Spending the day surrounded by animals sounds like a dream to many people, to feed them and watch as they play.

But it is not all fun and games and you have to really know your stuff to ensure the very best for the animals in your care.

Here senior primate keeper Greg Clifton tells reporter Jenny Moody what being a zookeeper is really like.

The Burton Mail have been along to Twycross Zoo to catch up with one of the zoo's Senior Primate Keepers - Greg Clifton and to meet some of the furry animals that he has the fortune of looking after.
Greg Clifton, senior primate keeper at Twycross Zoo, gave us a tour of some of primates

Being a zookeeper was not Greg Clifton's first choice of career when he was a child. He wanted to work in a morgue but as the senior primate keeper, his passion for caring for animals and giving them the best quality of life possible is clear for all to see.

Greg started at Twycross Zoo as a trainee eight years ago and has worked his way through the ranks to his current role. However, the job is not about spending the day playing with the primates, but knuckling down to vital work.

Greg lives on the site, gets up early and walks to work. He then checks on the animals to make sure they are all okay with no injuries and none have died in the night. Between 8am and 11am he cleans the different sections and ensures they all have their breakfasts.

With four subsections in the primates section, there's plenty to do. After they are all fed and clean it's time for a break before continuing with training with the animals and examining their behaviour as well as covering any medical situations that may arise.

Training can include teaching the de brazza's monkeys to sit on the scales so they can be weighed to see if they are pregnant.

When it comes to lunchtime the team has to prepare 90 individual meals and 40 to 50 group meals. After they are fed it is about maintaining enclosures and building new ones to enrich the lives of the animals.

Another role can be putting primates together with good genetics in the hope they will mate, which does not always go to plan.

The Burton Mail have been along to Twycross Zoo to catch up with one of the zoo's Senior Primate Keepers - Greg Clifton and to meet some of the furry animals that he has the fortune of looking after.
Silvery marmoset
The silvery marmosets are at home at Twycross Zoo

The 31-year-old said: "I wanted to work in a morgue but I always grew up with animals in the house as pets so for me it was the next step. I have worked in a pet shop and also had experience of working with exotic pets at home as I kept frogs and reptiles.

"For me it is all about the animals and seeing them learn. We have a number that are endangered and quiet rare so we have the privilege to work with them up close. They have a bond as they are very sociable creatures who like to interact. We don't get to play with the animals as we want them to display natural behaviour. It is about letting them do what they want to enjoy their life with us, their families and groups.

"You will find that most zookeepers do not have pictures of the animals on their phone, they have lots of pictures of poo. You can tell a lot about the health of an animal by its poo which is why we take them."

Greg's passion for animals does not just extend to his working life as he has been to Colombia three times to work with the animals out there.

He said: "It is nice to see their wild behaviour as we see some of that in the zoo which is lovely to see."

There is also fun to be had working at the zoo, if only to see the emperor tamarins with a bad case of "bed head" and bugs stuck in their moustaches when they wake up.

In total there is a team of 16 working on the primates team, who enjoy a laugh and a joke together. It was through their teamwork that they built the new Gibbon Forest, which is part of the £55 million masterplan to transform the zoo over the next 20 years.

The emperor tamarins have an issue with bed head in the morning

The team worked together to help design and build the enclosure to give the gibbons more freedom to run about. However, this also involved moving the creatures to their new home so they had to train them to get ready to be moved without the use of tranquiliser darts or rough handling, which proved a big success.

Greg's career path involved a lot of studying. After completing his GCSEs, he undertook an agricultural course at Reaseheath College in Nantwich, where he studied for eight years, working up from completing a foundation course. He also carried out work experience at Stapeley Water Gardens and after six weeks got a part-time job.

He spent five years there working his way up but the credit crunch hit the centre hard and it was forced to close for good. Greg was then responsible for disbanding the animals and finding new homes for everything from sharks to meerkats.

The Burton Mail have been along to Twycross Zoo to catch up with one of the zoo's Senior Primate Keepers - Greg Clifton and to meet some of the furry animals that he has the fortune of looking after.
Senior primate keeper Greg Clifton with some of the furry animals that he has the good fortune of looking after.

A week before it closed its doors, Greg got the job at Twycross Zoo working with the new world primates as a trainee. That was eight years ago and since then he has worked his way up through the ranks to become a senior keeper. His ultimate goal is to become a curator of a zoo one day.

Those seeking to follow in his footsteps do not necessarily need to go down the academic route. Greg did a college degree in zoo management but the zoo also offers apprenticeships for those who prefer a more hands-on approach.

He advises would be zoo workers to get any experience possible of working with animals, from having pets at home to working in places like dog groomers.

Greg said: "It is a great job and I would not change it for the world but you certainly do not do it for the money. It is not a 9 to 5 job as you are thinking about it around the clock. You cannot go home and forget.

The Burton Mail have been along to Twycross Zoo to catch up with one of the zoo's Senior Primate Keepers - Greg Clifton and to meet some of the furry animals that he has the fortune of looking after.
Greg Clifton in front of the gibbon forest at Twycross Zoo

"It is a vocation. My days off are spent going to other zoos to see what they do. All my friends are zookeepers at other zoos so I go and see them. It is certainly not a job for the faint-hearted.

"Some days are really bad when one of the animals is really sick - or especially bad when it dies - and you thought it wouldn't. However, it is a great achievement to be that close to understand that group and how every day is for them.

"My favourite is a cotton top tamarin and they are critically endangered. We do not have them here at Twycross but I am part of conservation programme Proyecto Titi, which I have supported for 13 years."

More information on Twycross Zoo is available at twycrosszoo.org

Facts about Twycross Zoo

There are currently 2,699 individual animals who call the zoo their home.

There are 153 different species, of which 35 are invertebrates.

There are currently 158 individual primates across 30 species – including the apes.

The zoo has welcomed 56 babies born in 2016.

There are countless ants in the toilets so they are just counted as one colony.

The site the zoo it built on is 88 acres.

The zoo was founded in 1963.

The Burton Mail have been along to Twycross Zoo to catch up with one of the zoo's Senior Primate Keepers - Greg Clifton and to meet some of the furry animals that he has the fortune of looking after.
Pygmy marmoset
The pygmy marmosets at Twycross Zoo

In total the team welcomes roughly around 500,000 visitors a year.

There are some animals that have to eat their own faeces, such as capybara/rabbits as it forms a natural process and is a requirement for them to receive their correct nutrients.

Twycross is the only place in the UK where visitors can see all four types of great ape (gorilla, orangutan, chimpanzee and bonobo).

It is also the only zoo to house bonobos in the UK.