Episode 32 Roar

Today, one of the rarest and shiest cats in the world has had kittens.

But the keepers must check them to make sure they're fit and healthy.

-Hello and welcome to Roar. I'm Johny.

-And I'm Rani.

And this beautiful lady munching on her bamboo is Li Yee, the red panda.

As you can see, red pandas love bamboo.

It forms two-thirds of their diet.

As bamboo is so low in calories, all they do all day is eat and sleep.

We've got a show to be doing, so let's get on with it.

Keep hold, Li Yee.

Coming up, there's a brand-new feeding toy for the macaque monkeys.

But who will be clever enough to work it out? Dad or the kids?

Plus, just how strong a stomach do you need to be an ellie keeper?

That's disgusting. Absolutely. That stinks.

And we've seen him being born, watched his first steps

and even caught his first dip.

But what has happened to the baby tapir's stripes?

Surely all that swimming hasn't washed them off!

First, though, on the cat section,

head keeper Jim is worried about two new and very rare kittens

which were born to one of the park's breeding pairs of clouded leopards.

This is the first time Mum's given birth, so it's a first-time litter.

I'm concerned about whether she's looking after them properly,

so that they're growing properly.

It's vital Jim sees these babies to check they're healthy.

Clouded leopards are endangered in the wild

with fewer than 10,000 left

in their native China and south-east Asia.

They are incredibly hard to breed in captivity,

so these kittens are very important for the survival of the species.

Even though Jim has heard them, he hasn't caught a glimpse of them yet

which is extremely frustrating.

They're coming up to five weeks old.

We're all itching to see what they're like and how they're doing.

Every time we come down to try and get a peek, they never come out.

It's a constant worry because you don't know how well they're doing.

There's absolutely no sign of anything.

Ah! I can just see Dad in the other half of the cage next door.

But no Mum.

No kittens.

Another fruitless attempt to see something.

The reason it's so hard for Jim to see them

is that these leopards are extremely shy.

They mainly come out at night and the parents are very protective

of their young. This means Jim can't open up the nesting shed

for fear of stressing out all the cats, but he's not giving up yet.

I've got a plan.

And the plan involves someone who has actually seen these babies -

keeper Jo who lives somewhere rather convenient for "cloudie"-spotting.

I live at the park and this is where I live. This is Mumu my cat.

My neighbours across the way from where I live are clouded leopards.

The best time to watch them is usually when everyone has gone home.

They usually come out at night, so they feel more comfortable with that.

The kittens are in the front box in the enclosure,

so it's easy for me to have a look without disturbing them.

At the beginning when they were really small,

they were just poking their head out of the box,

but they've started to explore a bit.

Jo could just be the secret weapon Jim needs,

so after she's finished her duties on the park,

Jim gives her the task of staking out the babies from her doorstep.

And he's hoping she can get some footage.

When I'm around, I don't seem to get anything,

so I suggest that you take the camera

and during the night, see what you get

because if they know I'm around, they hide.

-So if I give you that, you know how to work it?

-Yeah, I can work it.

-Good luck and I'll look forward to seeing the footage.

-Brilliant.

Take care. Bye.

So, once the park is empty and quiet,

Jo steps out of her front door and begins filming.

But will she be lucky enough to get the shots of these rare kittens

that Jim so desperately needs?

Now to one of our favourite little ones on the park.

We've watched this gorgeous baby tapir from birth.

We've followed him taking his first steps outside,

meeting Dad,

taking a dip...

..and even overcoming his first illness.

Today, I've come to see how much he's grown up.

-Here he is with his keeper Barry. How are you, Barry?

-I'm fine, Johny.

-Have we given him a name yet?

-Yeah, his official name now is Diego.

I like it. What a cool name! Why Diego then?

He's from South America, so we've given him a South American name.

-And quite rightly so.

-Where would you find these guys in South America?

Well, they'll be in places like Paraguay and Brazil,

-hence the name "Brazilian tapirs".

-OK.

-Swampland, that sort of thing.

-Who is this that's come in front of me here?

-This is Tommy. This is Dad.

He stepped in front of me and the babies there.

-Is that a protection thing?

-It could be.

He's also curious as to why you're here making a fuss of his little boy.

-Right, OK.

-But it could be.

I've noticed that Dad is kind of clear here.

He's just got brown fur and his son's got these stripes.

-When will he lose those stripes?

-They're beginning to fade already.

After about eight to nine months, they'll pretty much be gone.

And he'll look very much like his dad.

When he gets to that age, will he still want to be with his mum?

No, he'll be wanting to become more and more independent

and in the wild, he would be looking for a girlfriend of his own,

so he'll be more interested in that than staying with his mum.

-What will happen here?

-We'll have to try and find one for him.

We can't keep him with his mum or his dad at that age,

-so we will be looking for a partner for him.

-Good luck with it all.

-The baby tapir is one of our favourites on Roar.

-Great. Thanks.

Today's Roar Ranger is 12-year-old Katey from Edinburgh.

I'm so glad to be a Roar Ranger.

I just love animals, so it's amazing.

With hundreds of animals in the park,

which one will she be looking after today?

"Katey, your job is to look after the park's giants.

"Today, you are an elephant keeper." They're one of my favourite animals.

How often do you get to go that close to an elephant? Big animals...

Big...poos.

Our Roar Ranger is not wrong.

The biggest poos in the park come

from the largest land mammals on the planet.

The elephants are originally from the savannahs and forests of Africa

where they usually live in family units of between 3 and 25.

The park has 14 of them, the largest herd in the UK.

They take a lot of work to clean and feed.

Katey is in for a hard day on the ellie section

with keepers Liz and Tom.

The first job of the day, we've got to clear up a bit of poo.

-Lovely(!)

-It's not too bad, but you'll need your gloves on.

I'm not so keen on the poo, especially the size.

This herd of elephants poo two dumper trucks of dung every day,

which means the team spend three to four hours a day clearing it all up.

There's a nice shovel. The easiest way to pick up elephant poo...

Put your shovel in like that, then put your foot right the way in there

and then shovel in like that.

Then bring your foot back and you get a good shovelful.

-Do you think you can do that?

-I'll try my best.

Put your foot right the way in there. That's it.

Now scrape... Go on, scrape!

Yeah!

That's disgusting. Absolutely.

It stinks.

That's one job done, but Katey's work is far from finished.

This hungry herd needs feeding too and they've got enormous appetites.

-What time is it when an elephant sits on the fence?

-I don't know.

-Time to get a new fence.

-That's rubbish.

-No, it's not. It's good.

MAKES MONKEY-LIKE CRIES

What do you give a sick bird?

Tweet-ment. Tweet-tweet!

MAKES HISSING SOUND

What kind of bull doesn't have horns?

A bullfrog. Ribbit, ribbit!

LAUGHTER

Some of the brightest and cheekiest primates on the park

are the lion-tailed macaques.

The keepers are constantly coming up with new ideas

to make this inquisitive bunch work for their food.

On previous shows, they've mastered a seesaw,

learnt how to crack coconuts...

..and even enjoyed lemon and limes.

Today, the keepers have come up with another cunning plan

to test the intelligence of these monkeys.

I'm inside the lion-tailed macaque enclosure with keeper Ruth.

Ruth, what have you got here, please?

This is a bit of environmental enrichment for macaques today.

We've made a little feeder for them.

-It looks a bit like a bird feeder. Is that an old water bottle?

-Yeah.

Very classy. Where are the lion-tailed macaques?

-There they are.

-They're shut in at the moment.

-Let me give you a hand.

-Matt's here as well. Hi, Matt.

-Hello.

-What's the point to this?

We thought we'd give them something to think about really.

It's just a different way to present the food.

-MATT BANGS WOOD

-Can you keep that down a bit?

We're trying to chat! He's awfully loud.

You need to talk me through this feeder.

OK, inside, we've got a mixture of seeds and nuts.

-We've got a few mealworms in there as well.

-Is that a favourite of theirs?

They go mad for mealworms. They love them.

So we just put them inside and they have got to work out how to get it.

We made this see-through, so they can see the food inside,

but the point will be for them to work out they've got to spin it

and then collect the food that scatters on the ground.

The mealworms and nuts will fall through these holes.

-So it's like a tombola?

-That kind of idea, yeah.

-Are you happy with this?

-Yeah.

-Give us a nod.

-Are you happy with this, Ruth?

-I am.

We won't let the macaques out while we're in the enclosure?

No, we'll go, then let them out and watch from the safety barrier.

Let's see if the lion-tailed macaques are clever enough

to figure out if they spin this... Let's just see if it works.

..they'll get a tasty treat. I'm so glad a mealworm didn't come out!

For the last two nights, keeper Jo has been on clouded leopard watch,

trying to get some footage of the two new kittens,

so Jim can check these precious and rare babies are healthy.

But as soon as Jo switches on the camera, these shy cats run and hide.

Oh, I think they heard me.

But there's nothing around. I'm quite tired. I'll have some dinner.

Maybe if I hear them later on,

I'll go and get the camera quick and have a look.

But finally, after three nights of filming an empty enclosure,

Jo's patience pays off.

She's managed to get these first shots

of the new clouded leopard kittens.

Jim is delighted to finally see both the kittens,

but he wants some closer shots to make sure they're fit and healthy.

He's challenged the Roar team to come up with a solution.

Can we do any better?

Roar ranger Katie is on her way to the elephant paddock

to meet Deputy Head of Section Liz.

-Hello!

-Hi. I'm Katie.

-Nice to meet you. I'm Liz.

-You've come to help us?

-Yep.

Elephants are herbivores, living on fruit, vegetables

and their favourite - the leaves of trees, also known as browse.

So what I've done is chop some down

If you just want to grab a branch and I'll get one as well.

Just walk it along the fence line and poke it through the fence.

-Anywhere you like through there. It doesn't look very appetising.

-No.

They absolutely love it, especially with leaves. The amazing thing is,

they peel this bark off. They use their tusk and make a line.

They score it, like with scissors, and they've got like fingers.

They can actually take the bark and just peel it off

They're extremely clever.

An elephant's trunk contains no bones, but has over 100,000 muscles.

It has enough strength to lift up a baby elephant

whilst being delicate enough to pick a single leaf off a tree.

You'll have some extra muscles by the time we've finished, Katie!

Along with fruit, veg and hay,

these will feed the hungry herd for several hours.

Time for Katie to take a break

and rejoin Tom to watch the elephants do the work for a change.

It's great to see them this close.

-How much of that do they eat?

-In the wild, an elephant eats

up to 200 kilos of things like browse which are obviously trees.

And also lots of grass.

We can't feed 200 kilos of that kind of food to them every day

or we wouldn't have any trees left, so we do fruit and veg as well.

To chomp through all that food, the elephants have impressive teeth.

-An elephant has four teeth.

-Four?

-Two in the top jaw, two in the bottom.

And they're called molars. The molars we have are at the back.

Same as an elephant. That grinds up all the food.

The teeth are best described as like a rail.

If we look under the elephant's skin, it looks like lots of teeth,

but in fact they are really big molars, constantly moving forward,

like being on a very slow conveyor belt. As new sections grow,

the front sections wear down and eventually break off.

Elephants can live well into old age, over 70 years,

but once they lose their teeth they can no longer eat, so can't survive.

-That's how you gauge how long it'll live in the wild.

-It's amazing.

It's really interesting finding out all about them.

One of the best bits is finding out all this information.

I wouldn't know this otherwise.

We've really enjoyed having Katie. She's done really well,

spreading the browse beautifully.

She's very enthusiastic. A pleasure.

Katie was actually fantastic.

She learns very quickly.

With a bit of practice and a few more years, she'll manage a shovelful!

-She was really great.

-It was really great being a keeper.

'The worst bit was having to clean up their dung. I had to touch it.'

It was pretty...manky,

but it's part of being a keeper, so it's still been a great day.

I've enjoyed it totally. It's just amazing.

I'm Simon and I can speak to the Moloch gibbons. Woop! Woop!

Woop! Woop!

Molochs are the most endangered species of gibbon in the world,

-but they're also one of the noisiest.

-Woop! Woop! Woop!

ALL WOOP

They do make a particular series of noises. I'm not very good at them.

But you learn to know what they're about, what little noises mean.

It's the same with any primate. You have to learn every little thing

so you can observe them better.

Also they have aggressive sounds. It's nice to know!

They need to make such a racket.

They naturally live in family groups in the dense forests of Java.

Just like we communicate all the time, so do they.

Moloch gibbons have a very high-pitched sound.

The thing that's different is that only the female makes all the noises.

It's used for territorial, sometimes for bonding.

Sometimes it's just a nice day.

Woop! Woo-oop!

It's mainly territorial. They're saying, "This is our area.

"Don't come in if you're another gibbon. Be aware that we're here."

But can Simon really strike up a conversation?

Female Yoni is hanging around, but is she in the mood for a chat?

Woop. Woop, woop.

Woop. Woop. Woop.

-She's making a little bit of noise.

-I hope you're doing this at home!

-Some of them are coming across. They're a bit interested. Woop.

-Woop.

Woo-woo-woo-oop!

Generally, what I was doing was just their territorial call.

It's something they might react to.

THEY CALL OUT

You know, I'm not a gibbon.

Get ready for today's cheat code for your CBBC online game.

That's your key to unlock new animals, treats or food

to keep your park growing.

I'm back at the lion-tailed macaque enclosure.

Earlier on, we set up a feeding device.

It's a bit like a tombola. Hi, Ruth! I can see the tombola all set up,

but there are no lion-tailed macaques.

-We just haven't let them out yet.

-Just in time, then! Let's see them.

Yeah, we're ready. Here they are.

Bounding away! Who's the one leading the way?

That's Spock leading the way. He's the dominant male.

-He's first into anything.

-He obviously knows this is food.

-Is this one of their favourite seeds?

-It's more the meal worms.

It's just a completely new and different way to present it.

They won't get a tombola in the wild. What habitat are they from?

These ones are from the forests of India.

These are true canopy animals. They very rarely come to the ground.

-They spend all their time high up in the canopy.

-The balance...

They're probably not nervous if it moves a bit,

because they're used to being up in the trees with gusts of wind.

Yeah, it's really good to make their environment less static.

I'm amazed how strong he is. He really is pushing it.

-Are they generally quite strong?

-Yeah, especially the dominant male.

He's got a lot of muscle and quite a thick neck.

-He's definitely got some strength.

-Is he all brawn and no brain?

-He's spinning it and food's dropping out, but he's not getting a lot.

-No.

It's puzzling him a little bit, but he'll work it out.

Spock's doing all the work, but that little fella

is reaping all the rewards! Is that because he's cleverer?

Or he just happens to be there? He's like, "Ah, yes! This is great!"

He can't go up to the actual device. Spock's got it.

So he's sitting down there and then they all fall on him.

-He's got the right idea.

-Ah! He's figured it out!

He's bitten it, he's shaken it, he's knocked it everywhere

and, finally, Spock's got some seed. I've really enjoyed watching this.

-It's great when it's a success. Have you enjoyed it?

-Very much.

Thanks for letting us pop down. Hopefully, the others get a look in.

On the cat section, Jim has called in the Roar camera team.

He needs equipment that can be left in the leopard enclosure.

He wants to monitor the two elusive clouded kittens

to keep an eye on their health.

We've come up with a simple, but brilliant idea.

By attaching a small camera to a vacuum cleaner pipe,

we can push it through the mesh to get some great close-up shots.

Now it's just a question of letting the camera roll.

-The next day, Jim's come to see if anything was recorded.

-Right, then.

What have you guys got? I'm convinced there's nothing in here.

Right, here we go. Oh, there is a bit of movement.

That's mum.

Oh, yeah. There you go.

Well, she has got something.

Here's one kitten.

Well, there you go. I take back everything I said!

-That is brilliant.

-It's fantastic news that the kittens are thriving.

Jim can now keep a close eye on their growth.

And we'll be watching them, too.

In a few weeks' time, they are due to have their inoculations.

Like all cats, it's not something they enjoy very much.

MUSIC: "Umbrella" BY RIHANNA

It's almost the end of the show. It's started raining,

-so we came inside for shelter.

-Yeah.

It was an excuse to see the lemurs

and catch up with Head of Primates Matt Ford. Hiya.

-Thanks for letting us into their bedroom!

-How do they deal with rain?

My Afro got caught in it and look at the state of that!

Well, they're lucky here.

They've got a nice, dry area,

but their mechanism to cope with the rain is to curl up into a ball.

-Really?

-Yeah. They tuck their head in and just sit it out, basically.

-That's all they do.

-They come from Madagascar.

We think of it as tropical and warm. They must have torrential rain.

-They do.

-Is that what they do? Just curl up in a ball.

-Up in the trees, is that not dangerous?

-No.

They find a fork in the tree branch so they can curl up really good.

Where's he going?!

If it's windy and rainy, all that's showing is their back.

It has pretty dense fur, so the water just falls off.

Then they just stay there until it's all over, and then they're off again.

Thanks for letting us get so close to them,

but we should get out of here and brave that weather.

-Here's what's on the next Roar.

-Got your brolly?

-No.

One of the oldest and friendliest monkeys here appears to be ill.

It's a huge worry and the vet is called in to find out what's wrong.

This canny crew puts another keeper under the spotlight.

-Guys, are you ready to test Joe?

-ALL: Yeah!

And find out why my cupcakes are turning the gorillas' poo purple.

Don't miss it!

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2010

Email [email protected]