Episode 5 Roar

On Roar today, the pink flamingos have been destroying each other's eggs.

To save them, the keeper must try a crafty trick

and swap their eggs for wooden ones, but will the birds be fooled?

Hello, and welcome to another amazing episode of Roar. I'm Johny.

I'm Rani. We've got a show packed full

of the MOOOOOOST interesting facts!

Oh, Rani, I've HERD that one before.

I suppose we should get on with the rest of the show.

-I think you're right. We should stop MILKING it.

-UDDERLY unbelievable.

Coming up, the keeper's in trouble...

Oh, no! That's really hard.

..cos the Killer Question's got a sting in the tail.

I'll be ferreting out some new furry friends.

And why have they got me making a sweet potato tree?

Maybe they're just having a giraffe.

But we're starting with Longleat's flock of 38 Chilean flamingos,

because keeper Mark is about to take drastic action to save the flock.

The problem is that they've never managed to raise adults from chicks,

even though the flock's been here for seven years.

We've had a couple of half attempts in the two previous years.

Last year we did nearly OK. The year before we didn't do very well.

We had a couple of eggs but nothing came out of it.

It might be because these birds are all 10 years old.

That's quite young for flamingos, which can reach over 70.

So, there are no older, experienced birds to show them what to do.

The first stage of raising young is to build a nest

and they do seem to have mastered that.

Their nests are built like a big mud pie, really.

They start off quite low and they pick a spot

where they want to make the nest and they sit there.

Whatever they can reach from around them they drag towards them.

They need soft mud and they roll it up into balls and stick it together.

So building the nest isn't the problem, what comes next is.

What happens is someone will make a nest and lay an egg

and will be happy with that.

Someone else will think "I like the look of your nest,

"I don't care that you've got an egg in it, I want it out."

They'll kick the bird off and kick the egg out to lay their own egg.

This is something that happens a lot in the wild.

It's probably worse here

because there are no older, dominant birds amongst the flock.

So now Mark has hatched a cunning plan.

He'll rescue the eggs from the nest before they get broken.

But that's not going to be easy.

We've got to be really quiet and calm cos they're a little bit spooky.

If we go nice and quiet.

We don't want them to charge off in a big heap.

If you can hang back a little bit, I'll get in close.

The only way to get healthy chicks is for Mark to remove the eggs

and look after them himself, like a temporary mum.

As he collects them, he's giving each egg a number,

because in a month's time he'll bring them back

just before they hatch so the flamingos can raise the chicks.

But in the meantime the real mums mustn't know their eggs have gone.

We put one of these dummy eggs on with a little pole

so they can't hook it off the nest.

That's great. Now we can leave

and she won't be able to knock that out of the nest now.

It's a crafty trick, but are they really fooled by the wooden eggs?

They seem happy to sit on anything.

Any shape, size, as long as it's white they seem quite happy.

I've got these in all different shapes and sizes

and they seem quite comfortable with all of them!

But now there's no time to waste.

It's back to egg HQ, the park's incubator room,

where they go straight into the special egg incubators.

These machines are great. They try to replicate as near as possible

what happens underneath the mother bird.

So, they keep them warm, to the same temperature as the bird would.

And also they turn the eggs as well, which is what happens with the mum,

with their feet, they'll roll the egg around every now and then.

And it's to make sure that the chick develops inside the egg properly,

keep turning it every now and again.

The eggs will stay in the incubators until they're just about to hatch.

That will be for a maximum of 28 days, but it could be less.

So, how will Mark know when,

exactly, to put the eggs back on the nests?

At the end of the egg is an air cell,

which gets bigger as the incubation period goes on.

Just before they're due to hatch, the chick breaks into the air cell

and breathes for the first time.

And you'll hear it in their cheeping and calling away.

So then we know that it's about 24 hours away from hatching.

And when that happens Mark must get the eggs straight back on the nest

before the chick breaks out.

If he's too late, the mother may realise something has happened

and could reject the baby.

So, timing is absolutely crucial for the chick's survival.

Stayed tuned to find out if Mark gets it right.

Where do cats get their stuff from?

MIAOW!

The catalogue!

Oooohhh!

Why did the dog jump off the Empire State Building?

Because he wanted to make a hit on Broadway.

Ssssssssssssssssss!

-What do you do with a sick wasp?

-I don't know.

Send it to the waspital.

It's time now for Ask The Keeper.

We're hoping Kim will give us some snappy answers about the scorpions.

Kim, I am so glad to be THIS end of the bench,

because I'm slightly scared.

You've nothing to worry about with these. They're very friendly.

I'm letting this lot protect me.

In the meantime they're going to ask you some tough questions.

Who would like to go first?

Everyone! Everyone! Let's just start with Alesha.

Is the female sting more painful than the male sting?

These type of scorpions especially use their sting

mainly just for their food.

So they hold it in their pincers at the front

and bring their tail right over and sting into it until it's dead.

There's no need for them to be any different, really.

How long does a scorpion live?

These ones are called Emperor scorpions

and they can live up to eight years.

But there are some types in the wild that can live up to about 30 years.

How many different types of scorpion can kill a person?

Ooh...that's quite a hard one actually.

They find different things out about scorpions all the time.

Scientists are looking at them all the time

to make medicines out of their venom.

But at the moment apparently there's only about 25 types of scorpion

that can kill a person.

And that is out of about 1,700 types. So that's only a small percentage.

Is one of the types on your hand now?

No.

How fast can they run?

Not particularly quickly.

These guys can move forwards, backwards, sideways,

so, a bit like crabs, they can go wherever they want to.

These can move...quickish when they have to.

If there's something attacking them or maybe grabbing food

they'd have to move fairly quickly.

But you could definitely run faster than this scorpion.

-Do you want to race it, Danny?

-I think I'll be OK, thanks.

I'd like to see the scorpions in a pair of running trainers.

It'd be more than one set of shoes, wouldn't it, definitely!

-Are they related to the crab family?

-No, these are arachnids.

As some of you might know, they're the same family as spiders.

They've got the same amount of legs. There's one, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

They're closely related to spiders and also ticks and mites.

It's that sort of family.

They look a bit like crabs, don't they, with their pincers?

-What do scorpions eat?

-Ooh, well, all sorts of things.

These ones will eat small bugs,

like locusts and crickets and stuff like that.

And they hold it in their pincers and sting it until it's dead.

But some bigger types of scorpion can eat small mice and things as well.

What are the hairs on the pincers for?

These hairs at the front here, much like tarantulas -

they use the hair to sense where they're going -

these guys can do the same.

You can see at the front they're really hairy, really long hairs,

so they can sense water, other scorpions, food,

movement, because their eyesight is really rubbish.

They need to be able to feel it in a different way.

-Do you think Kim's done well so far?

-KIDS:

-Yeah.

-Do you think we should try and catch her out?

-KIDS:

-Yeah!

Sorry, Kim, it's time for us to come up with the Killer Question.

OK, this is serious. We're going to catch her out.

We can never ask that, that's just mean.

-Are we going to catch her out?

-Yes!

Kim, they want to catch you out.

OK, here is your Killer Question.

What two months of the year are scorpions born?

Oh, no!

Ahh, that's really hard!

Oh, I'm going to have to work it out now.

Is it... Is it... Is it September and October?

Well, I'll tell you, Kim...

you're wrong!

Oh, no, really?!

-You have been stung by the Killer Question!

-Oh, no!

It's actually October and November.

We are of course talking about the Zodiac star signs.

Scorpions are born October/November. All right, she did well, otherwise.

What do you think Kim deserves? Thumbs up or thumbs down?

-Thumbs up!

-They're very generous, Kim.

You know about the scorpions.

Back with the flamingos, it's a big day for keeper Mark.

To save their eggs

he had to collect them from the nest and put them in incubating machines.

Now almost a month has gone by and something has begun to happen.

Today two of the eggs have started to pip,

which is when the little chick breaks into the air cell inside

and starts breathing with its lungs

and starts calling and making a noise to its mother.

With the microphone up close, you can hear a little clicking noise.

FAINT TAPPING

That's the baby chick calling from inside the egg.

But not only can we hear the chick, we may be able to see it too.

If we turn the lights out and we get this little lamp here

and hold it against the end, you may be able to see it moving inside.

It's almost impossible to see

but Mark's well-practised eye can make out a little movement in there.

For the breeding plan to work,

each egg must go back onto the nest it came from.

That could be very tricky if Mark wasn't so well prepared.

We've got a map which tells us exactly where to put them all.

All the ones with little dots in are the ones sitting on wooden eggs

and I know which ones I've got to put these eggs back to.

So hopefully my map will work.

But first he's got to get them up to the flamingos.

One false move and the delicate shells could smash.

We'll take them from here and put them into pots with bran in

to keep them nice and soft so they'll be safe for the journey.

Right, that's it. We must go now.

It's critical the eggs don't cool down between the incubator

and being back under their mums.

Mark must swap the dummy eggs and the real eggs as fast as he can,

making sure he puts the right eggs back on the right nests.

And, just as he's about to leave, something's happened.

One of the chicks has started to hatch.

How's that for timing?

It'll take this chick a few hours to break all the way out of its egg.

But Mark has finished and now it's up to the flamingos.

They can tell something's different. Firstly, the egg moves around.

You've just got to hope that they don't get silly about it

and just sit down quiet.

It's very important to find out exactly how

the flamingos behave with their chicks.

So to help, we've rigged up nest camp -

a camera in a box that should see everything that happens

without disturbing the birds.

The flamingos are a bit confused! Their eggs are cheeping and wobbling

and some of them aren't sure what to do. They need to sit down

and keep those eggs warm.

They're still stood up, looking.

Those are the eggs that need to be kept warm.

I want them to settle down and sit down on them. It is a bit of a worry

that they might think there's something up and knock them out.

I'll have to keep an eye on them.

After all his work to look after the eggs, Mark is now powerless to help.

If the flamingos don't sit down pretty soon, the eggs will get cold

and the chicks will die.

We'll just have to wait and see.

I know what you're thinking - that boy's looking slick!

Head keeper Darren has called me in for a business meeting.

Some important decisions to be made. Hi, Darren, it's John.

Hi, Darren. I've come for our business meeting. Where's your suit?

Johny, there's been a bit of a misunderstanding.

A group of ferrets is called a "business"

and I want you to meet a business of ferrets.

-So, it's not a business meeting?

-Sorry, You look very good, though.

Who have we got here, then?

Well, as you're here, we've got, this is Ben 10 and Bandit.

This is our group of ferrets.

They're all in - nice, warm and dry.

They're loving it in here.

-We come in, spread a bit of food out for them.

-What is this?

-That's beef.

We give them chicken, rabbits.

They have a dried biscuit as well. Quite a wide selection.

-They're very nosy! They'll like you a lot. You take hold of that.

-OK.

-So they're meat-eaters, then?

-Very much so.

These are related... You got a friend there already!

They're really related to the polecat. There's a European polecat.

People have bred them for hundreds of years, domesticated them really,

like we've domesticated wolves to dogs.

They used to breed them for hunting, for going down rabbit holes.

-They're not shy!

-They love you!

You're a nice, fresh smell in here, and you've got dinner there!

-So how many ferrets are in here?

-We've got ten at the moment.

These are all boys. They're quite a good social group.

It's like having a playschool in your garden. They interact, they play.

And my all-time favourite bit - they are so flexible.

Wow, that's incredible.

-Will that aid them out in the wild?

-Yeah, definitely.

A lot of their food, rabbits, mice - they've got to get down the holes.

So that's what they do. They've adapted to their environment.

They've got teeth, they've got claws,

they've got a brilliant sense of smell and they're really bendy.

-They're liking you a lot, aren't they?!

-They are. Watch the suit!

It's been great to get up close and personal with these ferrets.

They're very cute, but that's enough funny business for now!

If you had your own wild animal park, what animals would you get?

If you like the sound of that, try the Roar game on the CBBC website.

But right now, make a note of this.

That's today's cheat code.

Veteran gamers will know what to do, and you newbies will soon find out.

Hoi! Hoi! Hoi! As you can see, I've been put to work today by Ryan here.

We're giving the giraffes some browse with a difference!

Ryan, what are you getting me to do today?

What we're doing today, generally, out here we winch up browse,

which is leaves off the trees. We're just spicing it up a little bit.

We've threaded some sweet potato, some onion, a few apples

onto this browse here. Hopefully, it'll be a nice treat for them.

As you can see, our browse is in place and right behind you -

I feel like I'm in panto - are the very hungry giraffes.

-I don't want to get in their way.

-They're all keen to come over.

We'll jump on the back of the truck, retreat to a safe distance

and watch them come over and munch it.

I have to say, this is spectacular.

I've seen them before given browse on the floor,

but actually seeing their neck and head in action, it's amazing!

It's a natural way for them. They don't generally eat off the floor.

We do see them graze grass a little bit,

but in the wild, 90% of the time,

they would be eating from up high.

But in the wild - don't want to point out gardening tips to you -

you don't normally get sweet potato and onions growing from the trees.

No, but it's nice to give them treats.

-A slightly varied diet.

-Red onion is a treat?!

-To these guys, yeah.

In the wild, they eat off acacia trees and they have a six-inch thorn.

They also eat nettles, brambles, thistles,

so when you think about that, onion sounds like a treat.

You can see the black tongue popping out, wrapping round the branches.

It's that colour because of the way they eat - their tongue is out a lot.

If it was pink like our tongues, then they'd get sunburn.

We've got a very clever camel there,

pretending to be a giraffe just so he can have a treat.

-Everything they drop, he's picking up!

-She's very clever, Caroline.

Camels are pretty intelligent animals

so she knows all she has to do is stand underneath.

Giraffe do drop quite a lot when they're eating,

so all she has to do is just stand there, let the others do the work,

they can drop a bit for her.

They're enjoying that veg kebab, but they will have smelly breath!

Back at the flamingo nest site, Mark is one very happy keeper.

Great news, we've got 10 hatched out chicks.

And our Nestcam was there to get the first shots.

And at the moment, they're all doing really well.

Swapping the eggs and incubating them was a tricky operation,

but it's been worth it.

They've got ages from 10 days old down to one day old.

And they're looking superb.

The baby chicks are very small.

They weigh about 100 grams, about the same as a mobile phone.

Newborn flamingos look nothing like a flamingo.

They're just a little fluffy ball. That's it, really.

A grey, fluffy ball, with little stumpy legs.

And they don't have a hooked beak, just a straight beak.

So, really, nothing like mum and dad.

These chicks are all at slightly different stages.

When they first hatch, all they can do is wobble their wings

and lift their heads. But they develop fast.

Once they're a week old, they start to explore out of the nest.

The legs will start getting longer, as they grow.

But it takes three to four months for them to get really stretched legs.

And it's at about six to eight weeks that their beak starts to bend.

For the first three months, the chicks are fed by both parents.

They do it by regurgitating partly-digested food.

The parents hold their beak upside down,

and the baby takes crop milk from the end of their beak

so they have a straight beak to allow it to pour down into their mouth.

It takes two to three years for these fluffy grey babies

to become graceful pink flamingos,

but everyone's happy with the story so far.

I'm delighted with how it's gone this year.

We put a lot of work in in the winter

with their food and enclosure and the nest site.

We've done a lot of work so we're happy with the way things have gone.

It's almost the end of the show, but we've found enough time

-to give the elands a feed with keeper Kev. How you doing?

-Not bad.

It makes you sound like a footballer or something.

The eland, they're just running away from us - slightly nervous animals?

Not normally, they're normally quite bolshy and up with us all the time.

-Ah, but they don't know - we have treats!

-Yes, we do.

-Now, do they love this stuff? Broccoli?

-Normally they do.

We give it as a treat now and again.

Normally they get hay and pelleted food with the vitamins and minerals.

-But today, it's treat day for them.

-Can we just chuck this out?

-Yeah.

So, one of their five a day? Other vegetables, are they interested?

They will eat carrots now and again.

But normally, in the wild, they'd graze on grass mostly.

But they're quite tall antelope, so they can graze on trees as well.

They'd have to eat a lot of grass to fill them up.

They look gentle, but I just saw one try and head-butt the other one!

-They can be quite vicious.

-They can be very dangerous.

You can see their necks, they're very powerful,

and they've got long horns as well.

It's been wicked feeding these guys, but I have to say

they're getting a little bit close for comfort now after hearing that!

So on that note, I think we should say goodbye.

-Thanks very much. Check out what's on the next episode of Roar.

-Bye!

The zebras are having a baby boom.

But the mums are attacking anyone who goes near the youngsters.

Including Dad! So he'd better watch out!

Sea lions are big and they go ballistic at feeding time.

So, can the Roar Rangers stand their ground?

I'll be helping to feed the tigers.

But are they chasing the wagon or hunting me?

Find out next time on Roar.