Telford zookeepers count hundreds of little heads - and tails - for 'stock take' with new baby animals on the way
Keepers at Telford's Exotic Zoo have been counting each reptile, bird, mammal and even each creepy-crawly as part of their important annual 'stock take'.
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The staple event in the zoo's calendar sees keepers update the records at the start of each year to keep track of births, deaths and exchanges with other zoos.
During the count last Friday (January 10), zookeepers trawled around to find each single animal - whether it be a crocodile, meerkat, owl, frog, tarantula, stick insect or snail.
And some animals prove trickier to identify than others, given their different sizes, shapes and colours.
At the latest stock take it was found that Exotic Zoo boasts 492 individual animals in total with 66 different species.
Without the invertebrates, or 'creepy-crawlies' as they are commonly known, the zoo has 50 different species of animal and 156 animals.
Zoo owner Scott Adams said: "As part of all zoos in January you have to do a stock take of all of your animals and have an up-to-date numbers list that you send to the local authority as part of the zoo licence, so they know exactly what animals we have onsite.
