FROM Baby Banggai cardinal fish, to a rare Sumatran tiger cub, it’s been a busy year for new arrivals at London Zoo.

Keepers kickstarted 2022 with their annual stocktake to tally up every mammal, bird, reptile and invertebrate at the Regent’s Park attraction.

Recorded for the first time were Asiatic lioness Arya, who arrived from Paignton Zoo in April as a new mate for Bhanu.

The zoo’s famous reptile house saw the hatching of three snappy big-headed turtles to parents rescued from the illegal wildlife trade, while December heralded the birth of a cub born to tigress Gaysha — bringing the zoo’s tally of critically endangered Sumatran tigers to three.

Meanwhile three baby Eastern black and white colobus monkeys were born in Gorilla Kingdom over the summer and will move into the new Monkey Valley exhibit later this year.

ZSL’s head zookeeper Dan Simmonds said: “London Zoo is home to more than 400  species, from endangered Asiatic lions to critically endangered Chinese giant salamanders — we’re working not only in the zoo to increase their numbers and learn more about these amazing animals, but also on conservation projects around the world.

“We have to submit an updated number of animals each year as part of our zoo license, which is shared with the international zoo community to inform our global conservation breeding work — the stocktake is also a chance to reflect on all the amazing births and arrivals we’ve celebrated over the past year.”

The annual audit takes almost a week to complete with the results added to a database which is shared with zoos around the world. While some counts are as easy as 1-2-3, others are more challenging with scuba gear donned to log the cardinal fish in the Tiny Giants coral tank, ant colonies counted as one, and the moon jellyfish calculated by photographing the tank.

(SD-Agencies)