Episode 32 Roar

Today on Roar: One of the huge male gorillas travels 300 kilometres

to start a family at a new home.

But he causes a bit of a stir on the way there.

Excuse me. Is that what I think it is?

It certainly is.

That really is a gorilla. That's a real gorilla in there.

-Hello, and welcome to Roar. I'm Rani.

-And I'm Johny.

These ferocious felines here are the park's amazing Barbary lions.

You know what, Johny, you kind of remind me of a lion.

Because of my insatiable appetite, my powerful teeth

and my lightning-quick speed?

No, no, and definitely no -

because of your lovely fluffy mane.

I guess I can understand that.

Enough of this tomfoolery, Rani, let's get on with today's ROAR!

Now THAT'S a lion.

Coming up: What happens when you hide food from a five-ton elephant?

They stamp on it.

Ask The Keeper backfires on Johny...

I can't do a howler monkey impression,

but I've heard YOU can. I think you should do it, Johny.

And Rani becomes part of the furniture in the lemur enclosure.

What do you think? Is it quite comfortable eating its lychees here?

Is this what they tend to do?

But first, we're heading straight to the gorilla section,

where the keepers and the vet

are preparing for a very important mission.

The big male silverback called Oumbi is about to move out of the park

and head 300 kilometres north to a new home in Warwickshire.

At the moment, Oumbi lives with just one other silverback male,

but today that's all going to change.

For Oumbi, the time has come to make a move to another animal park,

where he'll be introduced to a group of female gorillas

and have the chance to start a brand-new family of his own.

Head keeper Phil, who's looked after Oumbi since the day he was born,

has mixed emotions about saying goodbye to his old friend.

Yeah, it will be sad to see him go.

I've known him virtually all his life.

But on the other hand it'll be nice for him to go,

because he's going to some females, and hopefully

will fulfil his role in life,

which is to lead the group of gorillas,

and hopefully one day become a father and be a successful breeding male.

It's an important opportunity,

not just for Oumbi, but for his species too.

Western lowland gorillas are critically endangered in the wild.

But before Oumbi can meet his new family

a four-hour journey to complete -

and that is a major operation when you are a 190kg silverback.

We've got him isolated, that's step one.

Step two is sedate him. Step three is get him in the crate.

Then step four is get him and the crate in the van,

and then last step will be driving off to Twycross.

The safest way to do this is for Jane the vet to use a dart gun,

to give Oumbi some drugs that will make him fall asleep.

Because using a gun is a skilled and dangerous job,

our crew have been asked to stay out of sight.

But to allow you to see the action up close,

Jane has agreed to wear the Vet Cam.

I think he's going to be much harder to dart this time.

Sorry, guys.

Hello, boy. Aren't you nice?

Jane wants to move as quickly as possible,

to avoid causing Oumbi any unnecessary stress.

As soon as she's in position, she fires the dart.

We just darted Oumbi.

He was actually very good, we darted him fairly quickly.

Hopefully in the next 10 or 15 minutes he'll go to sleep

in a good position.

The team now has a tense wait while the drugs take effect.

Phil knows that Oumbi's a gentle giant, but it would be

very dangerous if the keepers went in before he was completely asleep.

One of the worst case scenarios is they're not fully sedated,

and they could start falling asleep and suddenly wake up.

If they feel something going on around them,

maybe hear or see some of the keepers approaching,

they can suddenly get a surge of adrenaline and wake up.

So far, everything is going to plan.

But the next stage is to carry Oumbi out of his enclosure.

We'll be back to catch all the action.

Now it's Ask the Keeper time on today's Roar,

and in the horrible hot seat is primate keeper Mel Frampton,

ready to answer questions about the amazing howler monkey.

First question, Mel - are you ready?

I'm as ready as I'll ever be,

so shall we crack on?

OK. A little bit nervous there, I think, guys.

-Have you got some questions then?

-Mel, what do the howler monkeys eat?

60 per cent of their diet is made up of leaves in the wild,

and the rest will be fruits and seeds and that sort of thing.

In captivity we can't recreate as much leaves as they would have,

so they have lots of solid greens,

and a little bit of fruit, some exotic fruit and some citrus.

-Mel, are they good climbers?

-They are amazing climbers.

As you see they have a prehensile tail,

which is a bit like a fifth limb.

They hang from their tails, and go down and climb up

to the top of the trees. They are generally at home

in the trees rather than on the ground, like baboons and things.

Where do howler monkeys come from?

Howler monkeys are actually South American monkeys.

They have quite a big range all across South America.

So who have we got here there?

This is Tolkien, she's having a good look at what we are up to.

She will probably have a feel of the camera!

Are they quite inquisitive animals then?

Definitely. She is especially.

Because she had cataracts removed she can't quite focus,

so she likes to touch and feel because she can't exactly see.

So she likes to feel.

What's the furthest distance

you'd be able to hear a howler monkey's howl?

Well, the distance they can travel is miles and miles.

Howler monkeys are the loudest land mammal.

How much do they poo every day?

I like that question. It had to come up sooner or later!

Now that is a very good question. These guys do poo quite a lot.

As you can probably see in their little enclosure, they have

some quite big piles of poo waiting for me to clear up later.

-Do you want to give me a hand?

-No.

I bet you don't.

-Any other questions?

-How can you tell if they are a boy or girl?

Well, Tolkien is a little bit of a golden colour and Clyde is black.

The males eventually turn black and the females stay the golden colour,

so it's a brilliant way of spotting from a distance who's who.

I think we ended on quite an easy question for you there,

and I think so far they have thrown everything at you

and you have answered everything we have got to give you,

but now it's time for the...

Come on, guys. Come in.

You wait there, Mel.

THEY WHISPER

Yeah, yeah...

OK, Mel Frampton...

we've had a think, had a bit of a ponder,

and we've come up with the Killer Question.

-Oh, no!

-Here it is, are you ready?

-I'm ready.

Can you give us your best howler monkey impression?

No, I can't actually do a howler monkey impression,

but I've heard that YOU can. I think you should do it, Johny.

What do you reckon, guys? Do you want Mel to do it or me?

Johny! Johny should do it.

OK, you tell me if this is good.

Look, I think Tolkien likes it.

I think Tolkien liked it!

Well, first up, guys, what about my howler monkey impression?

Any good...? Thumbs up, yeah?

Mel didn't do the impression,

but she answered pretty much every question we threw at her.

How do you think she did?

Thumbs up. Thumbs up for you, Mel.

Aaah! Thanks, guys.

-I want to see that impression one day.

-I'll keep working on it.

Join us next time for another Ask The Keeper. (It's never easy.)

Back at the gorilla house, Oumbi the silverback

is being prepared for a move

that will take him 300 kilometres across the country to a new home.

Everyone is hoping that this will be his chance

to start a family of his own.

Jane the vet has sedated Oumbi, and now it looks like he is fast asleep

so the team have moved into the enclosure to check up on him.

He seems pretty good to me,

so I think we can put him on to a stretcher with caution.

Jane knows that sedating an animal like this can be very dangerous.

If he wakes up, he could attack the team.

But, if she gives him too much sedative,

his heart might stop beating.

1, 2, 3...

Now it is all hands on Oumbi, to get him moved as quickly as possible.

Oumbi seems to be coping, but now the team must get him out

of the gorilla house and into the specially reinforced travel crate.

1, 2, 3...

As soon as he is safely in the crate, Jane can bring Oumbi round.

It's much easier to check he is OK during the move if he's awake.

I've injected with a drug that will reverse

some of the drugs we gave him.

We do that so he can move around and right himself

in the crate as it is moving, if necessary.

We are going to put the crate in a van

and wait half an hour until he can sit up and things like that,

because we want to be completely happy

that if the crate moves he can move his airway and keep it straight.

By the time he's in the van, Oumbi is wide awake.

He looks calm and is doing well.

For Phil, however, this is only the beginning of the adventure.

It's not every day he drives out of the park

with a massive gorilla in the boot.

A bit nervous, yes.

It's not too far a way to go, but it's a long way when you are

sitting in the back of a van, as far as he's concerned.

But yeah, we will get there. Yeah.

So, Oumbi and Phil are ready to go.

And the long journey to meet Oumbi's new family can begin.

We will follow all the action on the road trip later in the show.

What do cats have on their hot dog?

-I don't know.

-Mouse-tard!

SHE CLUCKS LIKE A CHICKEN

What do you call a cat that's just ate a whole duck?

-I don't know.

-A duck-filled fatty puss.

HE ROARS LIKE A LION

What happened to the cat after it was three days old?

-I don't know.

-It was four days old.

ALL: Boo!

Get off!

Tell you what, working for your food is never easy,

but it's something in the wild animals have to do every day.

Well, the keepers here are always coming up with ideas

to mentally and physically stimulate the animals.

And Mark Hawkes is no different.

-Hiya, Mark.

-Hello there, Rani.

Mark, what are you doing today for the fishing cats?

As you can see, I've got one bit of fish here on a bit of string,

and a bucket with a couple more little bits we prepared earlier.

-Shall I hang one up for you?

-Yeah.

So what's the plan, Stan?

Well, basically, it's his feed time.

He used to be in quite a small enclosure,

so he's got a little bit overweight.

So rather than just handing him his food on a plate,

we want to make him work a little.

Well, now we've hung the food up,

shall we get out of here and see what he makes of it?

-That sounds like a plan.

-Come on then, I'll grab your bucket.

Right then, Mark. We're outside,

we've got a good view here of our fish hanging on our poles.

Are we going to let Rondu out?

-Here he comes now.

-Here he comes...

-He's quite a chunky cat, isn't he?

-Yeah, he's quite stocky.

He's got that little swagger to him as well.

He has kind of toned up a bit since he's been down here.

-That's cos he's got a new enclosure, isn't it?

-Exactly.

With a small enclosure he's going to get bored. Now he's got a more

suitable enclosure there's a lot more things we can do for him.

Look at this, he's sniffing the air,

so he can tell that there is some food around.

But not the usual place he'd probably find his food.

Absolutely. Quite often when we come to feed him

he'll be sitting at the gate waiting for us to come in,

so it's quite nice to be able to make him think about it a little bit more.

He can smell where we've been and he can smell our boots,

and obviously the fish as well.

What's the eyesight...? Is he going to see that first or smell it?

Erm... There you go!

Nice and up.

And rips it right off with his teeth. Have they got strong teeth?

Yeah, strong teeth, strong jaws, strong claws.

And he's quite a stocky boy, so he's got the muscle to back it up.

So what about the jumping up for food?

Cos look at that...!

He's really fighting with it. The claws are completely going.

Well, compared to the more arboreal cats like the clouded leopard

he's certainly nowhere near as agile as they are...

-Hey, don't knock him, he's doing quite well!

-He's doing very well.

But they're not specifically designed for living up in the trees.

He certainly seems to be having fun.

He does seem to be really enjoying it, doesn't he?

He's enjoying it, he's got some exercise.

He's had to work for his food,

and at the end of it he's got a tasty snack.

I think he's going to be grumpy when he finds out there's

none left after that tiny bit.

Well, you know what I say to that?

You better get your string out and get some more fish.

I think this cat wants his dinner in a new fashion.

Awww. It's all gone, Rondu!

Have you checked out the new-look Roar game on the CBBC website yet?

This year we've added some new stuff,

including a new enclosure called Ice World,

where you can look after penguins and seals.

Existing gamers will be able to keep their old parks,

but there's some new features to enjoy.

We'll be giving out new cheat codes on every programme.

Today's is on the screen now. Happy gaming.

Somewhere on the motorway in the heart of England,

a very ordinary white van is carrying an extraordinary cargo -

Oumbi the silverback gorilla.

Oumbi is on a four-hour road trip to a wild animal park in Warwickshire,

where he'll be introduced to his new family -

females Assante and Azala, and Azala's six-year-old son, Matadi.

Teresa Martin is head of apes at the park,

and she can't wait for Oumbi to arrive.

We haven't had a silverback at Twycross now for a few years.

Unfortunately the male in this group died.

His name was Tye, and he died of a stroke when he was 19,

so we've been waiting a couple of years now for a new arrival.

Fortunately today he's arriving,

so we're really happy that we're getting a new male.

Back out on the road Oumbi is making good time, but head keeper Phil

wants to make a stop to check up on his precious cargo.

Hello, Oumbi. Hello, mate.

Let's try him with a drink.

Oumbi is looking really good, he's really calm.

He's just had a mouthful of water,

but he's not that impressed with it because it's just boring water.

Looking very relaxed.

Oumbi's getting on well, but it's not every day there's

a huge male gorilla sitting in the middle of a petrol station car park,

and it's causing a bit of a stir for passers-by.

Excuse me. Is that what I think it is?

-It certainly is.

-It is a gorilla?

It's a gorilla. A real-life gorilla.

That really is a gorilla. That's a real gorilla in there.

Smells a bit.

-Do you have to put up with it all the way?

-He's got a heart of gold.

I was actually shocked.

It's something you don't see every day, I must admit.

But he's a wonderful... wonderful boy.

But Oumbi hasn't come all this way to hang around in a petrol station.

He's off to meet those two females.

We'll be back as soon as they arrive.

Now, opening something to get our food is something we are used to

and it doesn't usually cause us problems,

but when you haven't got any hands, or tools...

it becomes a lot more difficult.

I'm here at the ele-paddock with keeper Tom King.

-Tom, you've got a plan, haven't you?

-Yes, we have.

We have got Jums isolated at the moment from the rest of the group.

So we have given him a bit of enrichment, we've put

some barrels out into the enclosure, and now we want to let him through.

OK, brilliant. Let's do it.

So out he comes...

He's seen the tubs, hasn't he? He's seen the barrels.

Now, is he quite intrigued when you place new things in his enclosure?

Normally what happens, and it's a natural instinct -

elephants are quite inquisitive about everything they see.

Look, he's stamped on it,

he's crushed it already!

And some of the food's fallen out.

Yep, that's elephant technology.

"Can I eat it? If I don't like it,

"I'm going to get rid of it."

He made such short work of that!

And he's got his food straight away.

So what have you put inside the barrels?

We've got a mixture of fruit and veg, which is part of his diet anyway,

that we'd feed him in captivity.

So he's getting his normal food but not in the normal way.

What we're trying to do is make his life more interesting.

It's a little bit of enrichment.

And to get into a plastic barrel,

a five-and-a-half-ton elephant like Jums doesn't need tools!

All he needs is one foot, and the barrel just gives way.

And what kind of senses would they use

to know that the food is there in the first place?

-They have eyesight similar to humans, 20/20 vision.

-Really?

So therefore he has probably seen the barrels.

But the best sense of all is the trunk.

A very, very highly sensitive adaption to a nose.

So he's come in, smelt the food immediately - because he's used

his trunk as well to pick up the food.

He's seen it, but more importantly he's smelt it as well.

-So they use their trunks for loads of things. Very important.

-Oh, yeah.

And how come Jums is in there alone at the minute?

It's just one of these things we do.

We isolate Jums from the rest of the group for various reasons.

Sometimes it's quite nice for Jums as a bull elephant just to...

They don't actually need females for company,

because they're outside the social structure.

So he quite often, when he's with the females, is isolated from them.

He can get to them - but he chooses not to be with them.

-It's one of these male things.

-So he needs his own space.

So he's moved on to the second one, and he just crushed it so easily.

I guess it's like us just crushing a can -

cos they're are quite big barrels, aren't they? Quite sturdy.

They're very sturdy.

If we were to try and crush one of those, we would just bounce off it.

And you saw what Jums did, he just trod on the barrel...

Not only did he snap the lid off in one step, he actually crushed it

and dented it.

-Jums weighs around five-and-a-half tons.

-Wow.

So he needs just to put his weight with one leg - that's about a ton.

But he actually pushed down, so that's a massive amount of weight.

Tom, thank you so much for letting us get so close to the mighty Jums.

I tell you what, when you weigh five tons, who needs a tin opener?

After four long hours on the road,

Oumbi has finally arrived at his new home,

where he meets head ape keeper Teresa for the first time.

Hello, Oumbi. It's all right...

But before he can meet his new family,

Oumbi has to complete the final stage of his journey -

and getting 500kgs of guerrilla and crate off the van could be tough.

Teresa, we used a forklift to get it onto the van.

-How are we going to get it off?

-We have strong men here.

-Oh, do you?

-Yes.

Oumbi has the strength of eight men -

but it takes nine people to get him into his enclosure.

Finally, after four hours and 300 kilometres,

Phil's job is nearly done.

-Shall we let him out?

-Yeah. OK.

-Yeah, let's go for it.

-Go on, then.

Oumbi is about to get his first glimpse of his new home.

-Good boy!

-Good lad...

Good lad.

Oh, you are a good boy.

Oumbi seems completely relaxed in his new surroundings,

so Teresa decides to allow his new family into the opposite enclosure.

They can't meet yet, but they CAN see each other through the wire.

This first meeting is crucial.

It'll be a big setback

if Oumbi shows signs of aggression towards the females -

but if the introduction goes well,

it could be the start of something wonderful for Oumbi.

Are you coming to have a look?

Come on.

There, good girl. Have a look. Ooohh.

Good boy.

Getting gorilla families together

is an incredibly difficult and delicate process.

The keepers will have to take it very slowly. But, so far,

Oumbi and his new companions are making all the right moves.

I'm quite pleased with how Oumbi's reacting,

because at least he's not charging about and banging.

He's not showing any aggression.

If the introduction continues this well,

Oumbi may finally be able to start a family of his own soon,

and his babies will safeguard the endangered western lowland gorillas.

A very good first introduction.

I know it's only through the wire, but that is the first step,

and it's a very good first step. Hopefully it's something to work on.

He is here with females

and he's got every opportunity to have young and lead a group.

So there is always that to look forward to -

that one day we will get a phone call to say

that one of the females is pregnant and is going to have a baby.

It might be early days, but things look very promising for Oumbi.

With any luck, it won't be long before Phil gets that call.

It's nearly that time when we sadly have to let you go.

But how could we leave them without paying a visit to keeper Matt

-and these lovable lemurs? I love these guys.

-Hello.

-How you doing?

-Not too bad, thanks.

-What have you got there, Matt?

-I've got some lychees to feed the lemurs.

-What are lychees?

-They are quite odd-looking.

-They are just an exotic fruit, really.

We get a lot of exotic fruits at the zoo to we give them a varied diet,

and these are one of their favourites.

I've had lychees before, and I know you've got to peel them.

Shall I demonstrate? You peel,

and you get this soft flesh. I love these. Look, they are looking.

So I can do that pretty easily. What about these guys?

The way they will eat it... Keep them out the bowl.

All they will do is take it in their mouths...

And he's going to run away. They'll just open it with their teeth.

They won't use their hands. Their hands answers dextrous as ours,

-so they will just put it in their mouth.

-Can they be quite dangerous?

-There's a large pip inside of these.

-Yes.

Usually, they'll just keep turning their head round and round

with the lychee in their mouth, and it'll take all the flesh off the skin

and leave the stone.

Then they'll spit the stone out at the end.

Or they'll eat the stone and that'll come out in their poo.

-Then we'll have a lychee tree!

-Have these got any nutritional benefits?

Yes, they are high and potassium, which is good for them.

They've got vitamin C, and they need that to kind of grow healthily.

They're just part of their natural diet, so anything we can get

which they would near enough get in the wild will be good for them.

So, what do you think, Matt?

Is this quite comfortable, eating its lychees here?

-Is this what they tend to do?

-Yes, you're simulating a tree.

-You're doing really well.

-They're really delicate.

-I've got to admit they are very soft and furry.

-They are indeed.

This is really comfortable, I have to admit.

-They're loving their lychees.

-We have these few that have come up first.

Is there a sort of hierarchy?

There is. These are the females, and females are dominant in the group,

so they will take the pickings over everybody else.

As we're in the one spot, it will only be the females that come up.

If we moved round, we'd get the males.

It seems like all the lady lemurs have been fed,

so I reckon we should feed the lads. While we do,

why don't you check out what's on the next episode of Roar?

Come on, then, fellas.

The hoofstock keepers leap into action

when one of the zebras needs an urgent operation.

Will we survive when a four-metre-long python

comes out for a health check?

He's a big guy. Could he actually, physically, eat one of us?

He could probably give you a go.

And our Roar Ranger has to strap on a gas mask

-to cope in the stinky hog house.

-It absolutely honks in here.

That's all coming up on the next Roar.

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