Stand up and be counted! London Zoo completes annual animal stocktake

Animal keepers at the London Zoo have had a challenging start to the new year; individually counting every every animal as part of their annual stocktake.

The keepers were required to take note of every one of the 16,000 animals that call London Zoo home, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibian and invertebrates.

The count is compulsory, as part of ZSL London Zoo’s license which requires every animal to be accounted for.

The zoo has had a successful year, with the birth of six critically-endangered Phillipines crocodiles and the arrival of nine Humboldt penguin chicks.

Three Sumatran tiger cubs were also born at the zoo last year, which added vital numbers to the European conservation breeding programme.

The count is expected to take about a week.

Tiny creatures such as ants and locusts are counted in colonies, but all others are recorded individually.

'You need a quick pair of eyes,' said zookeeper Amy Heath as she counted a group of skittering squirrel monkeys.

'Usually an extra pair of eyes helps, but I've been counting them for quite a few years, so I'm quite good at counting them.'

Data from the count, and others around the country, will be entered into an international computer database of animal collections and used to plan zoo management and breeding programs for endangered species.