rom weighing wolf spiders to measuring Ming Jung the 4,150kg Asian elephant, workers on the UK’s largest zoo have been finishing up their annual animal evaluation.
The large process noticed Whipsnade zookeepers gently coax animals of all sizes, together with aardvarks, rhinos and spiders to step onto the scales as they set about recording the important statistics of the ten,000 residents.
One of many zoo’s bigger residents, 26-year-old larger one-horned rhinoceros Beluki, stepped onto an industrial-sized weight scale after keepers enticed her with some recent greens.
The zoo’s endangered Asian elephant known as Ming Jung additionally needed to be coaxed throughout the large scales with the assistance of a few of his favorite wholesome snacks – the place it was revealed that the 14-year-old weighs 4,150kg.
New arrival aardvarks Nacho and Terry took half within the annual weigh-in for the primary time since they joined the conservation zoo.
One other first-timer was a three-month-old Northern rockhopper penguin known as Dobby.
The endangered teenager, who hatched in Could, was raised by keepers who hand-fed the chick when her mother and father proved unable to take care of her.
In the meantime, Whipsnade Zoo’s smallest inhabitants, together with its butterflies and critically endangered desertas wolf spiders, required some additional delicate tools to weigh them precisely.
Matthew Webb, the pinnacle of zoological operations, stated the animals on the Zoo have “completely different personalities” which meant zookeepers have needed to give you “artistic ways” to entice the animals onto the scales.
“All of our animals at ZSL Whipsnade Zoo are weighed and measured recurrently, however the annual weigh-in is a chance to evaluation the data we’ve recorded and guarantee it’s updated and correct,” Mr Webb stated.
“With so many animals with completely different personalities, the zookeepers must give you artistic ways to entice them onto the scales, from luring a 4150kg endangered Asian elephant like Ming Jung onto the scales in alternate for his favorite veggies, to encouraging a ring-tailed lemur to bounce onto the scales for a juicy, candy pepper.”
In addition to being a key device to gauge the animals’ wellbeing, keepers can use the common weight checks and waist measurements to determine pregnant animals, a lot of that are endangered species.
As soon as each animal’s weight and measurements have been recorded, the numbers are put in a database known as the Zoological Data Administration System (ZIMS) which helps zookeepers all over the world examine necessary data on 1000’s of endangered species.
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