London Zoo kicked off its annual stock take on Monday (January 5) but it was more like play time for the Zoo's three Sumatran tiger cubs.

Every New Year the zoo's keepers undertake the mammoth task of counting every one of its 750 species.

The three tiger cubs - watched over by their mother - were enjoying their first count on Monday after being born last February.

With the species on the critically-endangered list the triplets were a welcome addition to the world's dwindling population of the tigers.

"Incredibly important for us. They're part of a global conservation breeding programme, one of the rarest cats in the world and to have two boys and a girl has been exceptional for us. Very exciting year for us at London Zoo," said London Zoo manager Mark Habben.

Over at Penguin Beach the arrival of 10 new Humboldt penguins in 2014 has bolstered their number to 70.

As each penguin has a distinct pattern each is well known to the zoo keepers making them one of the easier animals to count.

Some of the other species are much more of a challenge.

"It's actually surprisingly difficult. Even with something like the Sumatran tiger here there's five animals in the enclosure but they vanish, it's a big enclosure, lots of planting so it makes it quite tricky. But the social species are the most difficult, meerkats, the squirrel monkeys, they're very, very active, constantly on the go so it creates a lot of challenges for the keeper team but also in the aquarium, lots of fish in large tanks, It's a challenge," said Habben.

Unsurprisingly, some animals preferred monkeying around to being counted. Although others were more than keen to lend a hand.

Other highlights of the count included six critically-endangered Philippine crocodiles which were the first of their kind to hatch in the UK in June.

The Zoo also has a collection of Vietnamese Snails - also on the endangered list - that were thought to be extinct until they were found in 2012.

The information is used to manage the international breeding programmes for endangered animals.