Episode 10 Roar

SCREAM!

On today's show, our Roar Ranger comes face-to-face with some of

the creepiest creatures in the park.

The animals I hate the most are insects because they creep me out.

Spiders are just scary. They have hair and they have massive fangs.

I just really hate them all.

I'm not going to like this but I'll do it.

Do not adjust your set. This is Roar and I'm Rani.

And I'm Johny and today we're in the beautiful seaside town of Whitstable

-for something a little different.

-We certainly are.

Every year, the park spends thousands of pounds

just on keeping the animals entertained.

And I'm not talking a 50 inch plasma screen which is HD ready.

You're certainly not because on today's show,

we'll meet a man with a plan

to give our tigers some nautical toys and it won't cost us a penny.

-Oh, buoy! Yeah?

-Ohh.

You're not going to want to miss this but before then,

we've got loads to get on with so let's get on with the show.

Can we go paddling?

Coming up in today's show...

Kingo has survived a major operation on his feet.

But he weighs over a tonne and they're still really sore.

But will he take the painkillers hidden in his food?

Kingo, come on.

We bring you a Roar exclusive.

The first time we've ever seen Orpheus and Hercules,

the very clever banded leaf monkeys.

-He answers to his name, apparently.

-Hercules!

And 40 mucky elephants share a giant bath so it gets really dirty.

But will the keepers find any treasure at the bottom?

But first, our Roar Ranger, who today is 11-year-old Sam from Kent.

When I heard I was a Roar Ranger, I was so excited,

cos I never thought I'd be one.

With no pets of his own,

what will be the best thing about being a Roar Ranger?

The thing I wanted to do being a Roar Ranger was meeting exotic animals

and maybe animals on the verge of extinction,

and finding a way to help them.

Well, there are plenty of exotic animals

and Sam's already made a very good job of looking after the rhinos.

And he's also helped out with the gorillas.

But if you want to be a real zoo keeper,

you have to deal with every kind of creature.

Even if you are a little afraid.

My worst fear - insects and snakes.

That's the one thing I don't want to do.

But our Roar Ranger has already shown he'll have a go at anything,

and Sam's eager to find out what he's doing today.

"Sam, today you are a bug keeper...

"Time to conquer your fears!"

The animal that I hate the most are insects because

they just creep me out.

Spiders are just scary. They have hair and they have massive fangs.

I just really hate them all.

I'm not going to like this but I'll do it.

He won't have to do it alone, of course.

Sam will be helped to face his fears by expert keeper, Rob Gordon.

Sam will come face-to-face with three things

that lots of people find scary.

A massive cockroach,

a spider and a snake.

Let's face it. It would be pretty tough for anyone.

So will Sam actually be able to handle them?

First up is the giant hissing cockroach.

Originally from the island of Madagascar, off the coast of Africa,

hissing cockroaches are the largest on the planet.

They grow up to ten centimetres long,

and they can climb over almost anything, including Sam.

We'll take the lid off and you can look.

I'm even more scared now!

OK. COCKROACH HISSES

They're not called hissing cockroaches for nothing.

That's their little strategy to avoid being eaten.

They can blow air out through the gaps in these shells here,

and if an animal wants to eat them - and there are quite a lot -

then they might hear that hissing and it will make them think twice

and give the cockroach a chance to run away.

The idea obviously works well,

because there were insects like this running around

long before the age of the dinosaurs millions of years ago.

Do you want to have a go at touching it?

Just feel it along the back. It's very smooth and hard.

There's no slime. It's not wet.

There you go. Well done. Is that all right?

It was less scary than I imagined it would be.

Just touching it is brave, but will Sam go further?

You'll feel the feet and little hooks.

You might feel the sticky pads.

It'll just tickle a little bit.

There you go.

This is amazing.

That's it. It's settled.

Sam isn't even shaking and he keeps his hand steady

even when the cockroach decides to go for a walk.

-Are you all right with that?

-Um...kind of tickly.

Want me to take it?

-Yes, please.

-Yeah? There you go.

You'll probably feel it grip a little bit.

That looks like one enormous sigh of relief.

When he knocked one off my hand, it really tingled and...

..just gave me a chill.

So Sam held his nerve through his first scary challenge

and he can tick off the cockroach, but this is far from over.

How will he get on with his second challenge, the tarantula,

let alone the third, the snake?

We're still here in beautiful Whitstable, but I've got to say,

-I haven't seen that tiger pet shop anywhere yet.

-You know what, Johnny?

When we said we'd get toys for the tigers, didn't mean from a pet shop.

-That's why we've come down to meet the harbour master. Hi, Mike.

-Hi.

-Nice to see you today.

-Welcome to Whitstable.

-Thank you very much.

-Have you got tiger toys, then?

-We thought we had an idea.

We had a spare navigational buoy. We thought maybe you could use it.

Perhaps if you give me a hand, we could get it up from the boat.

-I knew there'd be something we had to do.

-That looks pretty heavy.

-Give us a hand.

-All right, OK. It's very big, very bright, very orange.

Don't you normally need these for safety out here in the harbour?

Yes, but this one's just being replaced. It's an old one.

-Oooh! Here we go. Look what we caught!

-Wow!

That is some thick plastic.

Will tigers be able to get their teeth into that?

-They can have a go. If they enjoy it, we'll be happy.

-Thank you very much.

How are we going to get it back to the park? Mike, give us a lift?

-MIKE LAUGHS

-We'll have to haul this ourselves.

-It's a long road back. Come on.

-Make sure you join us later on.

We'll give this buoy to the tigers.

What do you get if you cross a toad with a spaceship?

Star Warts. Ribbit! Ribbit!

SHE YELPS

-What goes black-white-green, black-white-green?

-I don't know.

A penguin rolling down a hill. THEY LAUGH

-What's black and white and goes, "Ha-ha!"

-I don't know.

The penguin that pushed it.

Stop it, you're killing me!

Back in the Discovery Zone, our Roar Ranger Sam,

who managed to handle an enormous hissing cockroach earlier on,

is now facing an even tougher test.

A giant tarantula.

Also known as the Chilean rose spider, from Chile in South America.

Just one female can produce up to 500 babies at a time.

So you wouldn't want one of these

to get loose in your bedroom, would you?

With a leg-span of up to 14cm and venomous fangs,

they may look menacing but they're not really.

Although they can bite.

You can tell if a spider's happy because they do this,

which is not a lot really. They sit still.

If a spider is unhappy, the first thing it will do is run away.

She's absolutely fine.

Where is the venom kept?

The venom is... It'll be in the top of the head, here.

These little bits in the front are where the fangs are.

They only have a very small amount.

It's only really for digesting insects,

so it can't really do anything to us.

Do you want to support a couple of legs?

-Erm...OK.

-There you go.

That's it.

We can let it walk across on to your hand, if you like.

I'm really scared but I'll do it.

It's good to give it a go.

Right, she's going to walk on.

At any point you don't like it, you can let me know

and I can take her off. There you go.

She's happy now, she's settled, she's very relaxed.

It's really hairy.

As they don't have great eyesight, the fuzzy hairs all over its body

are what the spider uses to feel its way around.

I was really scared of them, but now I've found out there's nothing

they can really do, and they don't bite

unless they're going to eat something.

Do you want to have another go? Yeah?

There she goes.

That's incredible.

Our daring Roar Ranger has managed to hold a big hairy tarantula.

Not just once, but twice.

So, Sam's got to grips with two scary creatures so far.

But that still leaves the sinister, slithering snake.

Can he handle that challenge, too?

One more push, Johny.

Yes, we have rolled this buoy all the way from Whitstable harbour,

and now we're in the tiger enclosure to meet the big man himself,

or should I say "big boy" himself, Jim Vassey? All right, Jim?

-All right?

-Yeah, great, thank you.

We've got a little treat for you.

Jim, do you think the tigers will have seen anything like this before?

-We've had something similar.

-OK.

But this is quite a big buoy, which is great cos they'll enjoy it.

-They'll love it.

-Of course, we've also got the cubs in here.

-They have never seen this before.

-No.

-A-ha!

-That's interesting, OK.

Now, I know out in the wild, some insects are brightly coloured

to warn off predators. Do you think this will warn off the tigers?

-They might be scared.

-They seem to be afraid of it at first.

-They're very wary of this cos they're babies.

-Right.

But once they get used to it, they will shred it.

Oh...! Jim, I was saying this earlier,

it's solid, man, it's really hard.

This is really thick material.

-What do you think they'll shred it with?

-Their claws and teeth.

All right, then, Johny, or Jim...

-You probably can't lift this, actually.

-No.

-Would you like us to put that in there?

-If you would, please.

-Shall we try to get it in the middle?

-Just don't fall in!

I know. It's quite deep. Can the tigers swim?

THEY LAUGH

Jim nearly pushed me in, not funny!

I can swim but I'm not sure how clean that water is.

Shall we get out of here and let the tigers in?

-Yeah, let's go for it.

-Ready, guys?

One, two, three...

Wow, Rani, if I'm ever stranded in an enclosure,

I'm going to call on you cos that trick was amazing.

Thank you, but not as impressive as what we're going to see right now.

Jim, the buoy is in place.

We want some maritime mayhem.

OK, here they go, spotted it.

Who have we got here, Jim?

This is the female, Sayan.

-Sayan.

-It's a little cub, then.

-Quite confident, coming over.

-Have you noticed, she is afraid of it?

-Her ears are bent back.

-Is that what it means?

It's a sign that she's not sure what it is.

Once they get used to it, they'll all be on it.

She's going for it, she's snarling at it.

-Is that to say, "I'm boss"?

-Yeah. There she goes, look.

There she goes, she's got her paws.

But will she be confident enough to go into the water

-if it moves away?

-Yeah, she might well chase it.

In her head, what do you think she's thinking?

Does she think this might be some kind of prey?

Or does she know it's just something she might be able to play with?

Yeah, she knows it's not prey.

Because it's moving, she's a bit wary of it.

Well, Jim, we've had a little bit of action.

But do you think if we leave the buoy in there and we skedaddle,

and leave our cameraman here, we might get a bit more footage?

-For sure, you'll get a lot of footage.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-Is that all right with you, the cameraman?

Brilliant. Well, let's get out of here then.

-Oh.

-Just go.

-Wicked, Johny(!)

Just go! THEY LAUGH

And sure enough, as soon as we disappeared,

the cubs did overcome their fear.

Well, they almost overcame their fear.

There are about 1,200 animals in the parks altogether,

and they come in every shape and size.

But they all have one thing in common.

They all produce poo.

The keepers spend a lot of time shovelling it up.

They've all agreed that the animals with the smelliest poo

have to be the ocelots.

So you might think that no-one would like clearing up their house.

The ocelots are pretty smelly

but I'm sure there's worse jobs in the park.

And there are.

There's one job that NOBODY wants to do.

It's a job that even the toughest of keepers fear.

I wouldn't want to be cleaning out the elephant pool today.

And neither does head of ellies, Dave Magner.

I haven't been looking forward to doing it.

We arranged this two weeks ago.

Of course, as the day's got nearer and nearer,

everybody's been thinking to themselves, "Oh, no!"

We're here now and we'll just do it.

Since he's head of ellies, Dave's called in his deputy, Liz Morris,

and the rest of the team to help him.

So, they're more like poo keepers than zoo keepers today!

I don't look forward to this job, really.

It's only done sort of once a year or every couple of years,

but, yeah, it's not the nicest of jobs.

But the ellie keepers don't leave it so long because they're lazy.

A water hole in the wild would be much dirtier than this.

In fact, the pool here has a pump to help clear the worst

of the slime that gathers, and it's constantly topped up

with fresh water. But, now and again,

the keepers decide to give it a deep clean.

Thing is, you've got a bit of duckweed on the top of the water,

so you can't see what's at the bottom.

It's what's lurking underneath which can be really gross.

The elephants are playing there

and they're pooing there and everything,

so you've got all sorts of things floating around. It's lovely(!)

So, it's a kind of stinky lucky dip.

The first thing to do is to drain it.

But you can't just pull out the plug on a bath this size,

particularly when it's so mucky.

We've got the two tankers in today, normally we only have one,

which would take us all day.

Now we've got the two tankers in, it'll cut it down by half.

But it still takes a lot of rigging up and slurping by the tankers

before the water level drops.

And then...something does appear.

But what is it?

Some old car tyres?

Meanwhile, the keepers have finished cleaning up all the poo in the yard.

But the pool still isn't empty.

We'll come back later to find out if there are any treasures in the muck

at the bottom of the pool.

Not long ago, Kingo the prize breeding bull rhino

had to be knocked out because his feet had become infected.

The vet scraped out a lot of pus and dead skin,

and he is getting better.

But Kingo does weigh over a tonne,

and his feet are still very sore.

So Nick Turk's invited me to help give him some painkillers.

-So this is Kingo, here.

-This is Kingo.

Oh, is this it on the front?

Yeah, that's the slightly worse one.

-You can see how he's holding it.

-Yeah.

I've got his banana here, if you'd like to give him that.

So this is his medication. So what medication is in this banana?

-It's a painkiller. Kingo!

-Come here, Kingo!

-Kingo, come on.

-He's just like me,

I don't want to take my medication either, but it's good for him.

There we go.

-See, the banana takes the taste away, so it's quite good.

-Brilliant.

And then we've got these linseed balls here.

-So will the linseed help his feet as well, then?

-I think so.

It helps the growth of it and helps the condition

so we've increased the amount that we would normally give him

-just to sort of help that.

-Right.

Is it a big problem for rhinos if they have poorly feet?

Or can they just get over it, will they still survive?

They're quite heavy animals, aren't they?

They need them in good nick otherwise it slows them down

-and they can't compete as much.

-Does he seem to be all right?

He's not too bad. He's lifted the foot up a little bit there.

He was up here for food and it's not like he was lying down, just resting,

keeping the weight off his feet.

So he is still wandering about.

Oh, well, he seems to be doing really well though, Nick, now.

-He's getting on with it.

-I think so.

I think his feet are getting a little bit better

because we reduced his painkiller considerably

and he's still quite mobile, so I think we're on the mend there.

-So the future looks bright?

-Yes, I think so.

-Brilliant.

He's done really well today on his medication, no grumbles or gripes.

If I had a sticker, I'd give one to him. Good rhino.

The keepers are thrilled to see Kingo getting better

because he's the top breeding bull here.

He's already fathered five baby rhinos and with any luck,

there'll be some more like this one running around before too long.

Here we are, then.

The moment all you online gamers have been waiting for -

cheat code time.

And today's cheat code is wood6, as simple as that.

Just wood6.

You know what to do.

Just go to your own Roar wildlife park on the CBBC website

and type the code in to unlock

today's food and treats for your animals.

Back at the elly pond, the tankers have drained out all the water

so the keepers can give it a good clean.

Deputy head of ellies Liz Morris

is in charge of the clean-up operation.

We're at the point where we've sucked out the water.

We've got to the bottom of the pool

and all that's left is a nice sludge and muck at the bottom.

So we've got to wash the sides off, break up the sludge a little bit

and hopefully drain that out as well and see what we find at the bottom.

Since the ellies sometimes use it as a toilet,

they're guaranteed to find masses of wet slimy poo,

but the keepers are putting a brave face on it.

Especially Sam, who only started a few months ago.

We're ankle-deep in...elephant poo!

Anything else you'd like to tell us about it, Sam?

Eh... Yeah, it smells.

Eurgh!

At long last, they're reaching the very bottom of the pool.

The slime is really gooey down here

but at least Sam's found...

a stick.

And it wasn't the only one, by any means.

We found all sorts down there. Mainly dirt and sludge, poo.

We found some tyres as well which the elephants had thrown in.

It took about three or four of us to heave them out today.

Some sticks, stones...

But we found newts as well which was pretty cool.

So we're going to pop them back in a minute.

So, there was a surprise after all.

Smooth newts aren't rare,

but you don't often see these clever creatures

that can live on land as well as in the water.

Now it's all completely clean, we've got to fill it up with water

and then once it's at a nice height,

we can let the elephants back through.

Also, the ducks are waiting to go back in as well.

The ellies will enjoy it now. As long as they don't make a mess!

I'm sure they will.

In fact, even as the pool slowly fills up again,

they're already playing with the pile of hay beside it.

Some things never change!

Back in the Discovery Zone again,

Sam has handled a horrifying hissing cockroach

and seen off a terrifying tarantula.

But how will he cope when he has to face a slithering serpent?

The very scary-looking Honduran milk snake,

which comes all the way from Central America.

Their name comes from the fact that they're often found on dairy farms

where there are plenty of mice for them to eat.

This is going to be really scary, especially if I have to hold it.

This one is probably the friendliest snake we have here.

They're very brightly coloured, but it's actually completely harmless.

It's just a bright, bold warning

to make animals think twice about attacking it.

Is it scaly or smooth?

She's very, very soft, very smooth, very dry as well.

A lot of people think they're slimy because they shine and they slither

-but it's very dry and very soft.

-I feel like snakes are really deadly,

I would never go near one.

Most snakes are actually non-venomous

so generally, there's nothing to be worried about.

They're very much like the spiders, they don't really want to bite. OK.

We're going to hold it now.

-Do you feel confident?

-Yep.

-What we're going to do is...

Snakes are much the same as any other animal,

they like to have their body supported.

Our heroic Roar Ranger didn't even hesitate to pick up the snake

He seems to be growing braver with every challenge.

There she goes, how does it feel?

Really cool.

Can you feel the muscles over your skin? They're very, very muscular.

I never thought I would ever hold a snake in my entire life.

This is really cool.

From being terrified of bugs and snakes,

our daring Roar Ranger now looks like a natural.

OK. Right, shall I take it back off you?

-There you go.

-Bye,

-Daisy.

I'm just going to pop her back in. Head first.

We're all done now. You've met three good examples

of what we have at the Discovery Zone. You've done very well.

You've taken everything in your stride.

I'm really pleased, well done.

Today, I've done things I thought I'd never do in my entire life.

It was really scary but I conquered my fears and felt good about it.

This has been one of the coolest things I've ever done

and I hope I can do this again.

Now, before we leave you today,

-we've just popped down to meet keeper Polly. Hiya, Polly.

-Hello.

And to check out these very impressive primates

and look at him, giving the camera a stare as well.

They are so cute. What kind of monkeys are these then?

These are banded leaf monkeys.

Now, Polly, I've got to say, great hairdo!

You've done a great job getting them ready for telly.

You've got two in here, how many are in the park?

-These are the only two and they're the only two in captivity.

-Really?

The only two in captivity in the entire world?

Yes, these are the only two known.

So this is a massive first for Roar viewers.

You're looking at two of the only banded leaf monkeys in captivity

outside their native Indonesia.

And they could help save their very rare species from extinction

if the keepers can somehow find a female to keep them company.

So we've got two boys, are they related at all?

-Yes, these two are brothers.

-Ah, so they must get on really well(!)

They're brothers, they have their squabbles but they get on very well.

I bet when they squabble, it's about food. We've got some food here.

Yep, we've got some sweet potato and some monkey nuts for them.

-Shall we feed it to them? Can we have a go?

-Yeah.

Who's this one?

-This is Orpheus.

-Hey, Orpheus, come on down.

He's not going to grab my hands.

Hi, darling. So gentle!

So where's the other fella then?

He's sitting well away watching everything.

-He's over there, Johny.

-Come here.

-What's his name?

-Hercules.

-Call Hercules, he answers to his name apparently.

-Hercules!

Told you he answers.

-Look at that! He took it so gently.

-Oh, Polly, that's great.

Now, you've got sweet potato here and you've got some nuts.

Is this what their diet consists of?

This, for them in captivity,

is a treat that they get in part of the evening feed.

The bulk of their diet is beans, you can see, left on their food shelves.

-Obviously bored of them.

-Yep.

-They get lots of beans.

They're this amazing golden colour, is that for any particular reason?

I couldn't say exactly, but the chances are

it would provide very good camouflage in the forests there

because you've got the dappled sunlight

and the varying colours of the leaves and the flowers.

In the very tops of the trees where they are,

it would be very good cover.

Well, it is time to say goodbye

to these very beautiful banded leaf monkeys

and to say goodbye to you guys too. Thanks, Polly.

But before you "leaf",

why don't you check out what's coming up on the next show? "Leaf"!

The monkeys are overheating.

But can they figure out what to do with their ice lollies?

We've got the very first shots of the rarest babies in Britain.

What are they? Here's a clue.

LAUGHTER

They laugh!

And we'll find out just how many keepers it takes

to wrestle a gorilla.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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