KEEPERS at Dudley Zoo and Castle are busy counting heads as the attraction's annual animal stocktake gets underway.

Zoos across the country are legally required to count up every invertebrate, bird, mammal, reptile and amphibian.

As the Castle Hill attraction is home to over 200 species, ranging from leaf-cutter ants to orangutans, the process can take some time.

Richard Brown, curator at Dudley Zoo and Castle, said: "Totting up tigers and orangutans takes seconds, but our free-flying rainbow lorikeets and Egyptian fruit and Seba's short-tailed bats make things interesting.

“Thankfully we don't have to individually count the thousands of tiny leaf-cutter ants, which are one of the zoo's newest species, as we can submit those results as one colony, otherwise we'd be here for a very long time tallying those results!"

New additions to the 2020 inventory include Reggie, the Linne’s two-toed sloth, four Arctic foxes and tiny vampire crabs.

2019 was also a bumper year for births at the zoo, with a baby giraffe, three geladas and three critically endangered black-and-white ruffed lemurs being welcomed into the world.

The task, which will take a week, will be overseen by Dr David Beeston, Registrar and Research Co-ordinator at the zoo, who records the collected data into the Zoological Information Management System which is a worldwide comprehensive database of animal health and well-being.

Dr Beeston, explained: “Our keepers know exactly how many of each species they work with on a day-to-day basis, so this is just really a confirmation exercise for us to check our yearly count tallies with the results, before we have to submit them to the local authority.”

Animals are identified through various methods including microchips, ear tags, body markings, flipper bands and foot rings.