Episode 33 Roar

Today on Roar...

So far, Kaiser, the baby giraffe, has been thriving,

but unless he gets a vital inoculation,

his health could be at risk.

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

-And I'm Rani.

And just over there is an African white-backed vulture.

And Johny, let me tell you this, when they get scared,

they can vomit up stomach acid to scare off predators.

Mm. That sound lovely(!) In fact I might start using that.

-Actually, I'm feeling scared now...

-No, Johny! You're...

Oh, I'm not hanging around for this! Let's get on with today's show.

Coming up...

We'll be catching up with the biggest baby in the park,

Ebun, the baby rhino.

I'm going off to flying school with Harriet the barn owl.

Hello!

But while Rani and Harriet are bonding,

me and Matilda just can't seem to hit it off.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Now, once a week at the safari park,

the vet comes to check up on the animals.

With nearly 1,000 individuals to look after,

there are always a few who need a bit of expert help.

Today, vet Chris Mangham is on duty.

And he's allowing us to follow him on his rounds.

First stop this morning is the giraffery,

where the new baby giraffe, Kaiser, needs an inoculation.

It's to prevent him getting lungworm,

which is a common parasite in many domestic animals.

But with a giraffe - even a baby one - it's not going to be easy.

It's not just a case of giving him an injection.

We've got to actually stick it in his mouth.

And despite being a baby, erm...

I think he'll be surprisingly tall at this stage!

So we'll see. I think it'll take a bit of man-handling.

We'll try and reach his head and get it down his throat.

Head of section, Andy, has assembled his team to help keep Kaiser still.

Kev, Mark, Luke on the crush board.

The safest and least stressful way to do this

is to hold him in a corner using a board.

Let's get it done, then.

Steady, steady, steady, steady.

He's going. Right, in...

This might look a bit brutal,

but it's the safest way of giving Kaiser the vaccination,

which will stop him picking up a potentially deadly disease.

The whole thing takes just a few seconds.

And now Kaiser can return to his mum Imogen.

It went pretty well, actually.

You just saw, we got loads of people in

so that he can't hurt himself.

The firmer you hold him, the quieter they go.

As you saw, when we grabbed hold of his head,

he did stand pretty still.

Unfortunately, we have to do it again in a month.

And he'll be a bit bigger and a bit wiser to it, so...

as to how it goes then, probably not as smoothly.

There's no time to think about that, though,

as Chris's next patient is waiting.

Over this series, we've been following

some very special new additions to the park, the four baby ostriches.

We saw them when they were just hatched.

But now, two months later, just look at them! They're massive!

But today, one of them has an eye infection.

A quick shot of antibiotics and some special eye cream...

..and this little chap is ready to go back out to join his family.

With so many animals to care for, the vet round is always busy.

Next up is the lions, where we'll catch up with Chris later on.

The animals here in the park eat some strange old things

but when head keeper Darren told me to bring eggs

to feed the armadillos, I thought he'd finally...

cracked.

-How you doing, Darren?

-Oh, well done, mate.

What's all this about eggs and armadillos?

I've asked you to bring some eggs

as this is a favourite titbit for our armadillos.

Normally, they eat bugs. Can you see those?

Yeah. Wow, they're live as well!

-They are. They love a juicy bug.

-What are these?

These are mealworms. Do you want to jump over?

Can I jump over? Is that OK?

See? Running up to meet you straight away.

-They're not shy, then.

-Well, they have poor eyesight,

but they've got a brilliant sense of smell

and a fantastic set of ears,

so what they can do... they can smell these whiffy eggs.

So what we'll do is... Come on the floor.

Mush it up a bit, like a cooking programme.

-Yep, yep. OK.

-Get it all in there.

And they should come over. I'll put a few bugs in there as well.

What I'll do, I'll encourage them.

-Armadillos come from South America.

-Right.

They're wonderful. They're bug eaters.

Here he comes. I'll get him when he comes.

They do go around, literally sniffing out food.

They can smell... 20 centimetres underground, they'll smell a bug.

-So they'll dig it up.

-I can imagine them smelling mealworms,

but I mean... Eggs? Would they find eggs in the wild?

-It's... Oh, arrgh! Oh, look, quick!

-Shall I grab one?

Yeah, just pick him up at the side

-and you'll see he'll instantly close in a ball.

-Oh, wow!

-You got it? You got it? Look at that.

-Incredible!

And these are the only species of armadillo that,

if I hold him like that for you, they can close completely up.

-Look at that.

-Into a ball.

Head, tail. Head, tail.

So this sort of posture, whilst it is defensive,

this is actually perfectly natural.

She's quite relaxed. That's how she is. She feels nice and safe.

As soon as we've gone, me and my big mouth,

she'll uncurl and trot around, eating her egg.

So good, natural behaviour. That's nice to see.

This is the other important thing.

Dig down here, this goes down a long way. Can you see this?

We bury stuff in here. And this is really deep.

If you were an armadillo, you'd love getting your nose

snuffling around in that all day.

That's paradise, down there. You'll find a few bugs.

So they spend their days digging, sleeping and...

hiding in balls. You can have that.

-It won't wake up for ages!

-Thanks, Darren.

It looks like the armadillos are a bit shy now.

They're not going for the eggs. But I think they're eggs-ellent!

What's worse than one cat stuck up a tree?

Two cats stuck up a tree!

THEY MAKE MONKEY NOISES

What do you call a happy penguin?

A pen-grin.

How do you get a mouse to smile?

I don't know. How do you get a mouse to smile?

Say, "Cheese."

LAUGHTER

Previously on Roar, we followed keeper Graeme

as he was retraining Harriet the barn owl

to once again fly free in the visitor area.

So, how's she doing now? I'm on my way to find out.

I've come up to Animal Adventure to meet Alexa.

She's asked me to bring my hawking glove. It can mean only one thing.

We're seeing Harriet the barn owl.

Hiya, you all right?

So, why just the one glove?

Is Harriet a big fan of Michael Jackson?

You know, what is it?

No, just basically, tend to wear them on the left hand

as most people are right handed. If she was a proper hunting bird,

we could use lures to throw with our right hand.

But also, she's these wonderful, marvellous feet.

-With no glove, you'd have a holey hand.

-Are they that sharp?

-Very sharp.

-I'm not going to feel them without my gloves on, then.

-It's just the one I need today.

-Yep.

-What will we be doing with Harriet?

-What will you show us?

-She's going to do a bit of flying.

So I'll cast her off and she'll come and land on your glove.

-Really?

-It's what we've been teaching her to do.

Do I need to learn something before you do this?

I've not held Harriet before.

All you need to do to get her to come to you is give a little whistle.

RANI TRIES TO WHISTLE

We'll to have to work on that.

-All right?

-She's going to go.

-Ready?

Let's see her in action.

Off she goes.

And then, if you just hold your hand up...

Wow, and she comes back and she'll land on here?

-OK, how do I call her back?

-Just a whistle.

RANI WHISTLES

Oh, my goodness. That's amazing!

I have to say a few things.

Firstly,

when she was coming back at me, I didn't know if she'd stop.

I thought she'd go into my face.

There's such...you know, skill, elegance, but so silent.

Yeah, absolutely silent flier. Her dinner won't know she's coming.

Cos that was just amazing.

Like, there was just nothing at all. Just...wonderful.

When she does hunt, what is she relying on?

She's got fantastic eyesight. She can see for absolutely miles.

Even in the dark, she can see a little candle light from miles away.

Being this close up, I must say, her feathers are so beautiful.

-The colours, the way they're so white underneath.

-Yeah.

But I'd like to have a go at... What did you call it,

-casting her off?

-Yeah.

-And letting her fly.

Do I need to be trained to do that or can I have a go?

Not really, she knows what she's doing.

-Just make sure her jesses are free.

-That's her, um...

Er, her little leash, if you like.

Right, so undo that. Then what do I do?

Keep hold of that for a second. She knows where she's going.

Just sort of jolt your arm in that direction.

-Just gently?

-Yeah.

-OK. Go, Harriet.

-There you go. See? She knows what she's doing.

-Wow!

-So you want to come back, Harriet?

-Harriet!

Come on, then. Harriet!

ALEXA WHISTLES

Unbelievable. And she definitely deserves a treat.

Thank you so much, Alexa, and hey, Harriet, you've been a hoot!

Up in the big cats section,

keeper Stuart is worried about a very elderly lioness.

Naomi is 22 years old, which is a good age for a lion.

In the wild, they would go up to 10-15 years old.

In captivity, they haven't got the stresses and strains of the wild,

so 22 is a good age.

Naomi is the grandmother of the pride.

But recently, Stuart's noticed that she's slowed down quite a bit.

You can see by the way she's walking there, she's quite robotic, almost.

You can see the difference between the younger animals and Naomi.

When we come through with the feeding truck,

they'll all run alongside. She'll amble up at her own pace.

When we get to the top, we always put a piece by for her

and wait for a couple of minutes until she gets up there.

So she's guaranteed to have a piece before all the others wolf it down.

To make sure he's doing everything he can for Naomi,

Stuart's asked vet Chris for some advice.

-She looks like a big, healthy cat.

-Yeah.

There's always a few things to watch out for with elderly animals,

one is when they start slowing down, stiffened joints, arthritis.

One thing you have to look out for with elderly animals is bad teeth.

In the wild, if you get bad teeth as a lion, that's the end.

You can't eat, then that's the end of you.

To a certain extent with these guys, you know,

they're eating big chunks of meat and have to be able to eat them.

Dental hygiene is still important for these guys.

-Something that's quite successful in dogs are chews.

-Right.

They've got little grains in. As the dog chews, it cleans their teeth.

Maybe it's worth a go with these guys just to keep on top of things.

You don't want to go into a lion's mouth with a toothbrush.

If we can find something for them to chew, it would be worth a shot.

In the wild, carnivores keep their teeth clean

by gnawing on bones, which helps scrape off plaque.

At the park, the lions do get bones to chew,

but as they get older, plaque can build up and damage their teeth.

I've always liked wild animals.

My dad's a biology teacher. So he's always been into it.

I've taken from him and I do love wildlife.

When I got the opportunity to come and do a bit up here,

you know, I grabbed it, I love it.

Not all the animals in the park are big and dangerous.

We'll join Chris later,

as he treats one of the park's gentler creatures.

Taking a ride on the Roar Ranger Express today is Toby.

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

Grrrrr!

I would like to work with lions and tigers

cos I think they're really beautiful.

At home, Toby's used to animals.

There's a cat called Sam, a gerbil called Jimmy and Ella the gecko.

But is there anything he's not keen on doing?

I think the worst job for a Roar Ranger is probably picking up poo.

Worst job? We think it's one of the best!

The Roar Rangers are always excellent pooper-scoopers.

Blech!

Jump to it, Toby,

and let's find out what Roar Ranger Challenge you have today.

"Toby, today you're going to be working as a wallaby keeper.

"Time to have some hippety-hop fun!"

Yay!

The Bennett's wallaby come from Tasmania,

which is an island off the south-east coast of Australia.

Our ranger springs into action and hops off to meet Corrine,

who helps look after the wallabies at the park.

-I hear you're helping me today.

-Yeah.

Yeah? We'll head into the wallabies. First, you'll to need these.

Uh-oh, gloves!

That's never a good sign!

What I want you to do, if you come with me

and have a look and see if we can find some wallabies,

collect some of their poo and put it in the pot here.

-O...K.

-All right?

Why do we have to collect poo and put it in there?

What we do is send the poo off that we collect.

It goes to a laboratory and they do analysis on it

and see how many worms'...eggs they can find in there.

This basically indicates how healthy the wallabies are.

-Right, Toby, shall we go off and collect some poo?

-Yeah!

-Let's go.

-All the stuff you can see here.

-Yeah.

This is all wallaby poo, but this is all quite dry.

What we need is to find some stuff that looks exactly like that

but nice and a bit wet, a bit nice and fresh.

The fresher the better.

With over 30 wallabies here,

at least this job shouldn't be too tough.

There's poo everywhere!

-Er, what about... What about this one, there?

-Well done, Toby.

I reckon that's a very good, fresh sample.

So if you want to use the pot and scoop it up, if you can.

Brilliant! That's our first sample, then.

Smell check, Toby.

What do you think?

It doesn't smell that bad, really. It doesn't smell like...like...

bleurgh!

Thank you very much, Toby. That is a good sample.

You can get rid of the latex gloves now. I'll take those away from you.

That's the dirty job done.

The gloves may be off, but Toby's not finished yet.

We'll catch up with him later,

when he's doing what young boys do best -

chucking stuff around and shouting.

Wallabies! Wallabies!

Oh, not again!

OK, all you gamers, it's cheat code time.

Today's secret code is rain350.

Type that in and see what you get.

Treats, new animals or even a new enclosure.

Happy gaming!

Hello!

That should be working fine, now. Just give it five minutes.

I've always been a dab hand when it comes to DIY.

But I would be nothing without my trusty tool kit.

But there's one animal at the park

that has its tool kit built already into its body.

I've come to meet keeper Amy, who will tell me who it is.

-I see parrots.

-Yeah, it is definitely the parrots.

Brilliant. So who have we got here, then?

This is Matilda on the end, we've got Fred,

and all the others here, they're macaws.

Macaws, OK. Very, very beautiful animals.

We have some melons. What are you doing with these?

What we'll do today, this will demonstrate

how parrots can use their tools and how strong they are.

We'll get a few treats, put them in the melons and see if they get them.

What nuts have you got here?

We've got peanuts, pecan nuts and we've also got some walnuts as well,

which is their favourites, there.

-You reckon they'll crack the shell?

-Definitely.

That'd be impressive. Who are we working with?

-Matilda, on the end.

-Matilda, OK.

Right, are you going to get her, Amy?

I know parrots can be a bit feisty sometimes.

Yeah, she's dying to come down.

Matilda, if you'd like to come down. Hopefully, she'll...

-Whoa, whoa!

-Matilda! It's all right, she just gets a bit protective.

I've got no... You can have it. They're yours.

Listen, I've put my tools away.

Yeah. Here you go, Matilda. Right. There you go, then.

So hopefully she'll show you... Yeah.

Explain what she's doing, cos she's using her beak.

That claw's incredible, like a clamp.

Yeah. If you look at her beak, she's got a strong, agile beak,

which they use like a third foot, essentially,

to pull themselves up trees and branches.

It's also strong for cracking hard nuts, so walnuts, pecans...

Are her feet anything like our hands? Are they very dexterous?

Yeah. Very dexterous.

They have two toes that point forwards and two pointing backwards,

which allows them to have a tight grip on things.

That is abs... Whoa, whoa, whoa!

OK, you are the number one DIY person around here.

Matilda!

-So why is she attacking me?

-She's getting protective over her nuts.

-She doesn't like it if you get close to her food.

-Right.

-She gets territorial over her food.

-I don't think she likes me.

-Why isn't she attacking you, Amy?

-Because I'm her mummy.

-Have you looked after her for a while?

-Yeah, three years.

That's incredible. How do you teach a parrot to do these kind of things?

You don't need to teach them to do this, they do this in the wild.

It's been incredible to see Matilda and her tools in action.

I think we should leave before she starts working her tools on me!

Back up at Wallaby Wood...

And Roar Ranger Toby has finished with the poo samples,

and now, it's food time!

Right, Toby, I can see a lot of wallabies now. Give them a shout.

-Can you call, "Wallabies"?

-Wallabies.

-Louder, Toby.

-Wallabies!

I don't think they heard you.

WALLABIES!

That's better. Now they're paying attention.

Right, now start throwing your bananas.

Yeah, if you just throw them towards the wallabies.

Wallabies!

Wallabies!

-Oh, not again.

-Oops. Steady on, Toby!

Steady!

A fully grown Bennett's wallaby can reach 70 centimetres in height,

which is about half the size of our Ranger, Toby.

But what's amazing is that, at birth,

a Joey is no bigger than a baked bean.

Can you see?

One there, female, eating the banana that you've given her.

-She's a little joey in the pouch.

-Oh, yeah!

-Yeah?

And he's got hair on him,

so he's probably about... I'd say about seven months old.

They normally leave the pouch at about nine months.

he's a little way to go. He'll stay with mum for a little longer.

After nine months, the joeys are too big to carry around,

so Mum kicks them out of her nice, warm pouch.

What's it like inside the pouch?

If you can imagine being all curled up,

if your mummy had like a fleecy, lined drawstring bag,

and you'd be able to just curl up and snuggle inside of that,

that's what it'd be like.

I think the wallabies are just really...funny.

Right, Toby, that's it. Thank you for your help.

You've been an excellent extra pair of hands.

-Have you enjoyed yourself?

-Yeah, I did.

-Good.

Being a wallaby keeper was amazing, because I saw a baby in the pouch,

it was really, really cute and small.

Being a keeper involves some of the worst jobs and the best jobs.

But he took it in his stride, which was brilliant.

Being a wallaby keeper is awesome!

We're following safari park vet Chris Mangham on his rounds today.

He's already given a giraffe baby a vaccination

and a baby ostrich some eye drops.

Now he's off to see one of the park's smaller patients,

down at Animal Adventure.

And today, Chris is lucky enough to be checking on an animal

that is rare for any vet to treat...

baby otters.

Now these two, Kasem and Sumalee,

have been our favourite animals this series.

They had a tough start in life.

Mum Rosie wasn't producing enough milk,

so the keepers had to step in and hand-rear them.

We followed every twist and turn of their life so far

and the good news is they're slowly being reintroduced to Mum and Dad.

But recently, the young boy, Kasem, has had a poorly tummy.

Chris was called out yesterday to see him.

Now he wants to check up with keeper Gemma

on how he's getting on.

-Basically, he's been lethargic for the last couple of days.

-OK.

Let's have him out and have a little look.

Hello, you.

SUMALEE CALLS

-Oh!

-Oh, some sharp teeth there.

-Yeah.

He has got quite a tight little belly, hasn't he? Quite sore.

We'll take his temperature again, just to see if it's gone up or down.

Okey-dokes.

All right, trouble. I know.

-That's 38.1.

-It's actually gone down.

It was nearer 40 wasn't it?

All right, let's pop him back.

Let's keep going with the antibiotics.

If he gets any quieter, give us a bell and I'll bring him straight in.

Kasem's on the mend, which is great news.

Chris loves his job as a vet.

What advice does he have for anyone else thinking of the same career?

The best bit of advice,

if you're thinking about becoming a vet is to have balance.

It's hard work. It's hard work at uni, it's...

You've got to get your grades at school.

And it's hard hours when you start doing the job.

But I find you've got to do something else as well.

You've got to have some fun, some hobbies

and you've got to go out with your mates.

A few days ago,

a very special animal arrived here at the safari park,

Ebun the baby rhino.

Johny and I have fallen in love with her.

So we couldn't leave you today

without a quick update from keeper Ady.

-Ady, how you doing?

-Hi, Ady.

-I'm all right.

-Look at her!

-She's beautiful, isn't she?

-How is she getting on?

-She's settling in very well indeed.

-Yeah?

-Yeah, she's doing very well.

-Look at that mouth.

-How old is she, then, Ady?

She's one year old.

And are one-year-old rhinos quite a handful to look after?

She is a handful, but she's not too bad. We love her to bits.

Now, with all the other rhinos here you have a great rapport with them.

-You've trained them, haven't you?

-Yes.

-What'll it be like for her?

Will you be able to train her so you can work with her,

or is she just feisty?

Oh, she's going to be very keen to learn.

A young rhino wants information, information,

-so it's like working with a blank canvas.

-Right.

And she's very keen, enthusiastic, with that little bounce.

You know, that energy, so we can use that to work with.

Are you ever having to play dad and tell her off sometime?

Yes, of course I am.

She has to learn right and wrong.

I won't be a pushover for you, will I, darling?

RANI LAUGHS

She's almost as naughty as you, Rani!

Now that's just cheeky!

OK, well, I think Ebun has a lot of learning to do,

so check out what's on the next episode of Roar.

-You're worse than me!

-Am I 'eck!

-You are!

Next time on Roar...

Johny's got a case of mottephobia...

Ugh!

..a fear of moths.

I don't like them, I don't trust them, they're like alien life.

Can keeper Gemma help cure him...

with butterflies?

Hello!

We turn detective when a parrot goes missing.

It is just a bird-brained escape plan or a bid for stardom?

And I catch up with the biggest baby in the park, Ebun,

when it's time for her bottle.

Don't you miss it.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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