The sizeable task of counting the animals at London Zoo began on Thursday (January 2).
ZSL's zookeepers dug out their clipboards, calculators and cameras to tally up everything from a colony of inquisitive Humboldt penguins to critically endangered Asiatic lions and Bactrian camels.
The facility saw the arrival of many new animals in 2019, including Elio the two-toed sloth and Star the tamandua, six Humboldt penguin chicks, four Chinese giant salamanders and four big-headed turtles.
Assistant curator of mammals Teague Stubbington said: "We kick off the New Year with the annual stocktake. We have to submit the number of animals each year as part of our zoo license, and we also share them with the international zoo community to inform our global breeding programmes for endangered species.
"ZSL London Zoo is home to more than 580 species, from Endangered Asiatic lions to Critically Endangered Chinese giant salamanders, and we're working not only here in the Zoo to increase their numbers, but on conservation projects around the world too."
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