat this process for several more days to complete all counts,” he said.
lemur yoga
But with morning temperatures near 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) in the dead of winter in London, some residents needed a little more encouragement to get out of their heated huts.
There are four coatis among the zoo’s residents.
The zoo’s eight ring-tailed lemurs, endangered primates that live in Madagascar’s dry forests and scrublands, were particularly shy at sunrise.
The couple eventually wandered into an outdoor heat lamp and sat happily in unison in yoga-like poses. The remaining Lemuridae were huddled indoors under heaters seeking warmth.
“Lemurs bask in the sun and do their famous yoga poses, which allow them to channel the sun’s rays into the center of their bodies,” Simmons said.
Gorilla Kingdom had no trouble luring a group of seven western lowland gorillas out of their cages and visually confirming their numbers.
Two new members, Juno and Venus, born in January and February last year, clung to their mother as the herd scrambled to retrieve assorted vegetables.
Resident squirrel monkeys also helped with the inventory.
“We’re really excited about the baby gorilla,” said Glyn Hennessy, the zoo’s chief primate keeper.
“It was a long effort to bring in the male, court the female, and produce two offspring for us.
“And we see their characters come through every day,” he added of Juno and Venus.
“They’re very different, but it’s great to see them actually adding a few more members to their family group.”
Western lowland gorillas live in tropical and wetland forests in western and central Africa, where their numbers are threatened by deforestation, hunting, and disease.
penguin memorization
Elsewhere at the zoo, Humboldt penguins from Peru and Chile were busy swimming and soaking up the morning sun while the count began.
Last year, 11 chicks were born, and five new adults arrived from other zoos in Europe, increasing the colony to 65 birds.
Eleven penguin chicks were born at London Zoo last year, and the Humboldt penguin colony now numbers 65 individuals.
The troop of seven western lowland gorillas includes the two youngest born in January and February of last year.
“We’re really excited about the baby gorilla,” said Glyn Hennessy, the zoo’s chief primate keeper.
Despite the large population, zookeepers are able to recognize each individual individual, Simmons said.
“It’s amazing. I would never do that,” he added, noting that each had a small bracelet as a back-up to identify themselves.
“Think of it like Taylor Swift’s friendship bracelet. If you really need it or have forgotten it, you can refer to the chart to formally identify it.
“But keepers usually don’t have to do that. They just do everything from memory.”
The zoo’s diverse invertebrate fauna must also be included in the inventory, which is a requirement of the zoo’s license.
Among them is a newly thriving bee hive, luckily counted as one to avoid busy counting dozens of bees on the move.
Once complete, this number will be shared with other zoos around the world via a database called ZIMS Species360 and used to manage global conservation breeding programs for endangered animals.
© 2025 AFP
Citation: Breeding success: London Zoo counts each animal one by one (January 3, 2025) from https://phys.org/news/2025-01-success-london-zoo-animals.html 2025 Retrieved on January 3rd
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