Episode 3 Roar

Today, on Roar.

Riley, the baby sea lion, is going in deep water for the first time.

But he's just three days old. So, will he sink or swim?

Hello, and welcome to Roar. I'm Rani and behind me, well, that's Johny.

But he's been no use ever since he figured out he could cuddle a tegu.

-Johny, Johny. Johny!

-Oh, sorry. Hello, everyone.

This is Diego the tegu. He's a good little tegu-wegu. Cudley-wudley.

Johny, stop with the cuddle and let's got on with today's show.

-Oh, can't we just stay a little bit longer?

-Johny, N-O, no.

-Let's get on with the show.

-Oh, but he loves me.

Coming up, today.

Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun and Vlad the Impaler.

But are they as scary as they're cracked up to be?

Can a tapir scoff a melon whole?

The tapir-tickling team are out to get some answers.

When you're learning to talk rhino...

-Rosina, move up.

-..You've got to be very careful you don't say

the wrong thing.

I would never, ever dream about challenging a rhino.

On one side of the park, is Half Mile Lake

and that's where you'll find...

..the rowdiest gang in the place.

The keeper in charge of them is Mark Tye.

We've got five Californian sea lions in this lake, here.

We've got the male, who's Buster.

He's about 15 years old and he's a fully grown male.

That means he's huge.

Buster is two and a half metres long

and weighs almost a quarter of a tonne.

That's like two big fridge freezers put together.

Then we've got all the females. We've got Jo Jo, Nancy and Zook.

And little two-year-old, called Jazz. They are sea lions, not seals.

It's very different.

Sea lions have external ear flaps, which seals don't.

They have little holes. On the side of their head.

They can run on their flippers, whereas a seal has short,

stumpy flippers that it can shuffle along on its tummy.

Whereas a sea lion can run and chase you.

And can run almost as fast as you can.

But their speed on land is nothing to what they can do in the water.

They can swim at over 40 kilometres per hour,

which is quicker than the fastest sprinter on earth.

You can see from their shape, they're very streamlined

and torpedo-like, so they can cut through the water very well.

The main thing they use to navigate is their whiskers.

Obviously, it's quite dark and murky in the water,

so their eyes aren't a lot of use.

They can't see much, but they can feel vibrations in the water

from their whiskers and use that to guide them to their fish.

But the sea lions here get their food from the keepers.

And for Sarah, feeding time is hardly a quiet affair.

Not with Buster about.

He is a big, old, noisy boy, for sure.

To be honest, he's one of the best sea lions we've got here.

He's a really nice chap. You know, he's really kind and gentle.

Obviously, big bull sea lions can sometimes be quite manly

and quite aggressive sometimes.

But he's soft as anything. He really is soft as anything.

He's a really nice character.

He's really nice to all the girls in the lake.

We do have some squabbles,

but 99% of the time, they're OK with each other.

But now, everything is about to change with the sea lions

because one of them is pregnant.

We are expecting a young arrival any day now, hopefully.

That's going to be born to Zook.

That's going to be her third pup with us,

so fingers crossed it will come along soon.

They've had sea lion pups here before, but not for a while.

So, the excitement is building.

They're incredibly cute.

It's always nice to have little youngsters running around.

So, I'm quite excited.

But sea lion births are fraught with danger.

The newborn pups can't swim, so the mothers must give birth on land.

But that's where they're most vulnerable.

In the wild, many pups don't survive.

So, stick around, because very soon, we're going to see what

happens with Zook when she has her new pup.

You pest. And I'm not talking about Rani.

It's so annoying when you've got flies buzzing around you,

but we're lucky enough to be able to knock them

off with our hands.

What happens if you're a rhino? I'm here with keeper Adrian.

-How you doing?

-I'm all right, thank you.

You've come up with a solution to this problem.

Yes, we can put some fly repellent on them.

That will help keep the flies, it doesn't cure the problem totally,

but it gets most of the problem away from them.

What's the plan, Adrian?

We've got Rosina ready to come into this holding pen

so we can actually work some cream around the eyes.

And some spray across the back.

OK, well, she we call her in then?

Yes, and I'd like you do to that, Johny.

Brilliant, well, how do I do that?

Well, we use the command, "To move up,"

-and that's asking her to move forwards. OK?

-Yeah.

With your command, it's not actually going to be a command.

I don't want you to put no challenge in your voice.

If you do challenge a rhino, she's going to be there,

"I'm not going to do that for you."

So, it's just a matter of fact.

I would never, ever dream of challenging a rhino.

Right, OK, so how do I do it?

-So, it's like, "Come in, Rosina"?

-No, no, "Rosina, move up".

And as soon as she does do what you've told her to do, "Good girl."

You reward her with your voice.

-"Good girl, well done." OK?

-Yeah, I'm feeling, I'm excited.

-OK?

-Are we ready?

-Ready. No pressure.

-OK.

-Here we go. Ready, Adrian?

-Yes.

-Rosina, move up. Move up, Rosina.

Good girl. Move up, Rosina.

Move up.

Good girl.

Good girl. Move up, Rosina.

Good girl.

-She's a good lass, isn't she?

-Well done, Johny.

-Wow.

-See, you're a trained keeper already.

-That was incredible.

Oh, my gosh.

I can speak rhino.

Adrian, this is all well and good for rhinos here at the park

-but, in the wild, they wouldn't have insect repellent, would they?

-No.

They have some birds that help them, to do their manicuring for them.

They have the oxpecker and the egret.

They will help pick off the ticks. They love the ticks, these birds.

So, they very much provide a good grooming service for them.

Well, it's incredible to have learnt how to speak rhino

and to have put some fly repellent on a huge animal, such as this.

This has been brilliant and I think Rosina is looking pretty fly...less.

It's now time for Ask The Keeper and this lot are ready

and raring to put Ross on the spot.

Now, Ross, you're going to be answering

questions about Brazilian tapirs, just like Jessie, here.

Honestly, Ross, between me and you,

I think these guys just want to have a go at tickling.

-Yeah.

-Ask your question as well, Luke.

What part of the world does the tapir come from?

This is a Brazilian tapir. There are four types of different tapir.

One of them's Malayan, one's Baird's,

we've got Lowland and Mountain.

Most of them are brown,

apart from the Malayan, which is black with a white stripe around it.

What's an average weight of a baby?

The average weight of a baby is around about 6 or 7 kilogrammes.

How old's Jessie? Cos there's no way she's 6 or 7 kilogrammes.

No, Jessie's about 300 kilogrammes.

She's 14 years old and she'll live to around about 30.

Can I have another tickle?

Course you can, carry on, like you're stroking your pet.

Uh-ha-ha-ha. Why are you tickling Jessie the tapir?

Because in the wild,

I'm presuming you don't go along and tickle tapirs.

-Why do you do it here?

-No, no.

We do it cos she'll stay still for us as we're tickling her.

She'll lie down like she is now, all comfortable.

We can check her over really well. That's the main thing.

As she rolls over, you can see her legs, her feet.

-Just check her over properly.

-Wow.

-Can tapirs swim?

-Yes, tapirs are very good swimmers.

They spend half their day in the water.

They use their nose as a small snorkel.

If a predator, like a jaguar or a puma, is attacking them,

they'll run straight into the deep water where the jaguar won't follow.

Cos cats don't like water.

What food do they eat out in the wild?

In the wild, they'll eat twigs, fruit that falls off the tree,

things like that.

And also they eat aquatic plants.

Here at Longleat, we'll give them bits of fruit, some peri nuts.

Actually, Bev here has actually got a cantaloupe melon

that we could give Jessie.

Do you cut it? Peel it?

-How we going to do this?

-We'll give it to her as it is.

They've got very strong jaws. So, she'll be able to eat that.

Take the melon. Just put it by her head.

She's very lazy at the minute

so she probably won't take it out your hands.

Put it down, let her know it's there.

Will she smell that through the skin?

-Yeah. They've got very good smell.

-She's smelt it. She's up.

-Will she eat it with the skin on?

-She'll eat the lot.

She'll eat every part of it.

Obviously, in the wild, what you can find is what you can get.

Best thing to do, they'll eat the skin and the seeds.

They'll eat everything that's in it.

While Jessie enjoys her snack, we're going to use our melons

and come up with a killer question for you, Ross.

Got it? Yeah, happy? All right then, OK.

-We have a killer question for you.

-Go on then.

-You look so nervous.

-I am nervous.

We're not going to be mean to you, Ross. You've been great so far.

Go on then, Luke.

What's the tapir's closest relative?

Closest relative would be the rhino and the horse. Is that right?

It's right!

We all thought maybe it was a cross between an anteater and a pig.

It's quite hard to tell.

There's a lot of different traits from different animals

that you can see. But it is the rhino and the horse.

OK, thumbs up or thumbs down for Ross? One thumb up, two thumbs.

-Oh, we're going two. Any more, any more?

-Thank you very much.

-Look at that. Take a bow.

-Thank you.

Back by the lake, there's been some news.

Do you want to come with me? I've got something special to show you.

This is Zook.

She's a seven-year-old female Californian sea lion.

And she's now just proudly given birth to her third baby.

Everyone's over the moon.

But Mark needs to keep a close eye on Zook and the baby.

The only thing is, is firstly, that the mum bonds with the baby.

Then, that they suckle.

We've just seen, it's just rolled over

and I've just been able to see what sex it is and it's a little boy.

The pup's two days old and already has increased in size.

When they're born, they're really saggy and flappy.

And it's already filling out quite nicely.

So, obviously suckling very well cos you can see,

it's really nice plump and round.

And it's two days old and if it wasn't suckling

it would like a bit of a carrier bag with nothing in it.

Looks really good.

She's turned out to be a model mother. She is a really good mum.

She's obviously, she's wet at the moment so she has left it.

She's been quite comfortable

to leave it on its own already, which is a sign of a good mum.

You know, normally after two days,

they're ready to go off and do their own thing.

But she won't leave it for long and she'll always come back.

Zook is getting some extra fish

because feeding a baby sea lion is very demanding.

It's mother's milk only, at this stage.

They'll take mother's milk up to a year and then what we do is we take

them away just before that, at about ten months, and wean them on to fish.

Up to that point, they'll just suckle from their mothers,

take their mother's milk and that's a very fat, very rich milk,

which is why they grow so fast.

Zook seems to be a relaxed mum, but Mark still has his concerns

because very soon the pup will be taking his first swim.

It's an important step,

though it could happen on purpose or by accident.

Cos you always worry that they might fall in when the mum's not around.

They might sit in the water for a long time panicking.

And that could be very dangerous.

Stay tuned to see what happens

when the pup meets the water for the very first time.

Why did the frog go to the hospital?

To have a hop-eration.

What's a crocodile's favourite game?

Snap.

-Twit-woo.

-Twit-woo.

What did the...? Ha-ha.

If this is Timon. Here's Pumbaa.

This is the warthog,

a wild member of the pig family that comes from Africa.

They've got three of them here at Longleat and they're brothers.

I'm in the warthog enclosure with deputy head keeper, Ryan.

We're about to give the warthog brothers a feed with a difference.

-Right?

-Yeah, we are.

So, what's the difference? Cos I think I know they love apple

-and pears already.

-Yeah, they love their fruit and veg,

but normally we just scatter it around the section.

Today, we're actually going to try and bury it,

just under a little bit of straw.

Just to encourage more of a natural behaviour

of them foraging around and having a dig through something.

Right then, let's start burying apples and oranges.

So just put them anywhere in the straw?

Yeah, just hide it under there.

I haven't even looked to see if the warthogs are here.

I'm keeping an eye out, don't worry, they're not too close as yet.

OK, well, the fruit is in here, just one last pear.

Let's back off cos I'm presuming they don't come over

when we're standing next to it.

They'll probably be quite nervous about coming over.

Let's go over here and we can have a chat

and we can wait for them.

But we have left a mini-camera, hidden in the straw,

to get some good close-up shots of Genghis Khan,

Attila the Hun,

and Vlad the Impaler.

Though, Ryan reckons the brothers don't really live up to their names.

Are they quite frightened animals?

-Or quite cautious animals, then?

-Yeah, naturally they are cautious.

I mean, they're a prey animal in the wild.

Lions, leopards,

hyena will all prey on warthogs so they have to be careful.

-They are brothers, aren't they?

-Yes, all out of the same litter.

So, is one of them a little bit more dominant?

Cos this one seems to be bounding over to our haystack.

Yeah, we've got Vlad and Genghis, are quite brave.

Attila's a little less nosey, but they're shy,

yet inquisitive at the same time,

which must be a constant struggle for an animal.

No, it's funny, isn't it?

They look quite aggressive, but they're not naturally like that.

-They're just defensive if you pressure them.

-Look.

They're going over to the haystack now. They're cautious of it.

They keep giving it a little look.

It is something different, isn't it?

Yes, of course.

And if you do have predators after you in the wild,

anything that looks out of the ordinary or unusual to them,

could be the sign of a predator.

So, it's always really in their interest just to be cautious.

Not sure about cautious, I think these guys are more of a tease.

They keep coming over and then running away.

I keep getting really excited.

The fact that they keep coming back to the same spot means that

they're interested in what we've done.

I'm sure they can smell that fruit, there.

They're probably just interested in the pile of straw itself

cos it's something new for them to interact with.

Once we've probably moved away a little bit further,

I'm sure they'll be all over it like a rash.

So, on that note, shall we get out of here, then,

-and give these guys some peace?

-Lovely.

-Thank you.

There are loads of great games on the CBBC website, but there's

only one that lets you run your very own wild animal park, the Roar game.

Now, make a note of this.

That's today's cheat code.

If you're a regular player, you'll know what to do with it.

If you aren't, it's time you found out.

Get along there and check it out.

Happy gaming!

Down in the Animal Adventure area,

there are all sorts of unusual species.

But they also have some that are often kept as pets.

And those animals need just as much looking after as

the most exotic ones.

Aah, there's nothing like a good scrub in the tub

to make you feel good.

And there's one animal, here at the park, that needs it more than most.

I've popped over to meet keeper Jo, to find out what it is.

-Hello, Jo.

-Hi.

-How you doing?

-All right.

-Who've we got here?

Right, we've got Sherman, who's the exceptionally large tortoise.

And we've got little Julie, here.

Are they are a particular type of tortoise?

These are Spur-thighed tortoises. If someone's got a tortoise as pet,

you'll normally find that, nine times out ten,

that it'll either be a Herman's or a Spur-thighed.

The reason why they're called Spur-thighed is,

on the back of their legs, they've got these spurs.

What are we going to be doing with what's her name again?

-Julie.

-Julie, beautiful Julie.

Right, well, basically tortoises have to have a scrub.

You have to scrub the shell.

Their shell is made very much like our skin.

-So, it's made up of thousands of pores. It breaths.

-Wow.

So, sometimes, if they're in the garden

and they're having a good, old stroll about, they get a bit muddy.

OK, well, I'm going to help you give these guys a clean, then.

-Shall I take Sherman, here?

-Yeah, she's pretty heavy.

-So you've got to be quite careful with them then?

-Yeah.

Shall I pop her in here?

All you've got to do is just tilt her upwards.

-OK, yeah.

-You'll have to cos she's big.

And then, just, kind of, don't drop her totally in,

but hold her up a bit at the front.

-OK, like that.

-And then you get your brush.

-Yeah.

-That's it and give them a little, light scrub.

-Pretty gently, OK.

-Yeah.

I mean, out in the wild, would they spend much time,

sort of, around the water?

Yeah, I mean, they would come across water.

They do, they don't like going for a swim or anything like that.

They can't swim. But they will sit, sometimes, in the water.

I'm not sure Sherman really suits her, Jo. Why Sherman?

Well, do you know what,

a lot of the time, a lot of people get the sex of their tortoise wrong.

I think the keepers that used to have Sherman thought that she was a boy.

-But she's not, she's a girl.

-Poor Sherman.

Am I doing all right, there?

Because I've never bathed a tortoise before.

You're doing a grand job, it's nice and shiny,

you've got all the mud off. You've done a great job.

-So, all done?

-Yup, all done.

People have tortoises at home,

would you recommend that they bathe their tortoise regularly?

Absolutely, especially when they're outside in the summer time,

in the mud.

They can't soak in the rays from the sun and the heat,

if they've got clogged pores. You always need to give them a scrub.

Apart from scrubbing.

Three top tips for all the people watching at home

who have a tortoise.

Right, OK. Steer really clear of tomato and lettuce for feeding.

It's absolutely no good. It's all water.

They need weeds, dandelions, thistles.

Give them a good scrub, like I just said.

And the cuttlefish.

Get some cuttlefish, from a pet shop.

Really important for the shell, the calcium.

You can grate it on their food or just leave it on the lawn for them,

so they can have a nibble.

Brilliant. Well, top tips there, Jo, thank you very much.

I think Sherman's done with her bath time and I think, now,

I need my bath time.

-I really do. Thanks, Jo.

-Bye.

Back at Half Mile Lake, Zook's little pup is now three days old.

And Mark has given him a name.

We've decided to call him Riley.

Irish name from an Irish mother sea lion.

So, that's how he came that name.

Riley was born on land and he's never been in the water.

Even for a sea lion, learning to swim can be a difficult time.

The first plunge is a big moment.

Most of the time, that's normally by accident.

Sea lions are very inquisitive.

So, they normally walk to the edge of the beach and slip in.

So, I think this one's already had a little look around.

It's quite wet around its head.

It's obviously gone and stuck its nose in the water.

It's probably only a matter of time

before it actually makes that dreaded slip in.

Riley just isn't sure about the water.

It looks like he wants to take the plunge, but has he got the bottle?

Good move. He's gone for the shallow bit first.

And just a quick splash into deeper water.

It's instinctive to flap your flippers in the water,

sometimes it's not instinctive to shut your nose and close your mouth.

And they do have to learn that a little bit.

Sometimes you hear them coughing and spluttering,

where they've ingested a bit of water.

Now, he's getting used to the water and he's ready for the deep end.

And within minutes, he's done a length of the beach.

Well, that was his first swim, there. And, I mean, that's great.

It can really get on.

You can see, it's almost instinctive. Flap flippers.

That's what they're there for.

They work really well in the water.

Not too bad on land, but much better in the water.

And you can see, he's up and down the beach, no problem at all.

In fact, Riley has taken to swimming like, well, a sea lion to water.

Lovely to see a new pup on the lake, like this.

This is what we have the group here for.

We've got the big male, Buster, and all the females.

It's nice to see them breed and have healthy offspring.

But now, Riley is only three days old and he's got a long way to go.

We'll catch up with him later in the series.

It's almost the end of the show, but before we go,

Rani, I've got a bone to pick with you.

Funny that, Johny, I've got a bone to pick with you.

Oh, yeah, and what's that then?

You two, I've got a lot of bones you can pick with me.

Shall we go? You'll need these.

-We've got to go and pick up the wolves' breakfast.

-Ooh.

Fair enough.

Last time on Roar, I helped Bob put the meat out

for the park's pack of wolves.

And when they got stuck in, you could see

there wasn't going to be much left.

Look at the size of that!

When I give bones to my dogs at home, they eat them.

Why haven't they eaten the bones?

Well what they've done, is they've scooped all the meat off them.

They chew on them to clean their teeth.

If you look down here, they take all the marrow bone out.

-It smells really bad!

-It's not the best smell in the world.

-Oh, don't, don't, it stinks!

-Oh, yeah. Why did I do that?

-So, they don't eat the bones.

-They don't eat the bones.

They crunch them up into small bits, to get to the marrow bone inside.

And so, where are the wolves now? Just to be clear.

There, they are, just in the background. Keeping an eye on us.

Can I just point this bone out, it's absolutely massive.

This is something that Johny'd be working out with in the gym.

I don't know.

-Has one wolf eaten all the meat off this?

-Probably, yes.

-Wow.

How often do they get fed? Cos this is quite a lot of meat.

We try to mimic the wild as much as possible and feed them

two or three times a week.

We can supplement that with other things.

What happens when wolves are hungry?

Do they start circling, or anything like that?

Just to make sure.

When they're hungry, they will, sort of, sneak up on their prey

and the hardest thing is to obviously get their prey to move.

Cos it's a lot bigger than them.

You think that the bison, big deer, elk, moose.

The hardest thing is to get them to move.

Once they've got them moving, they'll wear them down,

they'll exhaust them, then they'll kill them.

-And then eat them.

-And are they hunting in packs?

They always hunt in packs. You very rarely find a lone wolf hunting.

Bob, you had a bone to pick with us and I think we're all done.

There's only one last thing to do. Rani, fetch.

I'll give you fetch.

Well, that's bye from us.

Why don't you check out what's on the next episode of Roar.

-Johny.

-Shall I go get my bone?

Next time on Roar.

The keepers must rescue three baby otters to save their lives,

but they're only hours old and their chances are looking thin.

The Roar rangers are tackling the rhinos.

But can they cope with that much poo?

And there's a prickly situation when we discover the porcupine

has more deadly weapons than just the quills.

Goodness, he's got massive teeth! He's got big, long teeth!

So, see you next time.

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