Episode 24 Roar

A baby meerkat who nearly died has been hand reared by the keepers

because her own family wouldn't take her back.

Good girl.

But does she think she is a human baby now?

Welcome to Roar. I'm Rani.

I'm Johny, and this rowdy rabble here are the lion tailed macaques.

Lion tailed macaques can grow up to 60 centimetres tall

which is double the size of your pet cat.

Don't be fooled by the size.

This lot are capable of making some ear-splitting sounds

from shrill barks to screeching screams.

That's why I've got these on.

Sorry about this. Johny.

Johny!

Listen, it's quiet. Nothing.

Well they are loud out in the wild.

I think we should get on with the show.

Good tune.

Will there be howls of joy from the howler monkeys

when they are let loose on the bungee tubes?

I have to break open the poo of a clouded leopard

and we'll find out why it is all furry inside.

And is Matt trying to bribe his way to an easy time in Ask The Keeper?

That's very kind of you.

A porcupine spine for you.

Now, there's a rather special young meerkat in the park

who is looking for a new home.

You may remember from early in the series that a baby called Tiggs

had to be taken away from her mum for emergency treatment.

Her plucky fight for life became one of our favourite stories this year.

She's quite cute...aren't you?

When she couldn't be reunited with her family

because she had been away too long and they might hurt her,

we saw keeper Rich Barnes hand-rearing the pocket-sized thing.

It made quite a change from

the large and dangerous animals he normally looks after.

After six weeks, she went to stay with some of the other keepers

like Jess. She's thrived ever since and is now a much bigger handful.

She is about four months old

and doesn't like to stay still so much any more.

She's eating everything in sight

including every bit of dirt and people's fingers.

They are always tasty.

Ow!

Stop it.

Tiggs is growing up fast, probably because she eats like a horse.

She thinks someone is going to steal her food, I think.

She is getting more aggressive with us around her food.

She thinks we are going to steal it so she eats it really quickly.

Stop it. Ooh, stop it, you'll make yourself sick again.

The danger of hand-rearing little animals

is that they start to think they are little humans

but fortunately, Tiggs is developing lots of classic meerkat mannerisms.

It's brilliant that she is acting like a meerkat should.

She definitely doesn't think she's a human. She thinks she's a meerkat.

She thinks humans are a giant toy for her.

Some people have guard dogs and things, but we have a guard meerkat.

Don't we?

But Tiggs really needs her own home now.

You might like to know, we will be seeing Tiggs again soon

in our very own competition - the Roar Cutest Baby Awards.

BELLOWING

I've popped down to the primate section because it's time to put

another of keeper Jamie Robertson's inventions to the test.

Jamie, what do we have here?

It's a rope ladder with its own bungee cord.

Who have we got here?

This is Tolkien and husband Clyde.

They are pinching all our food.

You wanted me to bring some bananas and nuts down.

What do you want to do?

The idea is if you stuff these pipes with the banana and peanuts,

I'll try and tie this end on. If Tolkien lets us.

-The idea is it is puzzling.

-They probably prefer bananas don't they?

Yes, they do prefer the bananas.

She is not interested. She is so friendly,

-she is quite bolshie as well.

-She is a bit of a special case.

She's not hand reared, but she is as friendly as a hand-reared monkey.

It is completely her choice to be this friendly towards us.

She actually likes humans probably. OK, let's try and get this done.

I don't think Tolkien wants us to get on with it.

We are going to put this banana in this ladder here.

Why are we doing this, Jamie?

It is environment enrichment. It keeps them occupied during the day.

It is a bit more exciting than having them sat on a bench.

We try and get stuff to keep them busy.

It's quite difficult because howlers are particularly lazy animals.

They will just sit quite happily,

so, yeah, trying to get them to do something else.

She is hanging on by her tail, that is amazing.

She is trying to pinch some of our food here.

-Who is this fellow up here?

-This is husband Clyde.

I was going to ask if one would come over first,

but it seems like they are all coming together.

Have you got anyone else in here other than Clyde and Tolkien?

-We have a little one up there, Mary, that is their son.

-Right.

He won't come over until we are out of the way.

-There you go.

-He's found the banana already.

Anything new, they will come down and have a look.

They are quite sociable animals, they live in big family groups.

They do quite happily come down and see us as well.

Look at how well she is balancing. Why are they so good at balancing?

If you notice their tail, it acts as an anchor,

like a fifth limb. It's called a prehensile tail.

They have that extra almost fifth limb to grab on with.

She's grabbing on to me now.

That helps her balance as well and she can grip, like an extra hand.

It acts like another hand while she uses her other hands to grab stuff.

-Are they quite dextrous?

-Yeah, they seem to be.

Hello you. She is holding on very delicately with her hands.

Her hands, looking at them there, are just like ours, aren't they?

They have the same amount of fingers, thumbs, opposable thumbs.

What about their feet, are they similar to their hands as well?

I don't know if you can see, on her feet, the big toe is to the side

so it's just like another hand.

-We have this little fellow up here which is their offspring.

-Yeah.

-How is he getting on?

-He is doing not too bad.

He learns off his parents, what to do.

He's starting to come down and see us as well.

Extreme close-up while we're talking!

He's not quite as friendly as his parents,

but he is coming along.

Jeremy, I think your experiment has been a massive success.

She stealing your cap right now. They are absolutely brilliant.

I'd give them a high five, but I wouldn't know which hand

-to high five. Maybe that one.

-Yeah, there you go.

It is Ask The Keeper time now on Roar and we are going to be posing

some questions to keeper Matt

who could find himself in quite a prickly position

if he can't answer questions from these guys. They are going to be

asking loads of questions about those guys over there, the porcupines.

-Matt, are you ready for your questions?

-Give it a go.

Can you have them as a pet?

Not in this country, but in Africa, in the wild,

some have been found orphaned and kept as pets.

They can be house-trained.

You could do, but I wouldn't want them as a pet.

They eat everything and are full of prickles.

Matt, are we OK because we are really close to the porcupines.

-Has anyone been this close to a porcupine before?

-No.

-Are we safe, Matt?

-We are OK.

They haven't eaten anybody this week so we should be all right.

We feel so much better! Someone else ask a question so we can leave here.

What is a male and female called?

They could be Mr and Mrs or Fred and Hilda.

They are just male and female porcupines.

Do baby porcupines have spikes?

Yes, baby porcupines are born with very soft quills.

It makes them easier to give birth to.

After an hour, they are really quite spiky.

Within a week or so you can hardly touch them.

Wow, so within an hour they are already getting spiky.

That's amazing.

How long to do their quills grow up to?

The quills on a porcupine are various different lengths.

You have very short ones and very, very long ones.

I would say the longest ones are probably about 18 inches long,

so they are quite long.

-What do they eat?

-Porcupines will almost eat anything.

We feed them a diet of mainly vegetables -

root veg, carrots, swede,

that sort of stuff. But they'll eat anything -

leaves and bark off the trees.

They will even eat bits of meat sometimes

and they are partial to pigs' ears, like dogs eat. They like those.

They don't eat deer, do they? I can see a pair of antlers over there.

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but they haven't eaten a deer.

Rodents teeth grow continually.

In the wild they would gnaw on bones and other things, like wood,

to keep their teeth short. If the hoofstock guys find antlers

that have been shed out on the park, they pop then in here for us

and they love to chew away on the antlers.

You really do know your porcupine knowledge, don't you?

Will you be able to answer our killer question?

We've had a chat and we've got a few tough questions.

Give us a moment while we choose the most difficult one.

Before you do that, I've got a little present for them.

Not that it should influence the question that you ask me.

-There is a porcupine spine for you.

-That's very kind of you.

See how easy I gave those out.

Maybe you could make your question just as easy?

It might be quite difficult because you are one porcupine quill short.

-Sorry, Rani.

-Right then, typical.

Be careful, they are spiky, so no-one stab me.

Keep them down low. Here we go, let's discuss our killer question.

OK, Matt, we've got one for you. We've made it quite easy for you.

In a lifetime, on average, how many quills does a porcupine have?

In a lifetime?

Difficult one.

I would say about 30,000.

30,000?

30,000.

It is actually correct. On average they do have around 30,000 quills.

What you think, guys? Thumbs up or thumbs down for Matt?

All thumbs up. Matt, you didn't give me a quill

so I'm only going to give you one thumb up. Well done anyway.

All right then, have the other one, stop twisting my arm.

Why did the centipede get dropped from the insect football team?

I don't know.

Because he took too long to put his boots on.

What do you get if you cross a duck with a firework?

I don't know, what do you get if you cross a duck with a firework?

A fire quacker.

Quack, quack, quack!

Miaow, miaow!

Miaow!

What's striped and bouncy?

A tiger on a pogo stick.

Head of hoofstock Joel has asked me to bring some peanut butter

and by the looks of things, he's got himself into a sticky situation.

Joel, what is this all about?

Hi Johny, this is a bit of dietary and behaviour enrichment

for the red river hogs.

-OK, why are we doing this?

-Just to give them something to do.

It's in the wallow, they love to play in mud.

Also, we are going to see if they really love peanut butter.

We're going to put them on the end of sticks

and see if they eat them, lick them or do whatever with them.

-Have you tried this before?

-No, so it will be interesting

-to see what happens.

-Let's get started.

All right, Joel, here they come, it looks like they are coming straight

to this wallowing paddock here.

Are they quite brave animals in general?

Yes, generally they are very inquisitive. They like to

see what things are and smell and touch and sometimes destroy them.

Hopefully they will go straight in there.

-Why is it so important to do this for the pigs?

-Because they are

intelligent creatures and they need some stimulation.

Any different ways you can find to keep them amused,

or to feed them is always good.

They've got those big noses, are they good at smelling stuff?

Yes, they've got a very good sense of smell.

They're very powerful snouts that can dig things up

they can smell in the ground. They're really good tools.

Look at this, one is quite interested.

-Who have we got in here?

-These three are the piglets from last year.

He just took a stick off. I thought they would get in

and wallow about and have the sticks there.

Hopefully they will do eventually. The ones more in the middle.

It looks like they are eating the sticks. They are going mad for it.

-We have three little ones. What are their names?

-No names at the moment.

There's two boys and a girl. We haven't named them yet.

The one nearest the piglets, that is the male, Gosho.

We have the female pig there, Tofika.

-Will they fight over food?

-Yes. They do like their food.

Generally they get on OK, apart from when there's food around

because they will eat anything.

-Are they intelligent animals?

-Yes, they are very intelligent animals.

-Reputedly more intelligent than dogs.

-Really?

-Yeah, supposedly.

It's good for a wild animal to check things out

and make sure it's not going to do them any harm.

He's just showing natural wariness.

They are more interested in the mud on this stick now.

Do they actually eat the mud then?

There's lots of minerals and things in mud.

A lot of animals do seek out wallows to get the nutrients.

I thought they'd be going more mad for the peanut butter

because it is something new in there.

It is sweet and gooey.

He is thinking about it, thinking about going in.

Maybe he feels it's not warm enough to wallow today

so he's being careful so he doesn't fall in..

I reckon they love our nutty treats. I reckon we should stick around

-to see if they finish the rest off. What d'you reckon.

-I think so.

The park is home to an amazing 74 western lowland gorillas.

The largest collection in human care in the world.

Their natural home in the forests of West Africa looks like a paradise.

But, unfortunately, a lot of the trees they need to live amongst

have been cut down due to logging.

So the keepers here work hard to understand what makes the gorillas

happy and healthy.

Laura says they are trying to create the best possible environment

for them to live in.

A major thing for us as keepers is to make sure the gorillas have

a lot of enrichment and things to do because this is their home 24/7

so the more new and exciting and different things we can put in there

the better for them.

As you can see, they have their pool which we fill up with water.

They have their hammocks, the ropes, they have the fire hose,

slides, tyres, they have a lot going on

so there is a lot of things for them to play with.

Like human babies, they need lots of toys and lots of stimulation.

They also need the company of other gorillas

which is why they share this big enclosure.

We are able to keep our gorillas in big family groups.

They are lucky to have the interaction with each other.

After chimpanzees, gorillas are our closest relatives in the animal world

and their kids, like ours,

like nothing more than going absolutely bonkers.

Especially young gorillas, they will play every single day.

Like human kids, the children play more than the adults.

It is their favourite thing to do as well as eat and sleep.

As with humans, play is a vital part of their natural development

and they make up very similar games.

The best thing to watch the gorillas do is the roly-polys.

That is a really good one. Especially when they carry it on

and on and get into what we call a bit of a silly.

They just run around with their eyes shut banging into things

and banging into each other just on a mad one.

It's really funny and quite cool to watch.

The play can get a bit out of hand but the keepers never intervene.

There are plenty of responsible adults around to step in

when it is needed.

When the kids are little, the play is quite gentle and everything.

If play does get a bit too rough, the youngest will go

screaming back to Mum

and Mum will tell the other gorilla off for playing too rough.

Mother gorillas weigh about 80 kilos, as much as a fully grown man.

They are very protective of their babies.

The teenagers, though, are left to get on with it.

As they get older, play does get a lot rougher.

If you are not used to the gorillas and not used to the way they are,

then some people do misunderstand that as that they are fighting.

But you can definitely tell the difference

when they are fighting and when they are playing.

They actually bite when they play but it is not a rough bite.

Because their skin is so thick it tickles them.

You can definitely tell when they are playing.

They wouldn't do that if they weren't happy and contented.

It's a clear sign to the keepers that all their hard work is worthwhile.

This job is absolutely brilliant.

I could watch these guys play all day,

but unfortunately somebody has to clean the enclosures.

You do get a lot of perks with the job as well.

It's really great to come into work

and be able to create bonds with the gorillas

and it is also good to watch them play and interact with each other.

Are you having fun running your own animal park?

Anyone can open one in the Roar game on the CBBC website.

We give out a new cheat code in every show

and today it is frost678.

You type that in and it unlocks

special treats, new animals or extra features.

So, if you haven't tried yet, you should. It is great fun.

Whoah!

Now, giving some of the most elusive cats in the park a health check

is a tricky business, but keeper Ben has a way of doing it

and I believe it is rather whiffy. Is that right?

Yes, you are going to be playing with poo.

I don't want to play with poo.

Don't be crazy. Why would I be touching a clouded leopard's poo?

Cleaning them out is a good way to give them a health check.

I was happy because you brought me here in style

but hand me some gloves, please.

I am not touching poo without them.

-There you go.

-Thank you very much.

Let's get cleaning.

This is a clouded leopard enclosure. We've come through the back entrance.

Where is the cloudy that lives in here, and who lives in here?

Right, we have Utan and Mimbu who are a pair of clouded leopards.

-Oh my goodness!

-Utan is up there, he's the male.

OK, take a look at that.

He might be a beautiful cat, but he still does a big poo.

You talked about this being a health check.

Normally when you say health check,

-I expect Jane the vet to be here.

-This is very basic,

something we can do without the vet.

If you want to pick it up and break it open?

Is that a question? Do you want to break it open?

I'm telling you, I was just being polite.

It is actually really light.

Surprisingly really light.

It feels almost like it's fake.

-Believe me, that is real poo.

-Have a look at this.

It's all hairy as well.

What do you feed them?

Basically he gets a varied diet of rabbit, chicken, pigeon, fish,

-chicks.

-He doesn't digest the fur.

He gets rid of it.

You need to feed fur to the animals.

It acts as a fibre and binds it all up.

That is unbelievable.

This is a healthy poo.

That is all rabbit fur.

If it was a bad poo, what would we be looking for?

Basically, you're looking for worms.

Not normal earthworms you get in the ground,

but very small thin worms they can have in their stomachs.

Can you see any in there? Do you want to have a good look, Ben?

I can't see any worms.

-Do you have to check the smell?

-No, no sniffing.

One thing, we have a lot of poo in this area here.

Are clouded leopards quite clean?

-Do they poo in the same place?

-They seem to.

-They seem to dig channels down the side of these beds.

-Like this?

-Yes.

-I know they scent-mark.

Their poo isn't that smelly, actually.

It could be a good part of it.

Basically, if Utan did a poo in a certain area,

and another male came along and saw it and smelled it,

he would be able to tell that there is another male in the area.

Could he also tell if he was healthy or not?

Would he have a look and say, yes, he has a good diet.

They seem to know what sort of size they are as well for some reason.

-I don't know how.

-That is quite amazing.

-The bigger the cloudy, the bigger the poo?

-Maybe.

Are you joking?

Straight up, most cats do it.

I'm very impressed by that.

The poo is cleaned up for now, but there is loads of fur

and other bits we need to clean up.

Utan's up there going, "Oi, Rani, hurry up, will you!"

You may remember all the excitement earlier in the series

when some tiny puppies were born.

They're fairly rare bush dog puppies from Central and South America.

They're not easy to breed in captivity,

but their dad, a bush dog called Morley,

was hand reared by the head of small carnivores, Neville,

who knows just what bush dogs like

and has created the perfect conditions for them.

The puppies' first day out of the enclosure was wonderful to watch.

Now they're nearly six months old, Neville has invited us

to see the family again.

-How are you doing, mate?

-Not too bad.

Obviously they hunt in the water, we hope so today,

but there is no food in there.

I've got a bucket of food here, some of their favourite stuff,

and we'll chuck it in the water

-and they will be straight in there for it.

-Have you got a good aim?

Will you get that into the water from here?

Come on, Moles.

-You say Moles...

-Good shot.

-Moly's one of the adults here.

Here goes Moly. Face right in!

We can actually see him swim.

He looked like an otter in the water.

One of the things about bush dogs,

they kind of resemble otters and things like that.

Are they adapted to swim then?

They have partially webbed feet to help propel them through the water.

They were fighting with the food, do they fight often?

There is no serious aggression or fighting going on.

It's all about the pups keen to get some food.

When they were younger, Moly would give the food to them straightaway.

Now they are a little bit older, he tends to make them work for it

but he always tends to give in to them in the end.

He knows he'll come back for more food

and while they are busy eating that,

he can sneak off and quietly have his tea.

That is fantastic, he is trying to teach them

what they would naturally learn in the wild.

How to swim, have to get their food.

Honestly, I think they are a bit lazy.

We're out of time on today's show, but while they dive in,

we'll dive out and leave you to check out

what's on the next episode of Roar.

We'll find out why a giraffe's front legs are longer than the back ones.

What reason could there possibly be to smear a perfectly clean rhino

with gooey, sticky mud?

And our Roar rangers are very excited when they find out

which animal they will be working with.

Yeah!

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