CCTV9英语新闻：伦敦动物园开始一年一度动物大盘点

CCTV9英语新闻：伦敦动物园开始一年一度动物大盘点

London Zoo takes annual headcount

On the second day of 2014, the London Zoo began a roll call for all its residents, and no one gets left out. Let’s check out some interesting creatures that are not exactly lining up to be counted.

The London Zoo is almost 200 years old. And early in the morning, dozens of keepers are out to take a census of the zoo’s entire population. They hold clipboards in one hand and food in the other as they carry out their work.

There are over 800 species of animals at the zoo, numbering about 20 thousand. Among the endangered types is the silver-back gorilla, newly introduced to the facility in 2013.

The staff also perform health checks on the animals. The entire census will take at least a week, with fish and insects the hardest to calculate, as tracking devices cannot be attached to them. But no creature is left out - here, even the ants are counted.