Counting sheep ...and all the other animals! RESEARCH: Zoo staff with mammoth task of cataloguing all the species.

Byline: By James Grierson

STAFF at a popular Midland zoo have begun the mammoth task of counting each and every animal in their collection for a new year stocktake.

Workers at Dudley Zoo are taking part in an annual headcount of all creatures great and small alongside colleagues from across the country.

The work is done every January as part of compliance with zoo legislation, which requires zoos to keep precise records of every animal birth, death, arrival and departure.

The time-consuming chore can throw up interesting challenges, from finding a suitable method for counting thousands of tiny insects to distinguishing one penguin from another.

The data is submitted to the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (Biaza), the national professional body for zoo management and animal welfare.

The records are then available for scrutiny by local authorities who issue and renew the licences for zoos and aquariums.

Biaza director Dr Miranda Stevenson said the audit was a crucial part of efforts to secure the future of some species.

She said: "The annual stocktake is a big job so January is a busy time of year for many zoos across the UK.

"It's important zoos ensure their figures are correct so they can best manage conservation. Some of the species in captivity, such as Socorro doves, are now extinct in the wild.

"Therefore, when zoos submit data to these central databases, it means we can run detailed and scientifically-based breeding programmes to safeguard these valuable and threatened species."

Away from the Midlands, the arrival of an orphan gorilla, a tiny turtle, a baby lemur, an armadillo, hundreds of tropical butterflies and the smallest deer in the world were just some of the new additions to the stock take at Bristol Zoo Gardens this year.

Staff at the zoo have more than 450 different species to contend with, from tiny leaf insects and hundreds of fish, to dozens of penguins, masses of monkeys and Jock, the 330lb male lowland gorilla.

CAPTION(S):

Dudley Zoo's Dr David Beeston counts up the venue's Humboldt penguins, above and below right, and cockroaches, below left.