Penguins and ‘forest giraffe' among animals totted up at Hampshire zoo

Independent

12-02-2025

A colony of Humboldt penguins, a rare okapi calf and a critically-endangered, cotton-top tamarin baby are among the new arrivals totted up in the annual stocktake at a Hampshire zoo.
Marwell Zoo, near Winchester, carried out the audit as part of its licence requirements and staff counted more than 500 animals across 145 species.
The centre's penguin enclosure this year included the addition of 10 Humboldt penguins which will form part of a European breeding programme.
The zoo celebrated the birth of a 'forest giraffe' okapi calf, born to five-year-old Niari in October as well as the baby cotton-top tamarin named Fester last year.
The herd of Przewalski's horse foals, which were once extinct in the wild but have seen a comeback thanks to conservation efforts, also grew by four in the past year.
And other arrivals in 2024 included Warjun, a male snow leopard which came from the Czech Republic; and Cherry, a female red panda introduced as a companion for Tashi, Marwell's resident male red panda.
A zoo spokeswoman said: 'One of the zoo's most extraordinary conservation achievements of the year was the release of more than 6,000 Partula snails into the wild in French Polynesia.
'Among them, 1,640 were bred at Marwell Zoo, marking the zoo's largest-ever contribution to a conservation reintroduction project.'
Debbie Pearson, animal registrar, said: 'Our annual stocktake is an essential part of zoo legislation, and we're pleased to share this year's results.
'With more than 500 animals across 145 species, it's been a thrilling year with some exciting firsts for Marwell.
'The data we collect is shared through the Zims (Zoological Information Management System) Species360 database, which plays a vital role in global conservation breeding programmes.'
The final report for last year recorded 145 species, including 19 invertebrate species, 13 fish, four amphibians, 21 reptiles, 30 birds, and 58 mammals.