Episode 16 Roar

Today on Roar - we find out what has happened

to the Pallas cat kittens who were battling a deadly disease.

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

And I'm Johny, and this is Boris, the lowland anoa,

sometimes referred to as the pygmy cow.

The reason for that is they belong

to the cattle family, but they only weigh around 300kg,

which is a quarter of what their cousins, the buffalo, weigh.

-All right, you!

-Check out these horns.

They're not to be messed with. Sometimes they use them as daggers

-to spear anything that attacks them.

-Well, I know how

to keep this fellow onside - by showing him

the fact-packed, fun-filled show we've got on today. Look at this.

Coming up - the keepers are planning to mix

two animals with the shortest tempers on the park.

With horns and sharp teeth at the ready,

-what could possibly go wrong?

-THEY SCREECH

Find out what it is that our twin Roar Rangers are finding so funny.

THEY GIGGLE

And dinner is served, and it's a wiggly one.

But which animal would gobble up this grubby grub?

Here's hoping it's not Johny.

But first...

Previously on Roar, we brought you the fantastic news

that Little Man, the hand-raised Pallas cat,

had just become dad to seven beautiful kittens.

But within a few weeks, disaster struck.

Five of the young became very ill

-with a disease called toxoplasmosis.

-Lots of domestic cats

can catch toxoplasmosis. It doesn't affect them. They just carry it.

But in Pallas cats, for some unknown reason, it's nearly always fatal.

Jane the vet gave the kittens emergency treatment

and did everything she could to make them better.

But she wasn't hopeful about their survival.

We've given them emergency medication and left them

quietly in the shed. That's all we can do.

The keepers will check on them,

but we'll be lucky if any of them survive the night.

It was devastating news for the keepers

who worked night and day to help the kittens in their fight for life.

It is heartbreaking. But we'll try our best,

and do whatever we need to do to get them through.

But tragically, today there has been some very sad news.

JANE: Five of the seven kittens have actually died,

which is really sad.

We lost them due to the normal problem with Pallas cats -

toxoplasmosis.

Once they get that bad, they don't usually respond.

We did lose them.

Despite the awful loss of the five kittens,

there is some really good news.

Two of the litter have survived and look very healthy.

Keeper Ben is relieved not to have lost them all.

As you can see, they look very bright, very lively,

and they're coming for food now, which is really nice.

They seem to have, as Dad does, little man syndrome.

They come up all puffed up and aggressive.

They grab their food and growl and then run off.

They've got character as well.

To help the two kittens grow big and strong,

Ben has been carefully monitoring their diet.

They tend to start going onto solids

from about five weeks old. We've got them onto meat very early.

Yeah, they've been eating well.

The kittens are still quite nervous of people they don't know,

and it can be hard for the Roar camera crew to get close.

So, Ben has volunteered to take a camera into the enclosure,

to bring us these fantastic shots.

The kittens aren't scared of the camera at all.

As you can see, they're just running at it,

which is quite spectacular.

I think they think it's food.

It's so rare for any Pallas kittens to survive,

that these two cute babies are really important,

not just for the park, but for the future of the species.

We'll keep a close eye on this pair throughout the series.

One thing all the animals on the park have in common

is that they love to eat... and eat...and eat.

And big appetites need big supplies of food, so how do the parks do it?

Rani is on her way down to the woods to find out

in some rather fetching pink protective gloves.

Now, browse is a really important part

of many of the animals' diets here on the park.

And food like this doesn't just grow on trees.

OK, well, it does actually grow on trees.

That's why I've come down to the woods today

-to meet head gardener Dave Sutton. Hi, Dave.

-Hi, Rani.

I think I'm going to be giving him a hand.

I should have yelled "timber" then!

That was very impressive, Dave. How are you doing?

-I'm OK, thank you. How are you?

-I'm really well.

-Now, amazing - we're in the woods.

-We are.

Can I just ask first, is it legal that we are in the woods?

Absolutely. We are licensed to cut the wood from the trees here

to enable us to feed the animals.

What happens is we cut a tree down, it makes lots of growth,

then we come back in a few years,

and cut that all again. It's a regeneration programme.

It'll always be there, ready for the animals to use.

Excellent. Let's crack on because I know we've got to feed the animals.

-What is this we're cutting?

-This is chestnut.

This is going to go to the elephants and the gorillas.

-Now, lots of different types of trees.

-Lots of different types.

Are you growing trees that are just native

to this country or do you try and grow trees that animals would have

from their homelands? We've animals from all over the world here.

Unfortunately, we're in a native English woodland,

so all the trees are the types you would find

normally within an English woodland.

We have to improvise a little bit and find the best fit, if you like,

because we can't give them exactly what they might find

in their own countries.

We give them the best alternative.

OK. And they're happy with that cos they seem to love their food?

Yeah.

I mean, the elephants will go through huge amounts of tree material.

They'll probably have five or six trees like this every day.

They'll get through all of that.

Speaking of the ellies, we've got a lot of work to do.

Join us later when I'll be feeding the ellies some chestnut leaves.

-At least pretend you're going to help, Dave!

-I'll carry some.

-Thanks.

Today's Roar Rangers are Laura and Caitlin,

10-year-old twins from Leeds.

But just how animal mad are they?

I like monkeys because they jump around lots

and they're really energetic.

THEY CHATTER LIKE MONKEYS

So, which animal will our Roar Rangers be looking after?

"Laura and Caitlin, today you are safari keepers.

"Make sure you look up high."

Something that's high up. I wonder what that could mean.

Let's go find out.

In charge of the Roar Rangers today is safari keeper Ciara.

There's lots of animals on the safari - antelopes,

-but I'm a rhino and giraffe keeper, so we'll look at the giraffes.

-Yay!

-Let's make up some feed for them.

-It's Laura's lucky day.

She and Caitlin are looking after the park's giraffes.

There's a group of five hungry males waiting for their dinner.

Do you want to pick me some nice big apples?

OK. Giraffes' throats are quite narrow and long,

so we can't give them a whole apple cos it'll just get stuck.

We have to cut them up into small bits like this.

It looks yummy. I'd like it if I was a giraffe.

And the apples look very juicy.

Giraffes weigh around 1.5 tonnes,

and because of this, they need to munch over 25 kilos

of fruit, veg and leaves every day.

That's like Laura and Caitlin eating 225 carrots each.

-The giraffes' favourite food is browse.

-What's "browse"?

"Browse" is trees.

It's all the little branches that come off the trees.

They just nibble that. That's why they've got long necks.

In the wild, in Africa, giraffes spend around 12 hours each day

constantly eating browse.

At the park, to make sure they get just what they need,

the keepers also give them pellets

which are made up of leaves. That's the food ready -

time to get on the truck.

The safari park is over 100 acres of grassland,

filled with all kinds of African animals, from antelope and rhino,

to ostriches and wildebeest,

and of course, five tall giraffes... somewhere!

I'll be the first one to spot a giraffe.

No, I will, I think.

I think I've spotted them. They're right over there.

-You can just about see their heads. Can you see?

-Giraffes!

-Giraffes!

We'll drive round there now. They usually

stay together, so we'll see all five of them at once.

But the trouble is, between our Roar Rangers and the giraffes

are a few other big animals.

-A rhino!

-A rhino.

I've never seen a rhino that close.

With rhinos about, the giraffes won't come to feed,

so whilst it's a privilege to see them this close,

let's hope they don't stick around for too long.

Just hang on till it goes past.

Go on, Mr Rhino.

Bye-bye!

They've made it past the rhinos. But now it looks like

someone else is interested in the giraffes' dinner.

BOTH: Hi, Mrs Ostrich. Nice to meet you.

An ostrich's eyeball is bigger than its brain,

and these birds have spotted the food.

-GIRLS LAUGH NERVOUSLY

-What's he trying to do?

He's trying to get these pellets. I'll chuck a few out for him.

That's the ostriches and the rhinos out of the way.

Now, to the giraffes.

We'll join this duo later, when they finally get

up close and personal with these towering beasts.

But will these giants be gentle?

GIRLS GIGGLE

What happens to one banana when you throw it to two hungry apes?

-You get a banana split!

-CHATTERS LIKE MONKEY

-BOTH:

-Rrrah! Rrrah!

-What do you call a deer with no eyes?

-I don't know.

A no-eye-deer.

SHE NEIGHS LIKE A HORSE

-What weighs four tonnes and is bright red?

-I don't know.

An elephant holding his breath.

For every lovely job we get to help with on the parks,

there's always a yucky one that needs doing, too.

So, whilst I'm gathering branches in the woods for the ellies,

Johny's gone down to the red river hog enclosure,

and I reckon he'll be glad of my pink gloves now!

Your mum and dad will tell you to never eat worms, and to be honest,

I completely agree with them. But there is one animal here

that loves bugs and grubs - the red river hog.

I'm here with keeper Joel to see what they make of these worms.

Joel, they're gross.

No! The red river hogs will hopefully love them.

Really? What type of worms have we got here?

These are red worms

which they will come across in their paddock naturally.

So we hope they'll find them and eat them.

-Do you want me to scatter them somewhere?

-Yeah. Put them all over

the mud wallow. Some will bury themselves,

-and we can bury a few.

-OK.

These things are absolutely gross. To be honest,

I don't want to touch them any more, so can we get out of here

-and let the hogs out?

-Yeah. We certainly can.

-Brilliant. Let's go.

Come on, pigs!

Joel, the hogs are here, and having a sniff around.

-They're sniffing us first.

-Yeah.

Do you think they'll notice them, and if so,

what will they use to notice these worms?

Em...I'm hoping they notice. They are quite small worms,

but pigs have got an extremely good sense of smell,

so I'm hoping that they'll smell them.

Their eyesight isn't great, so they can't really rely on that,

but certainly they should smell that something's different and in there.

They're certainly looking around in there.

Could it pose problems if the worms go up into their nose?

-JOEL LAUGHS

-No, but seriously, it could happen!

I don't think it'll happen. The pigs are too smart to let that happen.

-Really?

-They'll eat them first, yeah.

Now, Joel, should I ever want to go digging for worms in the mud,

with my nose first, I think I'd get a blocked nose

and it wouldn't work out well. But have these guys

-got special adaptations that help them do that?

-Yeah.

They've been designed over thousands of years.

They use their snout as their main digging thing.

It's very thick, it protects the nostrils

and the delicate insides of the nose,

so nothing can get up there that they don't want.

It works out perfectly that they can do that.

That's brilliant. I notice that the end of it seems extra hard.

-Is it like a bit of cartilage at the end of it?

-That's right.

It's very hard because that takes the brunt of all the digging.

They come across stones, roots, that sort of thing.

So it needs to protect the delicate inside of the nose.

So, yes, it is very hard and powerful.

Thanks so much for letting us get close. I tell you what,

they've made a meal of our worms. Gross!

Twins Caitlin and Laura

have finally shaken off the rhinos and ostriches on safari

and are now ready to feed the hungry giraffes.

-This is Harris.

-Aaaw! Hello, Harris!

THEY GIGGLE

-Hello!

-They're really beautiful!

They're cool!

Harris is a two-year-old male.

He was hand-reared and knows keeper, Ciara, very well.

So he's not afraid to stick his head right into the safari truck.

THEY GIGGLE

He's got a blue tongue!

The giraffe's blue tongue is incredibly long.

Nearly half a metre!

It is super-strong and flexible.

So he can wrap it around branches

to strip off bark and leaves.

And he can use it to get food out of the buckets!

Where food is concerned, Harris doesn't give up!

I'm trying to control these animals!

They're very cheeky!

And now everyone wants in on the action!

There's another giraffe!

-Another!

-We're surrounded!

It's the best day I've ever had!

Feeding the animals is strictly forbidden.

Unless you are with a keeper.

So our lucky Roar Rangers are getting a treat

seeing the giraffes up so close - and so are our film crew!

Harris might be one confident giraffe

but most of the others shy away from being stroked,

swinging their head all the way back up so quickly

is only possible because giraffe's have a ligament

like a huge rubber band

down the back of their long neck.

It stretches when they move their head down,

and pings back when they come up.

To get their head from the ground to up to five metres high

takes only two seconds.

They're like giants!

I expected them to be a bit smaller.

They're massive!

I love giraffes now!

Giraffe's are gorgeous, I love them.

It's really soft.

It's eyelashes are very long.

When the wind blows in Africa, their eyelashes are really long

so that they don't get dust in their eyes.

And their nose has really long slits so they can close their noses

so that no dust gets inside them either.

It looks like these gentle giants

have won the hearts of our Roar Rangers.

I've always dreamed of stroking and feeding a giraffe.

-We're in heaven!

-Me too!

This is a dream come true!

OK, we've finished that bucket of food,

there is still a little left in there,

but I think they're done now, they're not coming to eat any more.

-So how was that?

-It was very fun!

-Did you enjoy yourselves?

-Yes!

They enjoyed it as well. They got a nice meal. That's that!

-Let's go.

-Bye-bye!

Do we even need to ask what our Roar Rangers thought of their day?

Giraffes are my favourite animals and I'm so happy I got that close.

I'm really happy now.

I rate that 10 out of 10.

Cos it was one of the best things I've ever done.

Thanks for that! We've loved being giraffe keepers!

Yay!

You too can run your very own wildlife park.

Simply go to the CBBC website

and log on to the Roar online game.

It's full of your favourite animals

just waiting for you to care for them.

To unlock treats, food, and new animals,

we give you a cheat code on every show.

Today's is coral120.

Go on, give it a go!

It's fantastic fun - happy gaming!

Is this not just the best looking wheelbarrow of chestnut brows?

Well I think so, because I cut it with my own fair hands

earlier in the show.

Now though, I've come down to the ellie enclosure

to catch up with head keeper, Dave. Hiya, Dave!

-Hello.

-Are you impressed? Look at this!

-Very!

Chestnut brows that I have chopped from the woods!

Yeah, it's very good!

It's not for you, it's for this very, very little ellie.

-Is this just a baby?

-He's only small.

-"He's only small"!

He's massive! This is Chums, of course, isn't it?

-Now, is he a big fan of chestnut brows?

-He is.

Shall we feed it to him?

I think we should, yes.

All right then, which piece should we give him first?

A bit with some leaf on it.

Eurgh! Is that ellie snot I'm getting on me?!

-How close?

-Come over here.

I've never fed Chums before.

Let him put his trunk through and just let him take it off you.

-Oh, my Goodness!

-That's it, let him have it.

Will he just take it off me?

Oh! That is the first time ever I have fed Chums!

And I don't even mind that I'm covered in ellie snot!

All a bit wet on me!

-Is it snot?

-It's saliva.

Obviously salivating, you know, it's chestnut brows!

Better give him some more.

He's going for that bar.

Hi, gorgeous!

So what does he prefer?

The chestnuts there, in a spiky casing,

-the leaves, or the...

-The leaves.

-The leaves?

-Yeah, he loves the leaves.

And because the twigs are so small, he'll just eat the whole lot.

So nothing is wasted.

Let's see what he does with this one.

OK. There you go. One trunk to another trunk.

All right, darling.

Hello! What do I do? What do I do?

See what he does with that one.

He's not going to throw that, or anything, at us?

No, he'll put it in his mouth and he might just turn it round -

watch him with his trunk.

See him turning it around? Taking all the bark off.

So he's just using his trunk to twist it round?

Listen to that crunch!

What was that squeak?

That's just him chewing the wood.

I've got to say, it's absolutely fascinating being this close to him.

We get to see the elephants here,

but never do we get the opportunity to be so close.

Dave, this is a complete honour, thank you so much.

I think I'm just going to leave Chums now, chewing the wood.

What has 112 arms and legs, loads of sharp teeth,

and a passion for fighting and biting?

It's the park's family of Guinea Baboons.

This is one of the world's largest groups of Guinea Baboons.

Every day it seems to grow.

Five new babies have been born in just three months.

That's a real baboon baby boom!

And a huge handful for Head of Primates, Simon.

'When we originally got the Guinea Baboons in we had only 12,'

I think it was, and they've grown and grown over the years,

we've now got 28, and of course when you've got one male,

and lots of females, we could have up to nine babies a year.

So this is a group that can get bigger and bigger and bigger.

Our bumper baboon family is fantastic

for the survival of the species,

as in the wild their numbers are falling fast.

This is mainly down to the cutting down of forests where they live,

in remote areas of west Africa.

However, it has given Simon a huge problem.

Space.

Or, lack of it!

It's always nice to give animals as much space as you can.

Especially when you've got a big group.

You've got to think that those animals have to have enough space

to get away from each other.

Especially with baboons. They like to roam around.

They don't have space so we like to give them space.

Simon is a man with a plan.

And he's thinking big - very big.

He wants to give the baboons an absolutely massive enclosure.

As big as two football pitches.

And here's the best bit - it's going to be open top.

As you come round the corner, here,

you can see totally that we're going to get all of this.

Which is amazing, really.

It means they get all of this space to roam around in,

trees to shade under, so much more to do out there.

It'll be better for them physically, with exercise, everything, really.

It will give them as natural a setting

as we can get in this country.

The plan sounds fantastic but there is something standing in the way.

Well, two things, actually.

And they weigh over two tons.

A pair of enormous black rhinos already live in the enclosure.

The plan is to mix rhino and baboon together.

Baboons and rhinos would naturally meet each other in the wild.

So this'll be fantastic. Exactly what you want to see in zoos, really.

They've been next door to each other for a good six months now.

So that all helps.

Until we get to that first day where we send a few baboons out,

and send the rhinos in, we don't really know, 100%,

what's going to happen!

This is a potentially dangerous mix.

Both animals are well known for their bad tempers

and aggression.

But before the keepers can take this risk

they first need to make sure the enclosure is baboon-proof.

At the moment, this is our rhino fence.

A metal fence to stop them getting out,

which is what's necessary for them.

This won't stop baboons getting out.

We've got these kind of things here,

for putting electric wires on.

The idea is there will be electric wires going all the way up

then we're going to extend this

up to ten feet tall, two foot overhang,

so it will be like a solid fence, all electric wire,

and we're going to have another bit coming out of the bottom,

going into the ground, to stop them digging out as well.

The electric fences around the outside of the enclosure

are designed to keep the baboons from escaping.

They shock them, but don't hurt them.

There is hard work ahead for Simon and the team.

Rhinos are moved out, and they get cracking.

Along with the tall electric fences,

any trees near them are prune to prevent a possible escape route.

After over a month of hard work the baboons are ready to be let loose.

Nobody knows what on earth to expect.

It might be complete and utter fireworks!

We just don't know yet.

And Simon's right to be worried.

Because when the baboons are actually released,

things don't quite go according to plan.

All right everyone, don't panic.

It's almost the end of the show

but we thought we'd try and jam one more thing in.

We've popped down to the small cat section to meet up with Helen.

Hi, Helen. You're inside the Indian desert cat enclosure.

We're on the outside. Why?

Probably because he's going to start jumping around soon.

Look at that!

Straight for it! What have you done there, Helen?

Just hung a piece of food up by a bit of string.

Just gives him something to do.

So is it better for him to work for his food

than just give him it on a plate?

Yeah, definitely. It gets all his muscles working,

keeps him healthy and gets him moving around.

He's not a young boy so any movement is good

otherwise he'd just sit there and be a bit lazy.

He's actually amazing.

When I first saw the Indian desert cats I kind of thought,

"Helen's brought one of her cats in from home!"

But they are quite different.

What are the main differences to a normal, domestic cat?

They have got bigger teeth,

bigger claws, and they are designed for speed, really.

They are slick and long, and can run a lot faster than your cat at home.

Are they quite wild, then, in their nature?

The two we've got here are fairly tame, really.

They don't mind you walking around.

But, yeah, if you came across one in the wild

it wouldn't take to you too kindly!

What great grip!

His teeth must be so strong, to hold on!

Even considering he is an old boy,

his teeth probably aren't going to be the best.

But he's still pretty strong.

While he's hanging on his food, why don't you lot hang around

to check out what's coming up on the next Roar?

We'll see incredible footage

of one of the cutest and rarest animals ever born on the parks.

A baby Red Panda.

And the great baboon release -

we bring you perhaps the most dramatic scenes ever filmed on Roar.

OK, we have got a baboon out of the enclosure!

Trust us - you don't want to miss a thing.

That's all coming up on the next Roar.

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