London zoo conducts census

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
At last count, the London Zoo was home to 15,107 animals. This year’s headcount is expected to be the biggest ever. Anchor Marco Werman has details.

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN: When you have a lot of animals to care for, it’s good to know exactly how many.  That’s why the London Zoo is conducting its annual census of animals.  It’s a chance for staff to check up on everything from insects to tigers.  Last year, the London Zoo was home to 15,107 animals.  And thanks to new exhibits, this year’s headcount is expected to be the biggest ever at the zoo.  Every bird, beast and fish has to be accounted for, as much as possible.  Aquarium Manager Rachel Jones says it’s actually quite hard to count the fish accurately.

RACHEL JONES: There are some that spend their lives living in the rock and occasionally you’ll see a cheeky little face poking out from a hole in the rock work and you have to be quick to count it. Other ones will bomb around all over the place and you’ll never catch up with them. Really it’s the ones that all look the same as each other and there’s a few hundred of them. You’re never going to be a hundred percent sure.

WERMAN: Another tough job?   Counting the insects.  There are about 7,000 individual bugs at the zoo.  But other species are less of a challenge.  For example, the London Zoo is now home to 11 meerkats, almost twice as many as last year.  They’re multiplying like… meerkats.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.