ALL creatures great and small were tallied up by Cotswold Wildlife Park keepers for the 160-acre site's latest animal count.

The annual stock-take revealed 1,805 animals from 254 different species currently reside at the park, near Burford, including some very rare beasts.

Among the creatures that call the park home are the only wolverine triplets born in the UK last year, the critically endangered greater bamboo lemur and a new female sloth.

Read again: Animals at Cotswold Wildlife Park enjoy the snow - pictures

Keepers physically counted every single animal for the stock-take, but this was an easier task for some than others.

Adding up the park's five rhinos is fairly straightforward, but counting the group of prairie dogs, which spend most of their time underground, takes a little more know-how.

Witney Gazette:

Natalie Horner, deputy head of primates and small mammals, said: "We won't necessarily know how many prairie dogs are in that enclosure - some babies might be born underground and stay there.

"Keepers will go at the same time each day and find the average of how many are on the surface.

"We just have to be a little ingenious. We're sometimes a little out, but in general we get pretty close."

The annual stock-take is done over several weeks and is required under the license terms for all British zoos.

Read again: Concerns over plans to turn Cotswolds into a national park

Once complete, the final tally is added to the park's Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS) and helps manage the site.

Information can then be shared with other zoos as part of the endangered animals international breeding programmes.

This year's new arrivals included hammerhead bats, the largest in Africa, and straw-coloured bats.

Also featuring in the count was, Flash, a new breeding female sloth, who has been introduced to a male, Tambopata, which keepers hope will one day produce the park's first baby sloth.

Witney Gazette:

Two rare lemur species have also seen new additions - the critically endangered greater bamboo lemur and the rare sifaka, named Maitso.

This means the park now boasts three of just 14 sifakas in the world, while the three Wolverine triplets are evidence of a proud record with the species.

In 2012, the park made history as the first collection in the UK to successfully breed Wolverines, which is notoriously difficult.

There is also an ever-expanding colony of Egyptian fruit bats and seba's fruit bats, which are nocturnal and rarely stay still.

Read again: More plastic litter than ever is harming animals, say RSPCA

Among these are more recognisable species like pandas, rhinos and penguins, and Ms Horner believes this mix is part of the park's appeal.

She said: "There are some fantastic species that some people might not have heard of before.

"It's important for people to see the park as they might want to help, either by supporting conservation work or getting others interested."