In pictures: London Zoo counted up its animals for the annual stocktake

While many welcomed 2017 with party poppers and prosecco, the zookeepers at ZSL London Zoo readied their clipboards and calculators for the annual animal stocktake.

More than 700 different species of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and invertebrates were counted on Tuesday, from Sumatran tigers to Partula snails. 

New arrivals in 2016 were listed in the census for the first time, including the Zoo’s first ever aye-aye baby Malcolm, a pair of Sumatran tiger cubs called Achilles and Karis and four Humboldt penguin chicks. 

While some keepers had a relatively easy job, zookeeper Sam Aberdeen had the painstaking task of listing the zoo’s 2,132 Partula snails.

The audit takes around a week to complete and the information will be shared with zoos around the world to help manage the global conservation breeding programmes for endangered animals.

Photos: Tony Margiocchi ZSL 

In other news, the Natural History Museum's Dippy the Dinosaur is getting 'flat-packed' away.