Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 24
London Zoo Weighs 400 Animals for Annual Health Check
Updated
Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 24

London Zoo Weighs 400 Animals for Annual Health Check

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 24

Summary

  • About 400 London Zoo animals are being weighed and measured in the zoo’s annual stocktake, from Kiwi the capybara to penguins, monkeys and Vietnamese magnolia snails.
  • Each result goes into the Zoological Information Management System, a global database used by keepers and conservationists to track health and compare data across thousands of endangered species.
  • Keepers can weigh many trained animals directly on scales, while others must be lured with food to complete the checks.
  • London Zoo houses more than 14,000 animals, but staff say time allows only a fraction of them to be logged during the annual weigh-in day.

Insights

Could the health data collected from captive zoo animals actually mislead the conservation efforts meant to save their wild counterparts?
What hidden technologies are modern zoos secretly using to track animal health without them ever realizing they are being monitored?
How might freezing animal DNA and linking it to global zoo records ultimately bring endangered species back from the brink?