London Zoo staff have begun counting the residents at London Zoo as part of their annual stocktake. 

From a newborn Sumatran tiger cub, an Asiatic lion, and a young sloth there will be many newcomers added to this stocktake. 

Keepers are tasked with going out in force with cameras and clipboards to tally more than 400 animals that call London Zoo home. 

The annual stocktake takes around a week and is part of the conditions of the zoo's license.

Richmond and Twickenham Times: A keeper at London Zoo counts the Penguins. (PA)A keeper at London Zoo counts the Penguins. (PA)

Head zookeeper, Dan Simmonds told the PA news agency "today's a special day because we've just come through Christmas and it's a nice time for the keepers to go and do that daily check on their animals and get their clipboards out and just count all the animals."

Although it might seem like a simple task when handling larger animals, keepers have said that it's a lot more challenging when looking for some of the Zoo's smaller creatures. 

"It can be really tough if it’s a little squirrel monkey that is bouncing around and we’ve got sort of 14, 15 of them," Mr Simmonds said.

Adding that "The keepers do an amazing job, they work with them day in, day out, they can identify all of them as they can all of the penguins, all of the bigger groups of animals.

"It can be challenging, but the keepers are really well trained, it’s part of their job to do that, so one way or another they’ll always make sure they count the animals."

Along with new animals being counted for 2022 including baby sloth Terry, there has also been some new addition of tigers. 

Although they have not yet been sexed yet, the cubs were born to Sumatran tigress Gaysha just before Chrismtas.