Whipsnade Zoo tallies up its animals in mammoth stocktake

Lauren Johnson counts critically endangered Mangarahara Cichlid. Photo by Dominic Lipinski

Zookeepers at Whipsnade Zoo have kicked off the New Year by counting every mammal, bird, reptile, fish and invertebrate, as part of the conservation zoo’s Annual Stocktake.

Last year saw the arrival of many new animals for Whipsnade Zoo. In spring, the zoo’s brand-new habitat ‘Monkey Forest’ opened, which introduced four rare East-Asian species, including critically endangered Sulawesi crested macaques, endangered François langurs, babirusa pigs and the world’s smallest cow species, the endangered anoa.

With 2024 proving to be a bumper year for births at the conservation zoo, the tally also features precious additions to conservation breeding programmes, including two endangered reticulated giraffe calves, Myra and Timba, six American flamingo chicks, and two southern white rhino calves.

Helen Rawson counts endangered reticulated giraffes. Photo by Dominic Lipinski

The conservation zoo also added three tiny six-week-old northern African lion cubs to its tally, the first litter at the conservation zoo in 17 years, who are currently spending their time inside their cosy den with mum Winta. These three cubs will be vital for the continuation of their rare sub-species, which was only officially recognised in 2017.

Also counted for the first time were three baby yak calves, Ron, Lily and Dobby, with the latter born just one month ago. There are more than 245 species of animals at the UK’s largest zoo, all of which must be accounted for.

While counting the bigger animals at Whipsnade Zoo is a relatively simple task, such as the four handily hibernating European brown bears who are currently very easy to spot, Whipsnade Zoo’s fish, insect and reptile keepers have the trickier task of keeping count of the smaller animals under their care – often using their camera phones to take a still image of the tanks from which to tally.

The annual stocktake is a requirement of Whipsnade Zoo’s license but also a vital tool for the zoo’s contribution to conservation breeding programmes. Following the count, the ZSL conservation zoo will share the final numbers with zoos and aquariums around the world via ZIMS (the Zoological Information Management System), an international database which helps conservationists to manage important breeding programmes for endangered species.  

Find out more about Whipsnade Zoo’s conservation work: Whipsnade Zoo | A ZSL conservation zoo