In pictures: Over 200 animals at London Zoo await their annual weigh-in

It’s not quite Noah’s Ark, but these photos show the moment that animals at ZSL London Zoo were gathered by keepers to begin their annual weigh-in to check the health of all the animals.

Over the next few days, some 200 animals from goats to gorillas will be examined to confirm their wellbeing, before the results are shared with a database that is accessible to zoos around the world.

Zoological manager Mark Habben said: ‘Probably one of the most valuable things we get to do at this point is to weigh some of the baby animals.

‘We’ve had several primates, squirrel monkeys for example, we’ve got two babies in there, and being able to weigh them just enables us to tell that they’re growing correctly, we don’t need to make any dietary changes for them. It also enables us to tell if an animal is pregnant on some occasions.’

Once the data is recorded, it is uploaded to the Zoological Information Management System (Zims), with year-on-year data allowing the zoo to track the growth rate of the animals.

Among the heaviest animals at London Zoo is one of the female giraffes, who weighs a hefty 852kg.

The lightest, meanwhile, is a leaf cutter ant that weighs between three and five milligrams.