Episode 22 Roar

If you're nervous of bugs, look away now because on Roar today,

we meet a creature which has been unchanged

for over 300 million years.

It comes out at night, is armed with huge claws,

several pairs of eyes and a deadly sting.

Meet the emperor scorpion.

Hello and welcome to Roar. I'm Rani and just down there's Johny.

Johny, the show's started. Are you nearly out, mate?

I've been here before. I'm never going to get out of here.

Are you sure this is the right way?

Johny, six steps forward, 30 steps to the left,

my left not your left, and then do 30 steps to the right.

You'll be sorted.

-We'll leave him to it and get on with today's amazing show.

-Rani!

If I can ever get out of this maze,

I've got a swimming lesson booked in with the baby otters.

So far, they've only paddled in the sink but today,

they're going out into the big pool.

She's absolutely terrified

but will Amy be able to conquer her fears and handle a scorpion?

I feel sick!

And we meet a dragon that can eat with no hands. No, not you, Rani.

But we start today with some of the park's scarier creatures.

The keepers at Animal Adventure are a brave lot.

They have to know about and handle every animal in the collection.

Keeper Amy Moore is cool will almost all of them,

from fluffy bunnies to slithery snakes.

But sometimes, even fearless keepers have phobias.

And Amy is simply terrified of scorpions.

It's the pincers that I don't like, especially...

Scorpions are really fast anyway.

They're sideways-on and it's the whole pincer...

I just don't like it. I find it foul.

Scorpions use their pincers to hold their prey.

Then their stinger or telson, as it's called,

whips over their back to inject venom into the unlucky insect.

Whilst an emperor scorpion's venom is deadly to a small bug,

it's not too dangerous to humans.

In fact, it's similar to a bee sting.

But Amy's extreme fear of these prehistoric insects comes from

a bad childhood experience with a completely different animal.

When I was younger, I went to the beach with my parents

and under some rocks there was a small... Well, at the time

I thought it was a large crab,

but it was a small crab and I picked the rock up and I didn't expect it.

It ran out and it grabbed me on the ankle. Yeah, tears galore.

So, I think that's where it's come from and all this time,

I've steered clear of any animal like that.

Steering clear of scorpions wouldn't be a problem

if Amy wasn't an animal keeper, but to do her job properly,

she must be able to handle all the animals, including scorpions.

The idea and thought of handling scorpions

makes me feel sick to be honest.

I can't explain to you.

It's really....hot flushed,

and I just, I don't know, just, yeah, palpitations.

Today on Roar, Amy is going to try to get over her phobia

and hold a scorpion in her hand for the first time.

The whole thought of it makes me feel sick!

It may be just too big a challenge but the woman to try to help her

through it is senior scorpion handler, Kim Tucker.

Amy is very, very frightened.

The last thing I need is Amy being even more frightened

than what she was when she came in.

That's completely the opposite of what we're trying to do.

If she panics, it could be disastrous

for both Amy and the scorpion.

The worst thing that can happen is either Amy freaks out

and throws it in the air or it stings her.

To do her job, Amy must try and overcome her fear.

First, she must hold a scorpion.

Then, get brave enough to show them to the public.

But will she be able to do it? Don't go away.

Now for something a little softer

and certainly cuter, the baby otters.

I've watched them grow up

from their first trip outside to their first dip into the sink.

But this morning, keeper Bev has asked me down

to the otter enclosure for a very special event.

They're going to learn how to swim.

-Bev, I've come with my arm bands and rubber ducks.

-Brilliant.

-Are we going to be needing them?

-We might be, yeah. Why not?

I'll pop these in here for now. I've got to say,

these are my favourite little animals in the park.

-They're lovely, aren't they?

-There are so cute.

I think they know they're going to go for their swim,

so they're getting really excited at the moment, as you can see.

-How old are they now?

-They are nine weeks old now.

Shall we let them out and teach them to swim?

We'll let them out

because they're going to get really excited coming out.

Will they head for the water straight away?

Or are they nervous about it?

They'll probably need a hand getting in

so we have to pick them up.

That's it, just lift one up.

We'll pop them in and they should start swimming, hopefully.

I hope so.

Otters are connected with water, they're specially adapted for it.

But look, they're just putting their heads under the water.

-Yeah.

-They opened their eyes not long ago.

How come they're able to look under the water?

It's just the way they're designed.

They're very good at having their eyes open.

Also, holding their breath.

As you can see, they're still learning how to do that.

I've got a special underwater camera

so we can see what they're like under the water.

I'll just pop that in this way. That's incredible about their eyes.

How can they keep their eyes open under the water?

It's just the way they're designed.

When they go under, it doesn't hurt their eyes.

Also, holding their breath as well, they close their nose off as well.

-I think that one has had enough.

-Ah!

Also, if you look at the tail as well,

they use their tail to help them swim.

Also, the webbed feet. Here we go.

Why is it so important the baby otters learn to swim?

They'll actually go in water, shallow water, to hunt basically.

They go in and will use their feet to feel around to find food

as well as hunting on land as well.

It's really important for them to get used to it.

-For their survival I suppose.

-Definitely.

Not every otter is going to have their very own Bev in the wild,

so who would teach them to swim in the wild?

Basically Mum and Dad.

What they do, they take them by the scruff of the neck

and basically chuck them in the water.

That's when they've got to learn quickly to swim.

Mum and Dad go back in and drag them out.

They keep doing it until they get the hang of it.

-Is that what you've been doing with the otters, in a way?

-Yeah!

-You've been Mum and Dad to these guys, haven't you?

-I have, yeah.

It's hard work but worth it seeing them grow and going through

the stages of their life, it's brilliant.

Any hints when we might be able to introduce them to Mum and Dad?

When they're fully weaned, a little bigger, that's when we'll start

introducing them to Mum and Dad.

They do call out to Mum and Dad now as well so that's quite nice.

It looks like they want to come out now.

They're shivering a little bit.

-Who have we got here then?

-That one is Kasim, that one there.

If you wrap them up and dry him off a bit, he might be a bit wiggly.

Come on, Kasim.

Isn't that just the cutest thing you've ever seen

in your entire life?

You know what? I think these guys are all nice and dry now.

-Shall we pop them back?

-Yeah, let's pop them back in the box.

-Yeah.

It's always such a pleasure to come

and meet the park's cutest baby animals, the baby otters.

Thank you so much for that.

But the babies are facing some tough times ahead.

Next time we see them on Roar is when the keepers try

and reunite them with their parents but will they accept them?

Where do hamsters come from?

Hamsterdam.

Baa!

-What type of band is a monkey in?

-I don't know.

A swing band.

Ba-dum-boom-chh!

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

-What animal needs oil?

-I don't know.

A mouse, because it squeaks.

It's Ask The Keeper time and in the hot seat today

is deputy head of big cats, and tiger expert, Bob Trollope.

Bob, you're looking fighting fit but mentally, are you nervous?

-Very nervous.

-We've got loads of questions for you now.

-Who's going to go first?

-What are the names of all of the tigers?

Well, this one here's Sundari.

And we've got two out in the paddock, that's Showri and Svetli.

What kind of tigers are these?

These are what we call Amur tigers. They used to be called

Siberian tigers because that's where they came from.

So what does Amur tigers mean then?

It's the far east of Russia that they come from. It's just their region.

How long can a tiger keep up its fastest speed for?

That's a good question.

Well, the fastest? They can only keep it up for a few seconds

because they use a lot of energy creeping up on their prey

and then they make a quick dash to catch them,

so it's very short bursts but about ten seconds, I should imagine.

Really good question, Miranda. Well done, you.

-How fast can tigers run?

-How fast can they run?

That's another good one.

Well, they can run to about 25-30 mph

which is very, very quick in kilometres.

That's about 40-45 kilometres per hour.

That's fast, isn't it? That's faster than my car.

-How many teeth do they have?

-Unless they've lost any, they have about 30.

Bob, being this close and they're opening their mouths,

do you ever check their teeth or brush their teeth even?

No, we never brush their teeth obviously

but this is a very good way of checking their teeth.

Because these are little chunks

and you can look in their mouth when they take them.

They sometimes chew on the bones when we feed them

and they do break bits of teeth, especially their canines.

If she opens her mouth, you can see the big canines there.

Very quickly but they're all intact so they're healthy.

Bob, so far you've got the eye of the tiger

but now it's for time for your killer question.

Are you ready for this? Give us one moment.

-Are we ready to take Bob on?

-Yeah!

Bob, it's time for your killer question.

OK, our programme is called Roar.

Lions roar. Do tigers roar?

They do.

Can we have a tiger impression?

Roar?!

We've heard Sundari roar and it's louder than that.

-Give us a loud one, Bob.

-I've got a sore throat.

-Oh, Bob.

Thumbs-up or thumbs-down for Bob?

It's thumbs down all round!

That was harsh. Bob did brilliantly on the questions

and just in case you were wondering, this is a tiger roar.

For keeper Amy Moore it's time to come face to face with

her worst nightmare. She has a terrible fear of scorpions...

..which she must overcome to be able to do her job.

I feel sick. I feel very sick.

You'll be fine. No worries, promise.

-Ready?

-Yeah.

So far, Amy hasn't even been able to look at a scorpion

without panicking.

With keeper Kim on hand to help her, she's about to try.

You have to remember they're very fast, they run forwards,

backwards, sideways, all over the place

so you needed to be prepared for that.

He's been a bit quick this morning

but once he's on your hand, he's fine.

-All right?

-Yeah.

Sick, sweating.

I want to do it, yeah, I've got to get over it.

She must try and keep calm.

These scorpions have never stung any of the keepers

but they do have a stinger full of venom

and if Amy panics and frightens him, that's when he'll attack.

Right, just keep your hands nice and still.

It looks so much worse than it is just because of his pincers.

All right? He's going to go the wrong way now.

-Oh. Yeah.

-All right?

-Yeah.

-There you go.

That's it.

There we go. Well done.

-That's it.

-I can't look at him!

-That's all right!

-The pincers!

-It's all right, he's not going to use them, don't worry.

She's done it! How brave was that?

But that was just her first challenge.

She needs to pick the scorpion up and show him to the public.

We'll be back later to see if her nerve holds.

Now for a ROAR love story.

When Gavin met Stacey earlier this year,

there was an instant connection.

At first, they were just good friends,

but, as time went on, their relationship developed.

They were both young, but they decided to start a family.

Soon, Stacey had laid a clutch of huge eggs,

and they took it in turns to sit on them.

Stacey did the daytime, Gavin took the night shift.

Six weeks later, four beautiful chicks hatched.

We were there when they took their first steps.

I've come up to help with feeding time. And just look at them now!

You join myself and head keeper Andy at a frantic moment.

We're about to feed the ostriches,

and they're a little bit dangerous, aren't they?

-Particularly the male.

-Is he protective of his family?

Extremely. She can be, to a degree,

but she's a little bit more easy-going than he is.

We'll actually get back on the truck now, because he's on his way.

You don't have to tell me twice, Andy! Right, OK.

No offence, but these aren't exactly my favourite animals.

-But that scene there is quite a beautiful thing.

-I like the ostrich.

They're pretty cool. The speed that these chicks grow...

You guys have watched them almost from hatching.

Here we are and they're such an amazing size.

You take a few days off, and they're bigger when you get back. Incredible.

Do they always eat the solids, as soon as they hatch?

Yeah, after a few days, they'll start pecking around

and they'll take seed heads and bits of grass.

And they learn by association.

-They watch what Mum and Dad do.

-What have we got here?

This is pelleted food for them,

which is what we give them for winter time.

I've noticed we've put the food in one pile.

-Is that just for our camera?

-No, we always feed them like that.

The ostrich get on extremely well, and they'll all eat together,

plus we're getting them feeding closer and closer to the barn,

so when it gets colder, we open the door and put a pile of food inside,

and they'll go into the barn in the evenings when it's chillier.

You've got the unenviable task of training an ostrich.

That can't be easy, cos there's not much going on up there!

With these guys, it's forwards, backwards, eat, stop, sleep.

That's about as much as they can do.

So they're not the brightest.

I mean, an ostrich's brain is in fact smaller than its eyeball.

They're not that bright. But these things are tough as old boots.

And they do very, very well.

Well, the food seems to have lured the ostriches over, Andy.

They seem to be enjoying it, but it doesn't work for me.

-Fancy joining me for something a little bit tastier?

-Definitely.

Back at Animal Adventure, and Amy is facing her fears.

So far, she's managed to hold a scorpion.

Now she has to get one out of its box on her own

and without being stung.

I'm just worried that...I'm just going to provoke him to pincer me!

-Don't be silly. All right, are you ready?

-Yep.

-Yeah?

Just pop your hand next to the side of the box.

-I'll be with you.

-OK.

-That's it.

There we go. Well done!

-I don't believe I'm doing this!

-Well done! That's fab!

Oh, this is crazy. I never thought I'd be doing this.

-So you don't need me at all!

-It's so weird. It's so weird.

I never thought I'd be doing this. For me, this is just crazy time.

I almost feel like I'm in a dream.

All because of the pincers!

-Ooh.

-It's all right, don't panic. Don't panic.

I thought he'd have my thumb. Sorry, mate.

There you go. Pop him back in the box

-Well done! That was brill!

-Thanks, Kim.

I'm so sweating! God, I can't believe that!

My mum's not going to believe that. I didn't think I could do that.

You don't have any limits. I feel like it's not real,

cos it was something I'd avoid,

but I'm really proud and glad I've done it now.

It was a massive, massive step.

The fact that she's done it, I am so, so pleased.

But there's still one more challenge to overcome,

and this is the toughest one yet.

On her own, Amy must take the scorpion out to meet the public,

and she mustn't show her fear.

Will she succeed, or will this story have a STING in its tail?

It's Chico time for the ROAR game. Today's secret code is...

Type that in and see what you get. It could be treats, new animals

or even a new enclosure. Happy gaming!

If I told you that there was an animal that could

catch its prey without using its hands, would you believe me?

-Well, Sarah is going to prove it to us today. Hi, Sarah.

-Hiya.

Who have you got here, then?

-This is Bruce, our Australian bearded dragon.

-All right, hiya, Bruce.

He doesn't say much.

OK, well, I'm saying he can catch his prey without using his hands.

What kind of food is it, then?

-I've got some food here.

-Right.

-This is the type of food they eat.

We've got dandelion leaves, because they've got a lot of calcium,

which they need.

-These are mealworms. And crickets in here.

-OK, then.

We're going to feed this, and we hope to see this long, sticky tongue

and no hand action at all. Can I help in any way?

-Do you want to hold him?

-OK.

I'm glad you didn't say, "Hold the crickets"!

-How do I hold him?

-That's it, like that.

-He's quite spiky, isn't he?

-Yeah. He has very rough skin.

They come from quite a hot, dry area, so that protects them.

And he's quite nice and warm, as well. All right, then, Bruce.

What's this fella going to get first to eat today?

Well, I've got a black cricket here, so we'll see if he'll take this one.

Hopefully we'll see him in action. Ooh!

Is he interested?

-Is this something he'd normally eat?

-It's very quick, isn't it?

The tongue's really thick. I imagined something quite long.

Yeah, bearded dragons, they use speed to catch the bugs,

whereas a chameleon has a very long tongue

and would get it from a distance, because they're not as fast.

-If I put him down, would he run after his food?

-He might do.

Shall we try that? OK, here we go.

OK. Now, in the wild, we talk about him being in quite dry areas,

so what kind of food would he be looking for?

Did you see that?!

He'd eat mainly bugs in the wild. They love their bugs.

They do occasionally eat salad stuff, but they do love their bugs,

actually, bearded dragons.

Ooh, straight to the plate! Is it quite sticky, then, the tongue?

Yeah, it is. You can see when he brings it out,

the way they kind of scoop the food back up in their mouth.

It does stick to the tongue as he brings it back in.

Does he have teeth?

Yeah, they've got lots of very small, triangular, but very sharp teeth.

Cos some of the bugs they eat can have quite hard shells on them.

When we offered the food, he wasn't keen,

but putting him down there and seeing the movement,

he's really loving it, isn't he?

-He's not going to eat too many, is he, and get too tubby?

-No.

I'll put him back in a minute cos he probably would eat until he could!

Well, it is really impressive to see him eat without his hands,

but he's not the only one who can do that.

Take a look at this.

Behind the scenes down at Animal Adventure, keeper Amy

is fighting to overcome her terror of scorpions,

because today is a big day.

For the first time, what I'm going to do now is take out the scorpions

and do some scorpion handling by myself with the visitors.

Obviously, I'm a bit anxious and a bit nervous,

because I've not been on my own with them before.

My phobia is obviously... I still don't like them

and, by choice, I probably wouldn't handle them,

but it is part of my job and something I have to overcome.

so you just have to just do it, really. I'm going to be very brave.

Showing animals to the public is an essential part of a keeper's job.

The trickiest bit is this bit, yes.

This is where everything could go really well or really wrong

and I could drop them and not pick them up properly.

So it's just getting the handling technique right.

-But Amy's come a long way, and her handling technique is spot-on.

-Phew!

That is the worst bit over, yeah.

That was quite easy.

She was quite kind of calm, just sat there, didn't really do a lot.

Amy must stay calm and confident to put others at ease.

If you put both your hands together... Put them quite flat. OK?

And I'll just kind of walk her onto you.

She's gentle, she's quite docile,

so she should sit still.

-There you go. She won't sting you. It's fine.

-OK.

-There you go.

That went really well.

I handled that a lot better than I thought I would.

Does she get a vote of confidence from the public?

I felt nervous. I thought it would sting me.

Amy told me it wouldn't sting me.

She made me feel very relaxed.

I would never have guessed she had a phobia. Well done, Amy! Good job!

I think now I can say, yeah,

I can handle pretty much any of the animals in Animal Adventure.

Obviously, still not crabs, but any of the animals

that we have at Animal Adventure I'm pretty confident with now.

So that's really good.

She's done it!

So next time you're scared of spiders, remember Amy

and how she conquered her fears.

Before we say goodbye for another day,

we thought we'd pop down to Sea Lion Beach - whoo-hoo -

and help Sarah give the sea lions some sea-salt tablets.

-Hi, Sarah!

-Hiya!

-They've all come out to greet us,

and they've come out for their tablets.

Why are you giving them sea-salt tablets?

Obviously, the sea lions out in the wild, they live in saltwater.

-Right.

-As you can see,

we've only got a freshwater lake that they live in,

so we need to replace that salt that they would get

in their natural habitat.

We do that in a form of a tablet in their fish.

-Well, who have we got here?

-This one's Nancy.

-Hi, Nancy!

-Nancy is desperate! Can we help in any way?

-Yeah.

I'll give her a salt tablet, and it's over to you.

-So the salt tablets are actually in the fish?

-They are.

-Right.

-They're put into the fish in the mornings.

I've just fed a sea lion. That's incredible! That's amazing!

We do have more out here somewhere.

-You've got to make sure everyone gets one.

-I do.

-Can I chuck a piece to Buster?

-You can.

OK, Buster, are you ready for your fish?

-Yes!

-On your rock, J.

-Who's that?

This is JJ, and the one behind there is Zook.

-Ooh, my goodness. Are we safe, Sarah?

-You are safe, yeah.

They're more interested with scrapping with each other

than coming near us.

You've got a little one here as well, Riley.

Is he not going to come out for his tablets?

No, Riley's still a bit young to be on fish.

He's still on Zook's milk, if you want to throw her a fish.

-Sorry!

-Don't miss Zook!

So he's still feeding off Mum, and until he's about eight months.

-How's Riley getting on generally?

-He's doing really well.

He's starting to venture out a bit further into the lake now,

They get a bit more playful, a bit more adventurous.

I just got really excited

when a hippo popped up to say hello as well!

-Oh!

-He really did! I got a bit nervous.

We have got a lot of fish to get through here.

-Are they going to eat all this?

-Yes!

-They're calling for it.

-They're getting hungry.

You guys check out what's on the next episode of ROAR.

It's like an argument between me and you, Rani!

Next time, the prairie dogs are getting a new enclosure.

But will the keepers ever be able to stop them from escaping?

I'm going to be meeting one of the oldest gorillas in the world,

Nico the silverback. But will he be a grumpy old man?

And the meerkats go digging for their breakfast.

Will they manage to tunnel in, or are they just going to scrap?

If these were kids, I'd be going,

"Stop! "There's plenty for everyone."

Don't miss it!

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