Episode 13 Roar

On the show today, the Roar Rangers must tackle the demons of dread.

-Do you like spiders?

-BOTH: No.

But can they triumph over terror

when they face their worst nightmares?

SCRAPING VIOLINS

-Hello! And welcome to Roar, I'm Johny...

-And I'm Rani,

and we're on the top of Longleat House.

What are you doing down there? Come here!

-Ooh!

-Ah, that's better!

From up here, you can see the whole park.

Rani, can you see anything else out there?

Yeah, Johny, another action-packed episode of Roar!

Let's get on with it, then. How do we get back down?

Haven't a clue.

Coming up today, the flamingo chicks are in grave danger -

some have already died. Will the rest survive?

They're big, but they're only babies.

I'll be getting to know

the world's largest species of mainland tortoise.

And I'll be meeting the sea lions

to discover how they use their whiskers to go fishing.

Our Roar Rangers today are sisters.

BOTH: Raar!

Eleanor is 11 and Izzy is 8.

At home, they've each got their own hamster to look after.

Most of the animals here are a bit bigger than that.

And a whole lot wilder!

So, are they going to be up for whatever they get?

I'm pretty cool with whatever we do, like...poo. I'm OK with it.

But I hate anything that involves insects.

Especially not spiders. I HATE spiders!

I've got a sneaking suspicion they shouldn't have said that.

"Izzy and Eleanor, today you are going to be insect keepers.

"Let's go creepy crawly crazy!"

-Ah!

-Oh!

No! IZZY GIGGLES

That's what's known as a nervous laugh.

Argh!

And that's a scream.

The bugs live down in the Animal Adventure area.

-Hi, girls.

-BOTH: Hi.

-I'm Eleanor.

-And I'm Izzy.

I'm Graham, I'm a keeper here at Animal Adventure.

I look after the insects, so for your task today

-you'll need a cuttlefish bone each...

-Er!

-A nice piece of fruit...

-Thank you.

-And a spray bottle.

Mm, very mysterious, Graham.

Right now, the Rangers are going behind the scenes

to meet their creatures.

So welcome to the bug room. This is where we keep all of our insects.

I think you mean, "Welcome to your worst nightmare"!

Ooh, that's enough of that.

What we have to do here, one of your first tasks,

is check some of our animals are all still here, have their correct legs,

all their heads, and any other bits and pieces.

First we'll check our giant African millipedes.

-I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of insects.

-That's OK.

These guys are very friendly. They do have a LOT of legs.

-That's what I don't like - legs!

-It's quite tickly.

-Oh, no...

-Would you like to try holding him?

-No.

-Um, I might.

-I might.

-It's going to be very tickly on your hand.

-He'll just have a bit of a wander round...

-That tickles!

'It looks like Izzy isn't as freaked as she thought she'd be.

'But Eleanor isn't so keen.'

-That's terrifying.

-'The next one should be easier.

'It's just a stick insect.

'Though, not like any you've ever seen before!'

-They're big!

-They're very, very, very big.

-There you go.

-Look at its antennae.

This is an adult female

and they're always a lot larger than the males.

It's got sort of like, hooked feet.

That allows them to hang upside down.

-If she holds on tightly, you'll be able to see her.

-Cool!

'Now, the real test is about to begin. For many people,

'this is the worst fear of all.'

So, do you guys like spiders?

Eh, no.

Right up here, this is Charlotte.

And Charlotte is our Chilean rose tarantula.

-OK.

-Oh, my God.

She's very friendly.

She's just sitting in here.

(Oh, no!)

I'll just gently scoop her up onto her hand.

Don't worry, Eleanor, it's OK.

Oh, it's the thing from my nightmares.

Would you like to hold it?

If you put two hands, side by side, for me,

just like that, and I'll just gently put her on.

She won't bite me, will she?

No, she's very friendly.

She's very well used to being handled.

Again, Izzy's up for it, but Eleanor isn't.

She's not alone, though...

About one person in three has a fear of spiders.

It is called...

The first step to overcome it is just to get used to spiders.

But that takes courage... and lots of it.

Would you like to try? Like to get over your phobia?

Um, no.

Erm, maybe, if you hold her still, I might...

Would you like to try touching her leg?

-That's actually quite soft.

-I know.

Not too bad.

This is a real breakthrough.

I'm shaking hands with a tarantula.

That's kind of...

Hmmm.

If someone told me,

"How would you like to shake hands with a tarantula?", I would have

been, "Eugh!", but it's not too bad. I thought her hairs would be spiky.

They are very, very soft.

Soft as a teddy bear.

Just like a mouse, but more legs.

He-he-he-he!

Eleanor has tackled the demon of her nightmares...and won.

But the rangers' next challenge might not be so easy.

Will they quake with fear when they come face to face

with the giant slime monsters?

Stick around, to find out!

Across the park, there are animals from all over the world.

Some like it hot...

Some like it cold...

Dry is popular...

..but so is wet.

Luckily, here in Britain, you can get all those weather conditions...

in the same day!

We call it summer.

There is one animal in the park that does not care

what the weather is like. We're meeting it for the first time.

-Permission to come aboard, Captain?

-Permission granted.

-Thanks!

-Tom, great to meet you.

-All right?

-So, what is the plan?

The plan is, we are going to go to the top of the lake

and find our sea lions and we are going to feed them.

-What are we going to feed them?

-Today, we have got fish,

some mackerel in here. We have cut it up into small pieces,

we'll distribute it and you'll be able to see them jumping,

splashing and having lots of fun.

The weather is quite drizzly today. Does that encourage the sea lions

-to come out or do they come out rain or shine?

-Rain or shine.

They're not bothered by the weather. Cold, hot, windy -

they are not bothered, in the slightest.

-We've got a sea lion right here and he looks hungry.

-She is, she is.

-Oh, it's a she, is it?

-Yes, this is Nancy,

-she is our oldest sea lion.

-That's incredible.

How do they eat underneath the water?

They have got very sensitive whiskers and they don't have to see their food

to be able to find it. They have got about 1,500 nerves per whisker,

so what they generally do is, in the wild,

they will feel around with their whiskers

and they will find whatever they want - fish, whatever -

so they don't actually need to see what they are hunting

-to be able to catch their food.

-Is this Nancy again?

-Yep.

-Oh, two, now.

-Yes, Nancy here and this is Jo-Jo.

-Right.

Let me give-Jo-Jo some.

Are they quite aggressive animals?

That looked like a bit of a barney.

No, basically, they are just playing.

They want to make sure they are getting food,

so they are making sure that they get our attention,

then they can ensure that we feed them, basically,

and they want to make sure they get some food.

They're not being aggressive, they are saying, "I want food as well."

-This is Zook down here, as well.

-Let's make sure that Zook gets some.

There you go. How many sea lions have we got in here?

We have got five sea lions here in our lake.

We have got three girls here, Buster, our male bull,

and a baby sea lion, as well.

I'm quite surprised Buster wasn't the first to get his food.

No, sometimes the sea lions, they just don't want to follow the boat.

We don't make them follow. If they don't want to, they don't have to.

They are going to get fed, regardless, but following the boat

is enrichment, it is fun, so they do enjoy it,

but if they don't want to, we don't make them do it, at all.

It's been absolutely amazing feeding these brilliant sea lions,

but we are out of fish now. I've got one piece left. Fish, ahoy!

Why did Tigger look down the toilet?

Because he wanted to find Pooh.

RASPBERRY!

HIGH-PITCHED WAIL

GLASS BREAKING

-Where does a toad go to borrow money?

-I don't know.

River Bank.

Hee-haw! Hee-haw! Hee-haw!

Why did the elephant cross the road?

-I don't know.

-Because it was the chicken's day off.

HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER

Tortoises come in several sizes.

Here, they have got pancake tortoises,

which are quite small, and they have also got a real whopper...

the Africa spurred tortoise.

It comes from dry regions south of the Sahara Desert...

..and growing to over 50 kilos,

it is the world's largest mainland tortoise.

The ones here are not anywhere near that size,

but they are still very young, because the African spurred tortoise

has been known to live for 165 years.

Now, I have come down here today with Bev,

because we are going to give the African spurred tortoise

a little bit of a melony treat. I'm surprised they ate melon.

Yes, it is actually just a treat, because most of the time,

they are out here grazing, eating dandelions, anything like that,

which is all very good for them. But every so often, we give them

melon, because if we do need to worm them or treat them with medication,

-that is what we will use.

-Introduce me, please!

OK, this is biggest African spurred.

This is Mica and she is ten-years-old.

Hi, Mica!

We also have Rex, who is six-years- old and he is our little boy.

And he is just a little bit smaller, but he should actually,

by the time he is ten, be bigger than Mica,

because in this species, males are bigger than females.

She is absolutely massive!

-Not the kind you see in people's back garden.

-No.

Some people do have them as pets, but they are hard to keep,

because they don't hibernate,

so you have to keep them all year round - food, heat, light -

that kind of thing.

Speaking of feeding, how are we going to do this?

Are we going to cut it up, put it on a nice plate, cherry on top?

-What do we do with it?

-It's already sliced, so if I give you a piece

and put it in front of her. You can hold onto it,

so it is easier for her to eat.

-Make sure she doesn't go near your fingers.

-Does she bite?

She wouldn't mean to, but she gets carried away

and very excited about melons, so I wouldn't want you to get

-your fingers in the way.

-OK, fingers are back. Has she got many teeth?

-She has not actually got any.

-Have you seen the bite?!

It is actually a beak.

Her lip is very sharp, so when they bite together

it's just a beak, so she will bite it and then swallow the bit that she

she has taken off.

It feels like she is biting. That beak must be really, really hard.

Oh, my goodness.

Shall I put this down and we'll give Rex a little treat, as well?

I'm so impressed.

You can have that as a little treat, darling.

And she seems to be really enjoying it.

It's fantastic. And the feet?!

Never been so close. But we can't leave Rex out.

Rex is over here and needs feeding up,

-because he is a lot smaller.

-He is a lot smaller, but does eat a lot.

-He is grazing away there.

-So, same thing with him?

-Yes.

I love their necks.

That skin is not hurting. Just pulling it back?

-Yes, just in lots of layers.

-Here we go, Rex.

Here you go, Rex.

Fancy a bit of melon?

He likes that!

I tell you what,

that's one piece for Rex, one piece for Mica, erm,

-I think there is some left over for us, Bev!

-OK!

Come on, then!

When we left our daring duo, sisters Izzy and Eleanor,

they had triumphed over the terrifying inhabitants

of the bug room.

Ah, that tickles.

I'm shaking hands with a tarantula.

But now, insect keeper Graham has hatched

a dastardly plan to test the rangers to their very limits.

They'll need nerves, and stomachs, of steel to handle

the giant slime monsters.

OK, these are our giant African land snails

and your task today is to help me take them all out, count them,

wash them, clean their enclosure

-and put it all back together again.

-Oh, wow!

So we will take them out, one by one. We'll be very gentle.

-Will we be able to hold them?

-Yeah, you can hold a few each.

Put your hands out. OK?

GIRLS LAUGH

It's slimy, but it's lovely.

What was that?!

It's slimy, but it's lovely.

-We'll take them out, one by one.

-Oh-ho! Yes!

Whoa! Not only have the rangers not freaked,

they really love these gargantuan gastropods.

That's the posh word for slugs and snails.

-Hello!

-This is so cool!

Weird!

That one just nibbles me.

OK, there is a sponge each for you. Make sure you give their shells

-a bit of a clean.

-We're sponging a snail.

-Giving a snail a bath.

-Wouldn't they drown in the water?

They will if you leave them in for too long,

so we have a nice dry pot over here, so once you have washed them,

if we bring them out and while we wash them, we check that

their shells are nice and not cracked.

-He looks OK...

-OK.

-..I think.

So we'll leave these guys in the pot, while we clean out their main tank.

-You'll need a bucket.

-A bucket.

-And you will need a shovel each.

-A shovel.

-OK?

While Izzy and Eleanor are busy cleaning out the house,

I'll tell you about the giant African land snails.

They are the largest snails in the world,

grow to almost half a kilo in weight

and up to 38cm long.

They live in the forest, where they spend all day buried underground,

-and only come out to feed at night.

-This is fun.

-Quite fun.

It stinks a lot, though.

It's cool, because you are making a little snail a house.

That's quite fun, making a house for a snail.

Graham gave the rangers three things...

The spray bottles, for cleaning,

the snails will eat the fruit, but what about the third item?

Right, I think we have one last thing to put in

and that is our cuttlefish bone.

OK, do you want to put one piece in each?

Put one at each side, just so they can eat the cuttlefish.

Cuttlefish bone contains lots of calcium, which the snails need

to grow their shells.

OK, let's put them back in. They've turned in, all joined on

to each other, so try and pull them off. Pull... Pull.

There we go. That's it, OK.

Do you want to put them back into the tank?

Would you like some slime?

THEY LAUGH

Snail slime.

Eleanor really loves that slime.

Eugh!

But now, as soon as they have washed their hands,

the rangers can tell us what they made of the day.

Being an insect keeper was very creepy,

but still very fun.

'Eleanor and Izzy were fantastic.'

They were really enthusiastic.

They didn't like some of the bugs, but still gave it a go.

'I liked stroking the spider. I never though I would like

'stroking a spider, but it felt good to overcome my fear a little bit.'

I enjoyed a lot more than I thought. I thought I'd be much more scared

than I actually was.

-# Let it rain

-Let it rain, let it rain on me

-# Let it rain

-My tears will fall and flow out to the sea

-# Let it rain

-Let it rain, let it rain on me

# Let it rain. #

You might thing that life is easy for a keeper.

All they do is frolic around with animals in the sun.

But on horrible days, like this, there is work to be done.

I am here with Ryan, to find out what needs to be done.

-What do we need to do?

-What we are doing today is starting to get

nyala boxes sorted out.

Nyala have had a great spring and summer out there,

but now the weather has turned foul, like this,

we need to start bringing them in at night.

So, we have got this area bedded down.

-We need to fill this hay rack for them.

-OK.

We'll put four in here tonight,

then we need to bed another box down, for another two.

Shall we start doing that now? Where are nyala from?

They are from Africa - antelope from Africa -

but they range more, sort of, Southern Africa, really,

so it is fair to say that these guys,

during the day, they are in hot temperatures, but at night,

in their natural environment, it can get quite cold.

So, that's not a problem in itself, but obviously,

the English cold is a lot different to an African cold. It is quite dry

and cold in Africa, but here, obviously,

-it is just miserably wet.

-Can that be quite dangerous for certain animals?

Um, well, yeah, because, obviously, the wetter something is,

the faster it will lose its body heat.

-Right.

-So, you know, it can lose its body heat several times faster

than just on a dry, cold day, so we really have to pay attention

to animals in this sort of weather. If we signs of shivering,

quite often, we will bring them in early, get the heaters going.

We've done well this year, because we've had a lot of youngsters,

but we have to be careful with them.

The adults seem to acclimatise to our weather.

Once they're fully grown and strong and healthy,

we feed them the right feeds and they can generate a lot of body heat.

The youngsters suffer more in cold weather, so we have to be careful.

Are there many more enclosures we have to bed down?

We've just got another box to do for a couple of nyala and that's it.

Let's get on with it. Any excuse to keep out of that horrible weather!

-Can I bed down here tonight?

-If you like!

Cold winds and driving rain may be uncomfortable,

but most animals seem to cope.

However, for some youngsters, like the new flamingo chicks,

too much bad weather can be a matter of life and death.

The keepers have been trying to get the flamingos to breed,

and this year they hit on a cunning plan.

They swapped their eggs for wooden ones,

took the real ones away to be incubated in safety,

and then swapped them back just before they hatched.

The trick worked,

and a few weeks ago there were 15 chicks in the park.

At first, the fluffy, grey babies were doing really well.

And then the weather took a turn for the worse.

Lashing rain and strong winds have hit the region

and that's been terrible news for the flamingo chicks.

Over half of them have now died.

The deputy head keeper for this part of the park

is Sarah Keefe.

Unfortunately, we have lost some throughout the weeks,

just the other week we lost about four, all in one go, unfortunately.

We're down to the seven we've got.

The trouble is, the chicks' feathers aren't waterproof yet.

When they get wet, they get cold.

The flamingos do have a house they could go inside,

but just like in the wild, they spend all their time outdoors.

Rain or shine.

They love a lot of sunshine, it's good for them, they're quite young,

so a lot of rain and wet weather is not so good for them.

It gives them, because they're so young,

the chill does get to them quite hard.

That is, unfortunately, what's doing a lot of them in.

In the bad weather, it might help if the parents took better care.

But they are all young and inexperienced.

In fact, these are the first chicks that most of them have ever had.

Every now and then they seem to forget that they've got babies,

you'll see them wander off, they're very much a flock animal,

so if the majority of the group are moving off,

they'll move off and leave the chicks.

In the wild, it will be normal for only half of the chicks to survive.

And the flamingos seem to accept it.

But here, the bad luck with the weather

has come has a blow for the keepers.

It's always disappointing,

when you go through all the work of incubating them,

they go through the work of sitting on the eggs. You follow that process,

and then to lose them at the last bit is very disappointing.

But there's nothing we can do.

They'll get better, and hopefully, as the years go on,

our breeding success will get better.

The seven chicks that remain are the strongest ones.

They're growing fast.

There are signs that the weather may soon improve.

So hopefully, they're now past the worst.

Though Sarah is still cautious.

They're never out of the woods.

The really dramatic time is the first week,

which is when they can have infections, when they hatch.

We've got past that milestone with these seven.

Obviously, weather conditions could be better.

But, I mean, I'm optimistic.

Fingers crossed, basically.

We'll be keeping our fingers crossed, too.

Look out for updates later in the series.

Right, all you players, make a note of this!

Snow 11.

That's today's cheat code for the Roar game on the CBBC website.

Type that in and see what you get.

Food, trees, new animals or even extra areas.

And did you know you can show off your parks to a friend?

Click the "send to a friend" button and fill in the blanks.

It's good to share. Happy gaming!

As hoped, better weather has come to the park.

So now, we're back outside, enjoying the view.

It seems the flamingos aren't the only large birds

that have recently had chicks.

It's almost the end of the show, but we couldn't finish

without catching up with some of the strangest chicks on the park.

And I'm not talking about Rani! I'm talking about the ostriches!

I'll give you strange, here's Andy!

Only joking!

-How are you?

-Not too bad.

Look at these fellas! Or ladies.

How are they doing?

Fantastically, doing so well.

It's Mum and Dad's first clutch of chicks as well.

Everything is going perfectly.

-Pecking away there.

-These guys have grown so quickly!

They do, baby ostriches grow amazingly fast.

It must be painful!

Growing pains!

You have a day off, come back and they've got bigger. It's amazing.

Have we got any names?

We have, actually.

As Mum and Dad are Gavin and Stacey, after one of our favourite TV shows,

we've got Bryn, Nessa, Smithy and Chinese Alan.

Right after the show, I love it.

-Bizarre names!

-They are! But kind of fitting though.

You guys are quite close to them.

Are Mum and Dad expecting more chicks?

It will be next spring, they'll another clutch next spring

and we can have some more babies next year.

By next spring, these guys will be massive. Will they be fully grown?

They're normally fully grown about 18-months-old

and by two-years-old they'll change their plumage.

The males will get darker and the females will stay grey.

It's lovely to seem them, they look like happy families.

Just pecking away out here. We've had a great time too.

Sadly, it's time for us to say goodbye.

Check out what's on the next episode of Roar.

-Here, chicky-chicky.

-Don't do that.

When it's dinner time on the Savannah,

there's nothing the lions like better than a nice, chewy buffalo.

So when the park's lions spot this pair of buffalo,

will they go in for the kill?

We'll see the world in a whole new way

when the keepers get a thermal imaging camera

to reveal the animal's secrets.

And down in the batcave.

We'll find out the difference between the harmless fruit eaters

and the blood-sucking vampires.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail [email protected]