Episode 29 Roar

On Roar today, it's the great parrot talent show!

We'll meet Bobby, Jake and Matilda!

They all want to be stars,

but whoot the X-tra talent to win the judges' hearts?

Hello, and welcome to Roar.

I'm Rani and this is Johny.

-But I don't know what he's doing!

-SCREECHES

-Johny!

-What? I'm talking to the sea lions!

It sounds like a really interesting conversation, what's going on?

They're saying, "You have got a brilliant show coming up."

I'm saying, "I know, shall we get on with it?"

Sounds like a plan!

Coming up today:

There's a hair-raising moment

when MC the snake goes AWOL in Johny's afro.

All right, hang on, hang on. Keep still.

A new sea lion has come to the park,

but the vet's been called because she's got a problem.

Grrrrr!

And Toby the Roar Ranger must feed the killer carnivores.

He's going to need nerves of steel

because he's going right in with them!

HE HOWLS

Hello, and welcome to the Parrot Talent Show,

the show that's hoping to find Longleat's most talented parrot.

That's right, Johny, so let's get this talent show on the road.

Come on in, John, with your first parrot.

OK, good afternoon, judges, this is Matilda.

She's going to count.

This will be interesting to see, I hope Matilda pulls this off.

OK, so before we get started

I actually need a number between one and five, so Johny?

-Three.

-OK, three.

Let's try that. Matilda, are you ready?

Can we please have three bell rings?

Are you ready for this? Can we have three.

RINGS BELL TWICE

-Do you want another go at this, John?

-Bit of stage fright.

Let's give Matilda one more go. Come on Matilda, you can do it.

You've got everyone rooting for you.

They're giving us another chance. Can we have - ready -

can we have three bell rings. Go.

RINGS BELL SIX TIMES

Next parrot.

OK, so we're going to go on to the next parrot.

This is Jake, and he's not going to do any counting,

he's actually going to drive car.

Jake has his license and he'll be driving a car.

This sounds impressive.

Obviously it's not going to be a fully sized car.

-Jake owns his very own parrot sports car.

-Woo!

Jake, you going to go for a spin in your car, mate?

Can you go for a bit of a drive? Come on, Jake.

Come all the way down the table.

-All right!

-You, Jake, are what this competition is all about.

So he came out, and I was so nervous when I saw that car, and then...

he just looks like a regular parrot, and then he just started to drive the vehicle!

Difficult act to follow. Who've we got coming up next?

Bobby, right on the end here.

Bobby is actually going to do an impression.

He's going to do an impression of a fruit bat.

Wow. This should be interesting.

# Batman! #

Oh, Jake! Jake's trying to upstage his mate.

Jake's actually completely upstaging Bobby. Bobby, don't stand for that.

Do yours as well. You can't let Jake upstage you.

Oh... There we go.

Wow! I thought that was great, Rani.

You see, for me, I just don't think his heart was in it.

Thanks, John.

We're going to have a little think about the act.

Hey, John, we're going to put you out of your misery.

But there can only be one winner,

so we can reveal the winner

of the Parrot Talent Show is...

Jake.

Congratulations, Jake, in the end you squawked it.

You were beak and claws above the rest.

You proved you are not a bird brain.

So you are the winner of today's competition.

Here at Longleat, there are five Californian sea lions

swimming loose in Half Mile Lake.

Buster, the big male.

Three females - Jojo, Nancy and Zook.

And the new baby who's been making a splash. Little Riley.

# Splish-splash, I was taking a bath

# Long about a Saturday night... #

This series, we've been following Riley's progress,

but now there's a new sea lion on the way.

Though this time, it's not a baby.

Keeper Sarah Keefe has the news.

Today we have a new sea lion arriving, very shortly hopefully.

A one-year-old female.

We have lost a couple of sea lions over the years, through old age.

Also we need new females so we can get some more babies in the future.

So it's all about keeping the group going.

But the new girl won't go straight in the lake with the others.

She needs to get used to the place first.

We'll keep her up in a separate holding pen in another location.

Just giving us a chance to get to know her,

letting her get to know us, before we throw her out

into the big wide world of the lake,

and meeting all the other sea lions.

Right now, Sarah's looking forward to meeting her.

Oh, it's always exciting to get new animals in.

Definitely. Always exciting for us.

It's exciting for the other sea lions as well,

to have a new person about.

But, yeah, looking forward to it.

I believe her name is Sally. Sally the sea lion.

It all sounds pretty straightforward,

but Sarah will soon discover that looking after Sally

is not going to be so easy.

What goes 99 plonk?

-Don't know.

-A centipede with a wooden leg.

What do you get when you cross a skunk with a table tennis ball?

Ping pong.

Baaaaa!

Where do sheeps like to go on their holiday?

I don't know.

Baa-bados!

Our Roar Ranger today is Toby, and he's ready to go wild!

I want to be a Roar Ranger because I really love animals.

Grrrrr!

I would like to work with lions and tigers

because they're really beautiful.

Not to mention a lot larger than the pets Toby has at home.

Now let's find out what's 'lion' in wait for him today. Get it?

"Toby, today you are going to feed the tigers, lions and wolves.

"It should be a meaty experience!"

HOWLS

Yes, lions, tigers and wolves. The awesomest things on earth!

He's also going to be working with a pretty awesome keeper - Bob Trollope.

The first thing we've got to do

is put the meat on the truck, so let's go, right?

Bob makes it look easy, but those chunks are huge and slippery.

That's it, it's heavy, and if you can just chuck it in there.

Lions, tigers and wolves are carnivores.

They eat almost nothing but meat.

To get it in the wild, they have to hunt, chase and kill.

So they're armed with deadly weapons -

razor-sharp teeth and claws like knives.

And now Toby's about to meet them from the prey's point of view.

I feel excited,

but scared. It's just going to be fun if they don't eat me!

First up are the Amur tigers.

These magnificent cats used to roam free across large parts of Asia,

but now they're only found in the far east of Siberia.

They've been hunted by people and suffered badly from habitat loss,

so they're an endangered species, with less than 500 left in the wild.

Here they are.

They're just trying to get to the feed wagon at the moment.

The reason why they're chasing it, they're hunting this truck.

Here she is.

Having a bite on the tyre, look.

-We better give them some food, don't you think?

-Yeah.

Let's get over here then.

All right, now we have to use this stuff.

There you go, I'll give it to you. Got it?

Yeah.

And another piece. This is really heavy, this one.

Got it? Whoa!

This is almost as tall as you.

An adult tiger can eat up to 27 kilos of meat in a day,

and if they did that for a week,

it would be like scoffing more than five Tobys!

-That was just brilliant! It was just amazing!

-Did you really enjoy that?

Yeah.

But the tigers are just the start of Toby's meat feast.

It's time to feed the lions, and they're really hungry.

They've been called the King of the Beasts

and they used to be big all over Africa.

But like the tiger,

hunting and habitat loss have taken a toll,

and now the lion is classified as a vulnerable species.

Here in the park there are two separate prides of lions,

and they have to be fed one at a time.

Go on! Go on!

Go on!

There they are!

-They are massive!

-Really good, aren't they?

Never seen a lion up this close before.

Haven't you? You don't want to get any closer

because you might be their dinner then!

The lions here haven't forgotten how to hunt.

They still chase their prey and work as a team.

We could fit you down there, couldn't we! Shall we?

No!

It's just really fun to watch the lions chase the vehicle

when it's driving along with all the meat in it.

It's just amazing.

And when the meat is all out and every lion has a piece,

it's a chance for Toby to get a really good look at them.

See what they're doing?

They hold it with their claws, their claws are very important,

and they hold the meat still, and then she'll pull pieces off.

And her tongue is very coarse, very raspy.

A lion's tongue is covered in tiny rough spines,

which means they can lick the meat right off the bones.

It's amazing this massive beast is just eating in front of us!

But Toby isn't finished yet,

and the last carnivore is the really scary one.

When you're feeding these guys, you have to get out of the truck.

Looking after young and old animals can be a full-time job,

but how do you look after an animal that isn't even born?

-I'm here with keeper Jo... Hi, Jo.

-Hiya.

..to find out how you do this.

-Who have we got here?

-This is Poppadom.

The pancake tortoise.

Yeah, that's it. She's one of our female pancake tortoises, yeah.

-So is she pregnant?

-Well, she's not any more...

-Oh?

But I do have something to show you in this box here.

All right. Have we got baby Poppadoms?

We might do.

-If I show you in here, this is our incubator.

-Oh, my goodness!

We have some eggs in here and these are obviously pancake eggs.

-They look huge!

-They do.

Yeah, from something very flat, yeah, they're quite long, aren't they?

-They are.

-They actually kind of lay them, kind of every,

four to six weeks.

They don't lay them all in one big clutch, like a normal tortoise,

because they're very flat and can't store all those eggs in their body.

How long will it be before they hatch?

Well, with pancake eggs it's really, really weird,

because, unlike a Mediterranean tortoise you can normally say,

so many days, with these we've found that it can be anywhere

-from kind of three months to six months.

-Really?

Yeah. With these you've just really literally

got to keep them in the incubator and just kind of be very patient.

OK. shall we put the lid back on so they don't get too cold?

So how long before those tiny little eggs become as big as poppadom?

Well, I've got two more to show you here, Rani. Give you an idea.

-Hello, you.

-Ones that we hatched earlier on in the year.

-We've got Kwanza here, who's nine months old.

-Nine months!

Yeah. And we've got Kanwi, who is actually, believe it or not,

look at the size, is six months.

So Kanwi's kind of taken over Kwanza at the moment.

That is unbelievable.

-So he's nine months and he's six months.

-Yeah.

So they grow quite rapidly, then.

They do. It's more of a gradual growth.

You look one day and you think "Oh, they don't look that big,"

and then maybe go away for a couple of weeks and come back

and they do look noticeably bigger.

Well, Jo, it's great, and I'm really looking forward to coming back.

Before I leave, can I check they haven't hatched?

I'll have a little peep. They're all still there.

You know, I'll come back every day, just keep checking

if that's what I've got to do. Thank you.

Sally, the new sea lion has arrived at the park, and is being kept

in a pen away from the others while she gets used to the place.

Keeper Sarah's really pleased, but there are a couple of things

she's a little bit concerned about.

We noticed obviously that she's got some bald patches on her,

a lot of fur loss down to the skin.

We've never seen that here before.

It is quite common in other collections as well.

Obviously they go through a yearly moult where they will drop their fur.

We've never seen to it this degree.

It's not just her fur that's worrying Sarah,

she's off her food too.

Sea lions here are fed mackerel,

but Sally's never had that kind of fish before.

Where she came from, she was primarily fed herring.

It does take time to get them used to a different sort of fish.

It doesn't take them too long to realise that

"Ooh, this tastes nice as well."

But to be on the safe side,

Sarah's called in the safari park vet, Duncan Williams.

Is she actually itchy at all, scratching those areas or...?

No, not too much. They don't seem to bother her too much.

She's in pretty good condition, isn't she? Good size.

Yeah. She's looking nice and healthy there.

Sally's condition, that is her muscles and weight,

is more important than her other problems.

She's got these horrible bald areas which we are not used to seeing,

but I don't think that's too much of an issue.

I think that will grow back

when she comes into the cold weather later in the year.

I think the eating,

going off her food a wee bit,

it tends to happen with sea lions when they are moved around,

when they're put in new cages. It's probably a stress-related thing.

As she settles in and gets used to Sarah and Mark

and the yard and conditions here,

she'll probably eat normally again soon.

Condition-wise she's great.

She's very relaxed, and she's a lovely little individual.

Let's hope the other sea lions think so too,

because very soon the new girl will be meeting them

for the first time down in the lake.

Will they welcome Sally or take against her?

We'll see what happens later in the series.

Calling all you gamers!

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

By the way, have you checked out feeding time yet?

Just click on the link and follow it through.

And when you get to the end you might earn an extra treat for your park.

Happy gaming!

I've done some strange things while presenting on Roar,

but few things stranger than this,

cos one animal at the park is going to get a beauty treatment.

It's time for a pygmy goat pedicure.

-How are you doing, you all right, Bev?

-Hi, Johny.

-I've brought my nail file.

-Right, maybe you won't need that.

I think these are more for the job.

-I knew that, it was just to make you laugh.

-OK!

So, yeah, do we try and capture one, or...?

Basically, we've got our three mums and five babies here.

They're only seven weeks' old, and due for their first trim.

I'm not sure how it's going to go, but we can catch one of the babies.

They are so cute, these babies.

-Are they quite friendly, can I just pick one up?

-Yes.

Come here, little one.

Here we go!

I'm going to go for this one, this kind of bigger one.

There you go. Good boy or girl. Right, OK.

You've got Jerry there. He's a little boy.

Put him down on the table.

If you can hold him nice and tightly,

he hasn't had this done before, so he might wiggle a bit.

I'm guessing you have done this before?

-I have, yes.

-Anything that I definitely do or don't need to do?

Just make sure he doesn't move when I'm holding his foot.

Is that all right?

-Yeah, OK. Is it causing any pain?

-It's not causing any pain at all.

You're just snipping off the side of the hoof cos it's got a bit long.

Cos they're in a grass paddock

it doesn't get worn down very well like wild goats' would.

Why is it important to do this?

You wouldn't want them growing too long because then they can get...

Sorry! I'm so sorry!

It can get discomfort for them

and you could get some foot rot in there as well.

You have to keep them nice and short.

-How often will you do this?

-We try and do it every four to six weeks.

Do they know when it's pedicure time?

They do, but they get extra nuts

and lots of treats to get them in this catching pen.

They like that bit but they don't like having to stay still.

Is it easier to do the younger ones or the older ones?

The older ones, cos they're used to having it done.

Jerry's too wiggly at the moment, but every four weeks we'll do this

and he'll get better and better.

I think that's Jerry done, is it?

-That's fine.

-There you go, Jerry.

Good boy.

He's happy now. That's one down, a few more to go.

I thought before we do the rest of them,

my toenails are getting a bit long. Do you fancy...?

No. Maybe not.

So far today, Toby the Roar ranger has helped keeper Bob

to feed the tigers and two separate prides of lions.

Taking them their meat is safe enough inside the wagon.

But Bob and Toby's next customers are the wolves.

And to feed those guys you have to get out -

right inside their enclosure.

Toby's up for it, but does he have the muscle?

Come on!

That's it. Now pull!

He's got the muscle, he just hasn't got the weight.

That piece of meat is almost heavier than him!

If you push, I'll pull.

Ready? Go on, then.

They need a big piece of meat cos there's lots of wolves here,

and they're very hungry.

Toby can come out here with the wolves

only because he's with a trained keeper.

Bob's very experienced, and knows these animals inside out.

What will the size of the prey be when they're hunting?

Well, you look at the size of them.

They could take something down five to ten times bigger than them.

Something like a bison.

But surprisingly, wolves are very cautious and

they won't come over to the meat until Bob and Toby have moved away.

What they are doing now is just sniffing where we've been

walking around, just to make sure it's safe to go in and eat that.

You will find one of them will come in and he will test it

to see whether it's still alive or not.

If it's alive, it could get up and kick them and hurt them.

So they send one in just to see whether it's dead

and then the rest will come in and eat.

Which is the most dominant out of all of them?

The most dominant one is called the alpha male.

That's that one, the white one

walking over there with two tips of his ears missing.

As soon as he starts eating,

the others will come in and start feeding.

Although wolves don't exactly have table manners,

this is not a free-for-all.

The alpha male and alpha female

make sure that everyone behaves themselves at mealtime.

Toby, what noises do wolves make?

They howl.

HE HOWLS

I think you've got them worried, Toby.

It's time for the Roar ranger,

or rather Howl ranger, to head off.

Hang on, the job's not finished yet.

There's only one thing left to do now.

That's actually wash the feed wagon out.

-Are you up for that?

-Yeah.

-Right.

Toby, you're doing so well.

I'm going to leave you to it and I'll go for a cup of tea.

Cheers, mate.

HE LAUGHS

My favourite bit was the lions, because they were beautiful.

I think it's one of these things

that you won't forget in a long time.

It's something that he can tell his grandchildren -

that he's actually fed lions.

Being a big cat keeper today was amazing.

Before we leave you today, we thought we'd slither up

and meet keeper Jo and her pals, the corn snakes.

-Hi, Jo.

-Hi.

-A little bit greedy - two snakes.

-You can help me out.

-Share the love!

-You can have Orville.

-Nice!

And this one is called MC, which stands for mischievous.

-And I get the mischievous one?!

-You get that one.

You say they are both corn snakes -

they are such different colours. Why is that?

They are both corn snakes

but they come in lots of different colour morphs.

It's just the way they come out.

Lots of colourations - reds, yellows, oranges, golds.

HE SCREAMS

-Is he in your hair?

-Where's he gone?

-He's all right.

He does knot your hair, though.

-He does that to me.

-I thought he'd bitten me.

Keep your head still.

God, it is as well.

-Hang on, keep still.

-If you let him keep going,

won't he follow through?

I'm going to let him keep going through.

-If you let go...

-The many dangers of being a Roar presenter.

He's coming, he's coming.

Why do they like to go in these kind of small spaces?

Because of the warmth.

Around your neck and your hair,

anywhere it's warm, in your armpits, wherever!

-So they are finding my Afro pretty warm?

-Yes.

Look at this! This is incredible.

I've done some things in my time,

but I've never had a snake caught up in my hair.

-I think he's trying to tell me I need a haircut.

-Here he comes.

THEY CHEER

That's brilliant. I've got to ask, because that was a bit hair-raising,

are they dangerous snakes?

Not at all, totally safe.

They are constrictors, not venomous.

Once they've caught their prey

with their mouths, they squeeze it a little.

Before he gets any more ideas, we should sneak out of here.

Why don't you lot check out what's coming up

on the next episode of Roar?

Next time... Harriet the barn owl is an OAP,

but she's coming out of retirement and going back to flying school.

Are you never too old to learn, or will the training go horribly wrong?

Ferrets are cute, cuddly and adapted to squeeze through small holes.

But how small can they go?

I'll be finding out.

And we've got some more tall stories

when this lot quiz keeper Andy on his giraffe knowledge.

That is the most ridiculous question ever!

That's all on the next Roar.

Don't miss it!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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