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It was time for my first photo job of 2020 this morning and luckily it was a fun one.

Once a year at ZSL London Zoo, the keepers get their clipboards out and take a count of the animals.

Cameras at the ready, our first stop were the penguins who were a little quieter than usual.

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Next were the lions and, at first, it seemed like only the male would make an appearance.

But after a while, the three lionesses began to emerge from their cave.

It was clear that Heidi was the boss of the pride. She growled at the others when they tried to get to the food and even had a standoff with Bhanu, the male lion.

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She was in a terrible mood, like she had just woken up, and at one point got hit on the head by the stocktake sign so hit it right back with her paw.

We were off to the B.U.G.S building next where a Giant African Land Snail was waiting for us, posed on a calculator. There are 40 of these massive snails in the zoo.

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Next up were my favourites, the Bolivian black-capped squirrel monkeys.

The squirrel monkeys were keen to help with their count by attempting to eat the chalk.

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One of the keepers came over while I was photographing a monkey on a warning sign about them biting and said that in 15 years of working with them, he'd never been bitten.

They do look very angelic considering how naughty they can be, but much to our disappointment, they were really well behaved this time.

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