At the beginning of each year many companies complete an annual stock take. Here at Colchester Zoo not only do we have to count stock of all items in our shops but we also have the task of counting up our charges!

Since the New Year began our team of keepers and record staff have been busy counting up the number of species and individuals at Colchester Zoo. Our keepers do complete a daily head count normally but this time of year we have to complete a formal ‘stock take’ of our charges and record them as part of our compliance with zoo legislation which requires the zoo to confirm precise records of every animal birth, death arrival and departure. Our data, along with other zoos will be submitted to the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA). It’s important that we submit data to these central databases so that the animals at Colchester Zoo can be part of breeding programmes set up to help safeguard vulnerable and threatened species.

Over the years Colchester Zoo has welcomed a number of young offspring and 2017 was no different! We were pleased to announce the arrival of ‘Kifaru’ our young male white rhino; a number of cute kids born to our pygmy goats; otter pups born in their den; one of the smallest members of the antelope family the Kirk’s Dik Dik was born; the first blue duiker to be born at Colchester Zoo; many primate babies including a pair of illusive pied tamarin twins, geladas, mandrills, ring-tailed lemurs, L’hoest and most recently a cherry crowned mangabey! This is just to name a few as we welcomed
many other young in to the world during 2017.

Of course it isn’t just our new-borns who caused excitement in 2017! We also welcomed ‘Taiga’ a female Amur tiger, who is hoped to one day lead us into a breeding situation here at Colchester Zoo with male Igor. A male red river hog, Piggles Jnr, arrived all the way from the USA, plus our displays team introduced Rowena Ravenclaw, a female raven and young Serval Kitten Nala.

We’ve also welcomed some species which have not called Colchester home for many years! This includes our tamandua pair Oreo and Ruth who arrived in February 2017, the pair created a special bond and became parents to a female tamandua named Orinoco!  We also opened a fantastic new exhibit by our Lost Madagascar Express Train Station which welcomed back Bush dogs for the first time in 20 years, Nico and Nina can be seen as visitors queue for the train.

As well as our larger animals the team also spend the time counting up the smaller family favourites such as our meerkats and two penguin groups now made up of 32 birds! PLUS who can forget the task of counting critters, fish and frogs who make up a larger number of the amazing species we have here at Colchester Zoo!

We hope 2018 will be another successful year for all the species here at Colchester Zoo and with your help, we hope to not only continue our work in breeding programmes for endangered species but also to fund in-situ projects in the wild through our charity Action for the Wild. Without your visits all these achievements wouldn’t be possible so we thank you for your support in 2017 and hope that we have the chance to welcome you back again for many enjoyable visits in 2018!