Episode 33 Roar

Today on Roar, the hoofstock keepers have to leap into action

when one of the zebras needs an urgent operation.

Hello and welcome to Roar. I'm Johny.

And I'm Rani, and these guys behind us, unbelievably,

are the tiger cubs that were born here last year.

They are huge, Rani, and what's even more impressive

is that a fully-grown female can grow up to 200 kilos.

They've not even finished growing.

That is impressive, cos that's about three of me.

And even more impressive is today's show, so let's get on with it.

Coming up, 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.

Our Roar Ranger has to strap on a gas mask

to cope in the stinky hog house.

It absolutely honks in here.

And the colobus monkeys get a big surprise

when Rani tries to give them a shower.

Look at them! They all raced up there!

But first we're heading straight out to the safari area,

known as the African Experience,

because there's a problem that requires urgent attention.

It's the height of the birthing season and the area is full

of cute little babies.

Unfortunately, one of the park's Grevy's zebra stallions

has taken a serious dislike to one of the eland babies

and viciously attacked it. Time to call in the boss.

Head of Hoofstock Bob Saville rules the safari with an iron fist,

and is not going to stand for any bad behaviour.

Ben was doing the check-round.

The group of Grevy's zebras

were being a bit boisterous. They quite often are.

He noticed one of our Grevy's zebras picking up a new-born eland calf

by the neck, throwing it up in the air,

letting it drop, then doing the same again.

All breeds of zebra stallion have a reputation for being aggressive.

It's completely natural behaviour for an animal

that would have to fight to stay alive in the wild.

On the plains of east Africa, where there as a few as 2000 Grevy's left,

the environment is so harsh, that only the strongest will survive.

But here in the park, the Grevy's stallion has gone too far.

With so many rare and endangered breeds here, and with new babies

arriving almost daily, keeper Bob knows

he'll have to act fast to prevent the zebra doing any more damage.

Occasionally, some of the zebra stallions

start attacking the young of other animals.

All they're doing is protecting their own offspring.

If they get rid of the opposition,

their offspring will have more to eat, more chance of surviving.

This Grevy's zebra is coming up to five years old,

so his hormones are starting to flow. Unfortunately, he's turning into

a troublesome lad, so we've got to perform a little operation

on him, to control his hormones.

The most effective way to calm the zebra down is to have him neutered.

It's the same operation that many pets have.

The difference is that this stallion weighs

about 400 kilos more than the average pet.

It's down to park vet Jane Harper

to give the zebra an anaesthetic before performing the operation.

First, we'll dart him. We're going to use a drug

which is quite lethal to humans, so we need to be very careful.

We're going to perform an operation so we can lower his hormone levels,

make him a bit of a better-tempered chap and make him a bit calmer.

For the sedative to be successful, Jane needs to fire a dart

into the big muscle at the top of the zebra's leg,

but Grevy's can run at an incredible 60 kilometres per hour,

so she has to pick her moment carefully.

It's a perfect hit.

But the risks don't stop there.

The operation is taking place in the heart of the safari area,

and where the groggy zebra stops will be crucial to its success.

Hopefully, he won't go in the bog - there's no way we can

do surgery there - but that's the fun of working in the African Experience.

You never quite know what's going to happen.

The dart has fallen out and thankfully,

after a few twists and turns, the zebra falls clear of the swampy bog.

But almost immediately, the other zebra stallions

turn on the sedated animal.

Just as it would in the wild,

the zebra herd here has a dominant male leader

but competition for the top spot is fierce,

and as soon as the two stallion sense that the male is weak,

they seize their chance to move up the pecking order and attack.

Hey!

Bob knows that the sedated zebra doesn't have a hope

of defending himself and tries to move in to break up the fight.

The situation is extremely dangerous for both animals and keepers,

and unless the vet can get to the fallen zebra fast,

the entire operation will be at risk.

We'll be back soon to follow the drama.

The sun is beating down, the temperature's rising fast,

and all across the park, the animals are doing whatever they can

to stay cool.

But, bizarrely, it still seems to be raining in the colobus enclosure.

Ah, I have an umbrella to protect me from the rain

on this lovely sunny day.

All I need now is a rainbow, and there he is.

Holding his rain machine, it's keeper Simon Jeffery.

-Hiya, Simon.

-Hello.

-Simon, it's not raining at all, is it?

-Not at all.

-And that isn't a rain machine, is it?

No, this is just a little sprinkler system.

Now, we're in the colobus enclosure.

They're all up there in the trees, hiding away from us at the moment,

but they're obviously a bit shocked because you have a sprinkler

in their enclosure. What are we doing with this?

This is a bit of fun for them. It does two things.

It's nice for the grass, but it's also fun for them.

It's a really hot day - one of the hottest this year,

so it'd be nice to be able to put this down on the floor,

give them a few peanuts and see if they'll come down

and play amongst the rain.

All right, then. Well, let's get the sprinkler down.

It'll be fun for them.

They're not used to this sort of thing, but they do get very hot.

It's nice for them to be able to get cooled down. We don't know.

-We'll have to see what they do.

-Here they are. Up there.

Look, there's one coming down.

They're probably more attracted to the peanuts.

-Is that fair?

-They might be, but you've got to involve food

sometimes in the new stuff, so that they can at least get a treat

once they've done something really good.

OK. Now, remind us - where are colobus monkeys from?

Colobus come from Africa...

-Which is very hot.

-Yeah, very, very hot and, as you can see,

they do have a nice fur coat on them, so they do get very hot.

We'll see what they react like now in amongst the rain.

OK, cos at this side they're munching on the nuts,

look a bit nervous. The sprinkler's going to go over,

it's going to go over!

SHE GIGGLES

They've all raced up there! Oh, bless!

It is going to be quite a shock to them if they've never had it before.

They've never had it. It's something new, it's always a shock,

-but you watch - they'll be back.

-They are all still watching, and look -

here they go again. But will they be quick enough to move out of the way

-when it comes?

-Or will they notice?

-This is quite exciting, isn't it?

OK, we're at 90 degrees. What's going to happen?

Oh-ho! Got a little jump there.

So, in Africa, what would they do to keep themselves cool?

They're at a higher altitude, so it's a little bit cooler

higher up the trees. They can shade themselves in amongst the trees.

Here they go again!

Oh, look, he's a bit more tentative. Oh, so they know.

They're watching it come across now.

Well, I think it's great, Simon,

and you say it's something new for them. It's also new for us.

It's so fantastic to watch them, and you never know -

they may beat the sprinkler yet and get all those peanuts.

I think I've got a bit of nut in my tooth.

Today's Roar Ranger is 11-year-old Jake from Barnsley.

When I heard I was going to be a Roar Ranger, I was just so excited.

It's the first time I've ever done anything like this.

With a black belt in tae kwon do,

Jake's got some pretty special moves,

but how does he think he'll get on as a Roar Ranger?

I'll be all right doing the food and all that,

but the thing that I would not want to do

is definitely picking up the animals' leavings.

Uh-oh! With hundreds of different animals in the park, our Roar Ranger

could be picking up the "leavings" of any one of them.

So which one will it be?

"Jake, today you're a red river hog keeper.

"Hurry up, because Mum's expecting!"

By seeing that, I think it means that

Mum's expecting a baby or an early lunch - whichever.

The expectant mum is one of the park's red river hogs.

All the way from central Africa, these colourful characters

are far from your average pig, with their hairy red coats,

razor-sharp tusks and enormous whiskers.

-Hi, I'm Jake.

-Hello, Jake, I'm Barry.

-Nice to meet you.

Have you any idea what sort of task you'll be doing with us?

-No.

-No idea? Well, I'm glad to see you've got your wellingtons on,

because you might get a little bit messy. We're going to clean out

-one of the bedrooms.

-I'm always prepared.

-Are you? That's good.

I understand that, er...

you don't like the smells of poo and things,

so I've brought you a mask as, er,

something to keep you nice and dust-free.

And we've also got you some gloves as well, cos I have to say,

it's going to be a bit messy.

So, this is their house. I hope you're prepared for this, Jake.

-Is there poo in it?

-Er...there is.

Just a little bit.

Oh, just a little bit(!)

The red river hog's toilet -

Jake's worst nightmare.

It's messy!

Two days' worth of poo from five pigs.

-It needs cleaning.

-It does, doesn't it?

-Right.

-So, are you prepared?

-Unfortunately, yes.

Time for the shovels.

I can race you if you like.

No, cos you're the expert.

Fortunately, red river hogs only poo in one place,

so at least this is everything.

So, Jake, how's the aroma?

I can give you a few words.

It absolutely honks in here.

Well, the sooner we get it out, the sooner we won't have to smell it.

Look at that. Fabulous.

-I think that's all out.

-Well done.

And why are we putting sawdust down?

-When they have a wee, it will soak it all up.

-Right.

With the sawdust down, the hard part's over.

Join Jake later in the show, when all that work pays off

and he finally gets to meet the hogs in person.

What animal goes to bed with its shoes on?

I don't know.

A horse! THEY CHUCKLE

HE SQUAWKS

What goes "oom-oom"?

I don't know. What goes "oom-oom"?

A cow walking backwards!

HE HISSES

What does a frog say when he's washing the car windows?

"Rub-it, rub-it, rub-it!"

Out on the safari area, one of the park's rare Grevy's zebras has been

sedated to prepare him for an operation that will reduce his

hormone levels and stop him attacking the other animals.

But at the moment, it's him who's under attack.

The other zebra stallions have spotted a chance

to get him while he's down and are trying to take out the competition.

The hoofstock team have stepped in to try and break things up,

but it's getting ugly.

Now the zebras are rounding on the keepers,

so Bob hastily calls for reinforcements.

Rob, cat section, can you come to Coombe, please?

Chris, if you'd come up now, as quick as you can, please.

Right, your job...

After some timely teamwork,

the angry stallions are finally held at bay.

It was interesting when his companion started trying to beat him up.

I wasn't expecting that.

Thanks to the team's speedy reactions,

the sedated zebra has escaped injury,

and now Jane can move in to perform the open-air operation.

Keeper Chris is finding this difficult to watch,

especially with his bird's-eye view.

It's not good watching this. It hurts.

It might hurt Chris to watch but, thanks to the anaesthetic,

the zebra won't be feeling a thing.

The operation took a little time, but went very well.

It's quite hard to do it half-way up a hill but it went very well.

But the day is by no means over.

We've got an incredibly heavy zebra to drag uphill.

To safely monitor the recovering zebra,

he needs to be moved off the safari area for a few weeks,

and that means carrying him to the trailer on a stretcher.

It's going to be a bit of a slope to carry him up,

but I'm sure, with lots of young keepers here, they'll manage.

But with the zebra weighing almost as much as the keepers combined,

shifting him turns out to be easier said than done.

We might have to borrow some film crew, I'm afraid.

All right, one, two, three, go.

Uphill, two, three.

With a little extra man- and woman-power,

the zebra finally makes it safely on board the trailer.

Well, he was heavier than I thought!

Time to make the short trip to his temporary new home,

if the cheeky ostrich will let them.

BRAKES SCREECH, HORN HONKS

The zebra will stay

in his private enclosure until he's fully recovered from the operation,

and Bob and Jane are hopeful that

a friendlier stallion will be returned to the safari.

The zebra's woken up well. I hope the operation will make him calmer,

less aggressive, and get on better with others.

He's up and about so I don't see any problems now.

ZEBRA SNORTS

Hmm! Let's wait and see later on, shall we, Bob?

Earlier in the series, we followed Oumbi, the huge silverback gorilla,

when he left the park and moved to a new home in Warwickshire,

to start his own family in a new collection.

Unfortunately, since then, his brother Oujiji's been living alone,

but now there's a plan to change things around.

I've come to meet up with head keeper Phil

to find out what's going on now. How you doing, Phil?

-All right, yeah.

-How is Oumbi, then?

-He's doing very well.

Settled in very well. He's with two females

and a young male at the moment, and things are looking good.

He did leave behind his brother here, but it's

not much of a sob story, is it, cos they didn't really get on, did they?

They kind of tolerated each other, yeah, towards the end,

now they're adult. They got on really well when they were younger,

but as they grow up into adults...

Is that him saying, "That's my brother you took away from me!"?

That's him showing how big and strong he is.

He does look a little bit sort of lonely in here, though.

Yeah, I mean, he has changed his mood a little bit since Oumbi's gone.

He was with Oumbi for a long time so it's quite understandable, really.

But what we're planning to do with him is to mix

another one of his brothers - a young male called Boo Boo -

and another almost-adult male Jumba.

We're trying to mix those two with him.

They're actually next door to him at the moment.

They've been next door to him for a few years now.

They've seen each other through the mesh and interacted through

the partition mesh and hopefully, opening the door won't be too bad.

You can never tell until you do it what will happen.

They are bachelor gorillas, aren't they? Do you find that...

They'd obviously be the leaders amongst their own family, I suppose,

but when you put silverbacks in together, do you find

-there's a battle for leadership?

-There's certainly potential for it.

They do interact in a nice way through the mesh at times,

and they do sometimes display kind of aggressively and assertively

as well, so, er...

It does look... It looks better than it looks worse.

Phil, good luck moving the boys in with Oujiji. Thanks for joining us.

Time to grab a pen, pencil, crayon or keyboard

and make a note of today's cheat code for the Roar online game.

Ready?

It's rain350.

If you're not a Roar gamer yet, you should definitely give it a go.

It's easy to find on the CBBC website and it's great fun.

Happy gaming!

So far, our Roar Ranger has shovelled,

scrubbed and forked two days' worth of poo that was left behind

by the park's red river hogs.

Whoa! Here they come.

And his reward is finally to meet and talk to

the famous five in person.

Roh! Roh, roh!

And contrary to popular belief, these pigs don't go "oink, oink".

As you can hear, what they're actually doing,

they're making like a snorting noise,

and it's kind of like a "roh, roh" noise. Would you like to try that?

-Yeah.

-Right. So, it's like a "roh, roh". Go on, then.

Roh, roh!

Seems to be a bit of a one-way conversation.

-Roh! That's it.

-Rrr!

-That's more of a growl.

Right, so what we're going to do is take it in turns.

-And throw some food.

-So just take a handful of this

and literally just throw it into the enclosure.

We're just scattering it all around,

so they all get a fair share of something to eat.

Red river hogs are omnivores,

which means they'll trough anything and everything, meat and veg.

They use the disc-like ends of their snouts

to dig over the ground and sniff out their food.

How big are red river hogs when they're first born?

They're teeny. They're probably no bigger than about that size.

They're the cutest things you've ever seen.

As you can see from these shots of last year's litter of piglets,

red river hogs are born with stripes.

This helps to keep them camouflaged and out of sight of predators.

As they grow older, the stripes disappear.

And they become this lovely red, luxurious...

-Red river hog colour.

-Exactly - red river hog colour.

Barry and Jake may be enjoying watching the hogs,

but expectant mum Tafika

isn't going to let anything get in the way of her food,

even if it means an early bath for Jake.

Whoa!

Let's see that again.

-Whoa! Lucky I were wearing me wellies!

-Did you get that?

Now my feet feel all weird!

Thanks to the super strength in their necks, which helps when

digging and scuffing about, Tafika had no problem flipping

that heavy trough full of water.

Time for Jake to beat a hasty retreat.

Well, thanks again, Jake, and hopefully see you again soon.

-OK.

-Come back and join us. All right?

-See you, then.

-Oh, you might want these.

You might want to take these back.

-Thank you very much. You put them to good use. Thank you.

-See ya.

See you. Bye-bye.

So, what does keeper Barry think of our Roar Ranger?

He came with a bit of a reputation,

because I'd heard on the grapevine that he didn't do poo

and doesn't like smells, so I came prepared with a mask and gloves,

but surprisingly, he did really well. He got stuck in.

I'm glad that he gave me a gas mask when I went into t'house,

cos when I took it off, it absolutely honked!

And was his hard work appreciated?

Certainly, in a few years' time, I think we'd welcome him back.

He'd make a good keeper.

Rani, I don't know about you, but I'm a little bit scared.

You know what? I've got to say, this is absolutely unbelievable.

You are really seeing this.

We are carrying a Burmese python with keeper Ben Warren.

Ben has got the head end for our own safety. That's right, isn't it, Ben?

Yeah. He's pretty chilled out, though, at the moment.

-Yeah, he's not going to attack us or anything?

-No.

-You sure about that?

He weighs a ton, Ben. Now, why are we doing this and what are we doing?

And he's coming towards me! Keep his face that way!

-Well, this is a snake MOT.

-OK.

-Right, lovely.

-What's that?

Basically, we just check him over,

see his weight, and we're going to see how long he is as well.

OK, how can we help you, Ben?

Well, basically, we need all his body on this board.

Right, I've got the tiny little tail. That's the lightest bit.

His tongue is now sticking out at me. Is that a friendly thing?

Just reassure me here, please, Ben.

Basically, this is a new environment for him

and there's lots of smells in the air.

They can't smell through their nose, so they use their tongue to do it.

-Right.

-They taste the air, then the tongue goes back in the mouth,

touches some senses, then they work everything out.

OK, one other question, Ben. Has he eaten today?

No, he hasn't eaten for about a week.

Oh, Ben, you could've told us that before we came out here!

He's rolling off the scales, so let's get him back on.

How do you know he's not going to run off, Ben?

-That's why I'm holding him!

-Oh, right!

-OK, let's get him back on.

-49.

-49. That's his weight.

-49 - what's that in...?

-Kilograms.

OK, that's his weight. Has he gained weight?

Do you know what he was last time?

Yeah, he was about 45 last time.

-Right, so he's gained...

-He's gained a little bit.

And have you been feeding him extra?

SHOULD he be gaining weight?

-Is he old?

-He's quite old now,

so his weight will just level out and he'll hold a steady weight.

And is that a healthy weight for a python?

Yeah, it's a very healthy weight. you can see the size of him.

He looks quite good.

So why is it important to weigh these guys, then?

It just gives us a rough reading of how much we're feeding,

-make sure he's OK.

-Yeah, well, this guy's really heavy.

We've weighed him. What's next to do? Please don't say open his mouth!

-No, cos I'm going nowhere near that.

-You have to kiss him!

What's next?

Basically, our next job is to measure him.

Why don't you guys join us later on in the show

to see if Rani's still here, and to see how long this fella is?

He could never eat me.

Two weeks have passed since the aggressive Grevy's zebra

was operated on and put in a separate paddock to recover.

He's now been put back out in the safari area with his buddies

and the safari's babies under the watchful eye of Bob Saville.

We've been keeping tabs on him.

As you can see, he's up there. He's quite happy.

He looks calmer, but has the operation

turned this naughty zebra into Mr Nice Guy?

The good news is, so far, he's come across the baby eland,

the baby wildebeest and all the other babies which are out here,

and so far he's been fine.

Hopefully he'll just sit out here and become quite docile and friendly and,

you know, that's the end of that.

With its new and improved polite zebra, the safari's a safer place

for all the new babies.

Let's just hope it stays that way.

OK, welcome back. We are still with the Burmese python.

Now, we've already weighed him but it's now time to do

something very, very scary. We're going to measure his length.

We're still with keeper Ben, and Ben is working his guns,

he is, cos he's pretty heavy,

so we'd better relieve you, Ben, and help you out, so how can we do this?

Basically, I need him in a long line.

-How do we do that?!

-I'll go with the head end one way, and you go

-with the tail end the other.

-It's like a piece of string.

You're taking the head because, for our safety, we do have to keep away

-from the head, don't we?

-Yeah. Obviously, that's the end that bites.

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

He could probably give YOU a go.

-Johny's a bit big.

-I'm all right!

I'm going to take the tail end. Johny, you're up this end!

THEY CHUCKLE

We'll lay him out. Rani, do you want to do the measuring?

There's bits of skin hanging off.

Yeah, he's just about to shed.

-Imminently?

-Yeah, you can see it's just starting to peel now.

-How often does he shed?

-Depends on how much they eat.

The more they eat, the more they grow, the more they have to shed.

RANI SHRIEKS

-Sorry. It was only his tail moving.

-Are you OK?

-It was just his tail.

The head's that side.

Just lengthen that.

Thank you, cos it's not quite straight, so hopefully...

Sorry, I'm stepping all over a Burmese python.

It's the craziest thing we've ever done.

Now, he is actually edging towards our cameraman, Ben. Is he safe?

Yeah, I've got hold of him at the moment. That's a rough guide.

What, 410 centimetres?

-Centimetres, yeah.

-410 centimetres.

It's absolutely unbelievable, and you said he's gained how much?

Nearly five kilos.

Five kilos. Is there anything else we need to do for the MOT?

No, we're pretty much there. That's it, we're done.

Are you happy with that?

I am quite happy. I feel actually like I'm shaking a little bit.

Ben, you say that we're done,

but now we've got to try and get him back in there.

-Carry him back.

-Er, Chris!

-Hi.

Chris is here to help Ben because we kind of need some man muscle now,

to get him back into his enclosure.

Ben, it's been a most amazing experience.

One thing with these Burmese pythons -

are they great to keep as pets?

They're so little(!) You know, I was thinking I could get one as a pet.

-No, Ben?

-I don't advise it.

While Rani tries to sort me out,

why don't you catch what's coming up on the next episode of Roar?

People say cats don't like water.

Well, nobody told the tiger cubs.

The head of primates gets a grilling about baboons in Ask The Keeper,

but is he scared?

We're feeling confident, Simon, but are you?

Bring it on!

As a heatwave hits the parks,

Johny finds out what it takes to stay cool.

I think it's working!

That's all coming up on the next Roar.

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