Every year the ZSL London Zookeepers conduct the annual stocktake, where they count every single bird and beast in the zoo.

More than 16,000 animals live at the zoo and with lots of births this year, the job is set to be an even bigger one than usual.

Can you imagine how long it would take to check and count over 4,000 fish, more than 10,000 invertebrates and over 100 reptiles? Wow!

The opening of 2011's brand new exhibit Penguin Beach has boosted the Zoo’s penguin population, and the exciting birth of two endangered Asian lion cubs all need to be tallied up.

The compulsory count is required as part of ZSL London Zoo’s zoo license, and every creature, great or small, needs to be totted up.