Animals captured in Dudley Zoo snaps - with video
These candid photographs show some of the animals at a Black Country zoo zoo up close and personal.
They were helping out staff who were taking part in an annual count of the zoo's inhabitants.
Read more: Dudley Zoo's annual stocktake begins - with VIDEO
Meerkats were snapped playing with a small counting board, while rainbow lorikeets were seen wokring out what a calculator was.
Tapirs, tigers and an African pigme hedgehog were also pictured by our Express & Star photographer.
The pictures were taken while zoo staff went about making an annual check of how many animals live at the site.
They say it usually takes a week to complete. There are more than 1,600 animals on site of 260 different species, says zoo curator Richard Brown.
Once staff have a final figure, it will be put into the global Zoological Information Management System which is a global database.
Dudley Zoo has a wide variety of animals, with the names of species beginning with 19 different letters of the alphabet - ranging from traditional ones such as a camel to the more exotic like a capybara.
Tapirs Lunar and Chico, who are father and daughter, was among the animals which posed.
They are Brazilian American Tapirs, which are one of four species found around the world. Three are located in central and south America, while one is in Asia.
Tapirs are mammals similar in shape to a pig with short snouts They are closely related to horses and rhinoceroses. They are excellent swimmers and often take to water to avoid predators, and can stay submerged for several minutes using their nose as a snorkel.
Dudley Zoo has a group of Meerkats. They were pictured playing with a small counting board that had the word 'Meerkats' written on it. The small animal is native to South America and lives in colonies of around 20 animals.
Also pictured was a larger and more fierce animal, the Tiger, with Daseep posing next to zoo keeper Jodie Dryden. Daseep is a Sumatran tiger and lives with fellow tiger Joao. The duo were given a new climbing frame in November to enjoy.
One of the zoo's Lemurs also posed for the camera. Karus appeared on film next to zoo keeper Adam Walker from Russells Hall.
Dudley Zoo has five types of Lemur: black, black and white ruffed, collared, red ruffed and ring-tailed.
Pictured were one of the zoo's ring-tailed Lemur Karus who was enjoyed playing with the counting board.
Lemurs are a primate but evolved differently from monkeys and apes, after the island of Madagscar, which is their native home, split off from the African continent millions of years ago.
For more information about Dudley Zoo, visit www.dudleyzoo.org.uk
