Episode 6 Roar

Today on Roar. The baby De Brazza monkey loves to play with people.

So how will she cope with her first big challenge...?

To spend the night home alone.

What?

Oh, hello and welcome to today's Roar. I'm Johny.

(Rani, Rani.)

-Uh? Oh, and I'm Rani.

And we're not the only two that like a snooze in the park.

These two rhinos can sleep up to eight hours a day.

But, unlike us, they do it in short bursts.

In the wild, in Africa, they like to sleep on really hot days

because it keeps them cool.

When they're not sleeping, they're doing the next best thing, eating.

Sounds like a good life!

True. Now we're up, we'd better get on with the show.

Coming up today...

There's a new baby elephant in the park.

And we'll be meeting her for the very first time.

True or false?

Does eating your greens really put hair on your chest?

And we put a keeper on the spot to find out about the tiger cubs.

Until our killer question backfires and the tables are turned.

-You've done your research?

-We've done our research.

-OK, did you measure the tail as well?

-No, we didn't...

Hang on... Yes, we measured the tail!

HE LAUGHS

Now, when it comes to a healthy snack, cherries are top of my list.

These guys love them too. It's the black and white ruffed lemur.

I'm here with primate keeper, Jo Marden.

And we're about to become very popular indeed.

In fact, I think I'm already quite popular here, Jo!

Very popular. Yeah, they quite like the cherries.

Why do they love cherries so much?

In the wild, they'll eat fruit, leaves and seeds.

Obviously, fruit's kind of their favourite thing,

they don't get them often so it's a bit of a treat.

Do they get cherries in the wild?

No, they won't get cherries in the wild. I don't think so anyway.

But, here we like to give them a treat now and then.

They love it. Oh, my gosh!

Have they got quite a sweet tooth, then?

Yep, fruit's their favourite. They get fed twice a day here.

Fruit in the morning, fruit in the evening.

-The juicier the better, really.

-OK.

What do they do with the stones? They can be quite fiddly, cherries.

Yep...! And they're stealing...

These guys are going absolutely mad for these cherries. Look at this!

What they'll do, they'll put the cherries in their mouth,

tip their heads back, sometimes they might swallow the stone,

but usually they'll...

OK, so let's see if he spits it out.

He's chewing it.

Is he...? Where's the stone?

Has he swallowed it?

He's got the stalk there, where's the stone?

Oh, I think it's gone.

Sometimes they will swallow the stone, depends what they feel like.

Is it bad for them?

Growing up, I used to hear all these horror stories

that a cherry tree would grow inside you if you swallowed the stone!

No, I think it'll pass right through.

Do you often find cherry stones in their poo, then?

Yeah, I don't really look that closely, but...!

-I don't blame you!

-I'll check the next time I pick their poo up.

I've noticed they're obviously friendly, these lemurs.

Why are they so friendly, whereas a lot of other primates aren't?

These guys are in a walk-through enclosure,

so visitors get to walk around and look at them in here.

They're very used to people, very inquisitive.

They're into knowing what people are doing, what's going on.

They certainly loved these, they made short work of the cherries.

I've got one left, there you go.

Seeing these guys eat right in front of my eyes

-has been the cherry on top, thank you so much, Jo.

-OK.

Up at the primate section,

there's a baby De Brazza monkey who's being hand-reared

because her mum rejected her.

Mel is one of the keepers who's been looking after her at night.

Coming out to play?

She's 66 days old today. She's started eating solid food now.

She's not being fed milk at night. Her last feed is six o'clock at night

and her first one is six o'clock in the morning.

When she was staying at Simon Jeffery's house,

the baby had his dogs to play with.

Here at Mel's, she'll have to make do with the film crew.

She's very cheeky, she's just full of energy, you can never tire her out.

She's constantly on the go.

She's like this until she goes to bed at nine o'clock at night.

She's still very young, she still needs to have her milk.

We're carrying on with that until she's old enough

to just eat solid foods and stay over night then.

Until then, we take her home at night, feed her,

keep her entertained and occupied.

I love this. This is a very nice side of the job.

To be able to have her, be there when she was born and see her grow up.

And eventually be back in with her family,

that is just such a reward for us to see and do.

We'll miss her, it's so nice to be able to bottle feed her like this

and play with her. But it's better for her to be with her family,

that's what we want at the end of the day.

The coming weeks is when we find out whether all of our hard work

will have paid off, whether she'll finally go back in with her family.

We're hoping, but it's never guaranteed, we don't know.

We can't predict what will happen, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

The next few weeks will tell how it goes for the future with her.

But first, she needs to prove she can look after herself.

And very soon, we're going to find out if she can go...home alone.

We're outside the Siberian tiger enclosure

and we're ready to get our claws into another Ask The Keeper.

This lot have got some ferocious questions for this lovely man.

It's Head Keeper, Jim Vassie.

Jim, are you FELINE up to the challenge?

Oh, no, please!

Probably these guys have better puns that, we've got loads of questions.

Who's going to go first?

Are they endangered?

Very much so. All tiger species are endangered.

It just depends on... Some are more endangered than others.

The Sumatran and Siberians, they're probably the most endangered

of all the species of tiger.

It just depends where more people live.

Where humans live in great numbers, there's fewer tigers.

But, yeah, they are all endangered.

What age do they live up to?

In wild animal parks, like here, the average lifespan is about 20 years.

In the wild, it could be a lot less, maybe eight to ten if they're lucky.

How do you know if they have any injuries?

We do look at them every day to make sure they don't have any injuries.

We can call them up to the fence, sometimes, and they'll come over.

Does that mean you can speak tiger?!

RANI LAUGHS

Who asked you to ask that question?

-Rani!

-You said you call them over!

Or do they just answer to their name?

-They do actually answer to their names.

-Do they?

-Yeah.

Obviously, when they're cubs, they're not that bothered about their names.

But, over the years, they get used to being called their name

and they will come over.

But, you know, I think Rani should talk tiger, not me.

I'm quite good at it, be interesting to see how Rani...

-I can't do it.

-Come on.

It's called "chuffing", is that right? Pfffft!

Don't dribble!

Pffffft! Jim, show us how it's done properly.

The tigers talk...

HE MAKES CHUFFING SOUND

Can we do that? Have a go.

THEY MAKE CHUFFING SOUND

Jim, you really seem to know your stuff,

but can you answer our killer question?

All right, then.

OK, Jim, we have a question for you.

-Right.

-We thought about this one earlier

and we have done our research, but do you know your stuff?

-You mentioned Siberian tigers were endangered.

-Yeah.

If we were to take all the tigers that are left out in the wild

and place them head to tail, how far would the distance stretch?

Is this for every species of tiger?

-The Siberian tiger.

-Just Siberian?

-Just Siberian.

-So you've done your research.

-We've done our research.

OK, so what's the average length of a Siberian tiger?

Are we looking at male or female? Cos there's a difference.

-Male.

-Oh, you don't know, do you?!

I do, I do! How big is a male tiger?

When he stands on his back legs, a male can be 11 foot tall.

Are we including the tail, or just the body?

I want to know if you've done your research properly.

Did you measure the tail as well?

No, we didn't measure the tail.

Hang on... Did we measure the tail? Yes, we measured the tail!

We've measured the nose to the end of the tail.

Now, I've got a question for you, but I will try and answer your question.

How many Siberian tigers are left in the wild?

Because no-one really knows.

What we found through our research was 415.

And now you're doing the maths in your head!

The truth is, you don't know the answer.

Jim, your final answer please.

I'd hazard a guess at 800 metres.

800 metres. Well, I've got to say, if you put all the tigers together,

from the tip of their nose to the tip of their tail,

you would cover a distance of 1.6 km, that's like 15 footy pitches.

You're not far off, but, Jim, you're not right.

Guys, what do we think? Thumbs up or thumbs down for Jim Vassie?

-I think that's a bit unfair. You know what, Jim?

-I hate you!

I'll give you one thumbs up. Thank you very much.

Make sure you join us next time on Roar for more Ask The Keeper.

-What do you call a man with a seagull on his head?

-I don't know.

Cliff!

-What's yellow on the outside and grey on the inside?

-I don't know.

An elephant disguised as a banana.

THEY LAUGH

Boo!

-What's a lion's favourite TV programme?

-I don't know.

Roar!

THEY LAUGH

The baby De Brazza monkey is about to face

the first big challenge of her life.

Since she was born, she's been going home with the keepers every night.

But now Head of Primates, Simon, reckons that needs to change.

She's doing really, really well.

Doing so well that we're now ready to take it to the next level with her.

This will be her first night in the zoo on her own.

She's not going to go home with any keepers,

she's going to stay inside this room.

The decision was taken to leave her alone, cos we think she's old enough.

She's at an age now where, hopefully, we can leave her.

We've seen what she's like at home, so energetic and all over the place.

She needs more space.

Usually we keep her in a box at home.

We do let her run round the house, but that becomes problematic

when she's trying to eat everything. And you can't stop her from climbing.

So now it's time for her to be a monkey.

Some of the keepers will come down tonight

to give her a last feed and watch her for a few minutes.

And then, she'll be left. We'll check her first thing in the morning.

As soon as we come in at eight o'clock, we'll check her over.

In order to find out if she really can cope on her own,

Simon's set up a spy camera pointing at the middle of her room.

If she's OK, she'll just sleep in a box round the corner.

If she's frightened and upset, she'll be running around all night.

At the end of the day, Mel comes down to give her a final feed.

This is monkey's last feed tonight before her first night staying here.

So this is a really important feed. Tonight is the big night,

the first night where she becomes a proper monkey

and doesn't come home with us, so fingers crossed.

It's a bit of a tense time, but hopefully she'll be all right

and it'll all go OK.

I'll be glad to come in the morning and make sure she's all right.

We'll all be desperate to be here first thing in the morning,

just to make sure she's OK.

It's time for you to go to bed. And for me to say goodbye.

Will you be a brave girl tonight?

Go on then, in you go.

I'll come and see you in the morning. Good girl. Bye.

On her way out, Mel starts the CCTV recorder going,

so that they'll be able to see if baby sleeps on her own,

or if she spends the night running around in distress.

We'll find out later on.

Did you know, fresh herbs are a great way to prevent,

or even cure, common illnesses?

Well, it's not only us humans that can benefit

from these perfume pickings.

-I'm with Head Gorilla Keeper, Lorna Wanless.

-Hi, Rani.

Herbs for herbivores. What have we got here?

-We've got some herbs for the gorillas.

-What have we got?

-I've never seen this one.

-This is lovage, it really smells strong.

-And...

-Nice, a bit celery-like.

Yeah. And we've got chives, spearmint, and at the end, coriander.

-So, we're going to scatter these out for the gorillas?

-Yes.

-There's a lot to do, so should we crack on?

-Yeah, sure.

And you can talk us through exactly what they do.

What are you going to start with?

-We start with the lovage.

-I'll go with the spearmint.

-Should I just chuck it anywhere?

-Yeah, just scatter it around.

It smells so good. Now, I've never heard of lovage,

what exactly does it do for the gorillas?

It's very good for allergies.

You say allergies, do gorillas get allergies?

-I've got hayfever.

-Yes. They sneeze and snuffle, things like that.

-Do they?

-Yeah, they do.

Wow, when I was putting on my salad,

I didn't realise it had so many benefits.

I've got this, which I love the smell of, it's coriander.

One of my mum's favourite herbs, have a little smell.

-What's this good for?

-Really good for the immune system.

-Is it?

-Really, really good.

That's a very good herb to use.

-That's probably why I never get a cold then.

-Lots of coriander!

We've got loads of green all over the hay now

and I've got one bunch to go.

Lorna, what do you think?

-Throw this down and we'll see what the gorillas think?

-Good idea.

Let's see what they think, then.

Herbs are down and here they come.

So in the wild, do they go foraging for herbs if they're unwell?

They do. There have been studies about all animals self-medicating.

Going and seeking out plants that would help them with their ailments.

That's unbelievable. I've got to look over here,

can you see next to the slide?

-That's Kifta.

-She's got a whole bunch in her hand.

She's got a whole bunch of lovage, does she really like the flavour?

Or do you think there's a possibility that she's unwell?

Well, they do taste nice anyway,

so they'll eat them because they taste nice.

-But...

-Look at her!

Yeah, Kifta in particular. When she was younger, she was quite poorly.

-Right.

-And all we could get her to eat was coriander and kiwi.

-Really?

-Yeah, coriander is good for the immune system, so...

And kiwi, they say, is high in Vitamin C,

which is great if you've got a cold.

It's hard to tell whether she was sourcing that because she was unwell,

or whether she just liked the taste of it.

But there's definitely a place for herbs and things in their...

It's great they're all going for it.

You've got some little ones in here as well, have they tried the herbs?

Yes. They get herbs on a regular basis.

And the little ones, they copy their mums

and their brothers and sisters, so it's a learnt behaviour.

Oh, look at that!

-It's cos the smell.

-So he's actually smelling Kifta's mouth?

That is so lovely.

Maybe it was the spearmint, cos that gives you good breath.

Possibly.

What's he doing? He's stripping the leaves off and leaving the stalks.

Yeah, some gorillas... They've all got their preferences.

Some prefer the leaves rather than the stalk,

so they get all the leaf off with their teeth and leave the stalk.

Do gorillas have quite sensitive palates?

They do, but they do like a lot of food, they're quite greedy.

-So they'd really just chow down on anything?

-They would, yeah.

I've got to say, it's a tasty way to keep in tip-top condition.

Definitely herb-ilicious. Thanks very much, Lorna.

Calling all raw gamers. Pay attention now,

because here comes today's cheat code.

And have you checked out Ice World yet?

It's a brand new area we've added,

so you can keep penguins and seals in your very own animal park.

So why not get down to the website soon?

Turn up, tune in and get roaring!

Baby Tales is a new feature on Roar,

where we catch up with some of the park's newest arrivals.

And today, we're starting off with Etana.

Keeper Sam has been helping look after her since she was born.

Etana's nearly five months now. She's getting quite boisterous.

She's changed a lot from when we had her in to start with.

She was quite timid, didn't really react with other elephants at all.

Now she's found her place in the herd.

You can see her sparring with the other youngsters.

Her best mate is definitely Uzuri.

Uzuri's a year older than her and they're best buds.

You will find that Uzuri's with her all the time.

They spar together, they eat and drink together.

They run around together.

Etana's learning about how to use her trunk.

When they're first born, they have no directional use over their trunk.

So they'd have no way of picking stuff up.

She can't pick food up or pick grass or branches.

She's not eating solids yet, she's still on Mum's milk.

But you can see her, she tries tasting hay, tries tasting carrots,

bits and bobs, but she spits them out cos she can't chew them yet.

She does sleep a lot.

You'll see her out in the paddock, she'll be collapsed on her side.

The other ellies tend to cover her up with hay

and she'll stay there for ages and ages.

Etana may just sleep a lot because she's so active

during the day with the other calves.

She might just be one of those that likes lying down and being lazy!

She's obviously learning how to be around other ellies.

It's a lot different from horses or cats and dogs.

She has to learn her place and who's boss.

There's not a lot that Etana hasn't picked up from the other ellies yet.

She's doing really well and behaves exactly like an elephant should.

Look out for the further adventures of Etana later in the series.

We all know that fruit grows on trees and bushes.

So when keeper Ben Cosgrove came up with the idea of hanging fruit

from trees in the tapir enclosure, I thought, "What's the point."

But I've had a look around and I can't see any fruit anywhere.

So he might be onto something.

-Ben, how are you doing?

-Hello.

-What's the big idea?

-We've noticed that Daeng here

has been climbing up in the trees a bit, putting his front legs on,

trying to get the bananas out the trees.

So we thought, why not hang some fruit?

I'd love to see this big fella on his legs. OK, what shall we do?

-Shall I hang one up as well?

-Yeah, if you can.

If you can do your one a little higher than this one.

This is just to keep him occupied while you're doing your bit.

Are they quite greedy animals, tapirs?

He's been very interested in this food from the start.

Yeah, they're not so much greedy,

-but very passionate about their food, shall we say?!

-Right!

They do like their food, they don't usually skip a meal.

-Is there any chance that I could try and feed him?

-Yeah, of course.

If you keep your fingers out the way, hold it like that.

-Then, when he opens his mouth, almost roll it in.

-OK.

You can probably see that he's got quite big teeth.

-That's the one.

-Wow, he has got big teeth.

Look at his teeth, look at those teeth, they are very sharp.

Wow...!

Ben, they must have really strong legs

to be able to get up on their hind legs, with all that weight.

Yeah, very strong. They probably weigh more than you'd imagine.

They're quite solid animals. In the wild, any small trees

that they decide they want to eat the leaves off, they'd climb and flatten,

almost like an elephant would but on a smaller scale.

Come on then, Daeng, come and get your fruit.

Do you think he's had his fill?

Erm, possibly. Maybe he just thinks it's too much hard work.

-Right, OK. Maybe we should lower it down a little bit.

-Give it a try.

It's amazing how they use their noses like an extra hand.

What else do they use it for?

There are many reasons for having that nose. The hand is the main one.

When they're in the water, they quite often use their nose as a snorkel.

Ben, I'm stroking him, I've noticed there's this odd sort of oil.

Yeah, you seem to get this greasy layer after you start stroking him.

It helps protect him against the water.

When they spend so long in the water,

it lets the water run off naturally rather than seeping in to their skin.

We've not got him on his hind legs yet.

He's not willing to work for his food.

I think he's enjoying chilling out, eating like this, isn't he?

-Thanks for letting us get so close to him, Ben.

-You're welcome.

Up in the primate section,

it's the morning after the De Brazza baby's first night all alone.

Simon's rushed straight in to see if she's all right.

She's fine, she's a bit quiet in the morning, of course.

It's always a bit of a shock, the first night.

But, yeah, she seems fine. She's quite happy and healthy still.

So we've made the next step.

So it's time to find out exactly what she was getting up to.

The camera was set to get a view of the middle of the room.

If the baby was happy,

she'd have slept in her box, which is out of shot.

If she was frightened and distressed,

we'll be able to see her running around all through the night.

I think she's cuddled up to her teddy, I can't see any movement.

And then, later in the recording...

It's a shame there's nothing happening

but I think it's very good that she seems content to be in her box.

After spinning through hours of the recording,

it's clear that the baby spent the whole night fast asleep.

When we leave her tonight, hopefully it'll be fine,

I'm not worried about her.

She knows where the box is, she knows where her food is,

so hopefully we'll be in a position where we don't need to worry,

just come and check her each morning. We feed her last thing at night

and hopefully she'll be a proper monkey within the next few weeks.

The next big step will be when baby

has to meet her own family face to face.

We'll find out how it goes later in the series.

It is almost the end of the show. But before we leave you today,

we've been invited up to the African Experience by keeper Simon,

-to feed one weighty water buffalo. Hi, Simon.

-How you doing?

All right, Si. Who is this impressive beast?

This is Blue, our water buffalo.

I've got to say, water buffaloes, I thought they were normally in herds.

But this fella, he seems to be out here all on his own.

He is. Sadly, he didn't get on with his brother very well.

So we've had to separate them, but he seems to be all right on his own.

Has he got any other friends out here, some of the giraffes, maybe?

He seems to mingle with anyone that'll have him, really.

-Aw!

-Does that mean he's quite placid?

I thought water buffaloes were fierce.

They are notoriously dangerous,

but he, for some reason, is really not bothered.

He's quite relaxed.

You say placid, but what would happen if a big rhino came along

and they had a fight? Who would win?

Not that I condone violence or anything.

Well, personally, being a hoofstock keeper, I'd say he would win.

He's got two big horns and he's pretty solid, you know.

I wouldn't mess with him.

Blue wouldn't mess with the rhinos,

he seems far too chilled out.

Simon, thank you for letting us come here today.

I think we should give Blue more of a treat cos he's on his own.

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

There's going to be poo flying everywhere.

There's poo on the camera!

There is poo on the camera.

What chance do little doggie chews have

against some of the strongest jaws in the world?

And some ferocious tigers face the acid test.

Will the scent of citrus fruit drive them wild?

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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