The official count, a legal requirement of the zoo's licence, saw more than 500 animals across 145 species totted up. A colony of Humboldt penguins, a rare okapi calf and a critically-endangered, cotton-top tamarin baby are among the new arrivals added to the zoos stocktake this year.

A New York Zoo offered a sneak preview of some of the artwork that will be available at its upcoming gala auction: creations by animals including penguins, giraffes, sloths, capybaras and others.