Episode 6 Roar

'Today on Roar, 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.'

Hello and welcome to Roar. I'm Rani.

I'm Johny, and I didn't know until today that you could walk ferrets!

Johny, you can take anything for a walk these days.

-Go, boy!

-Come on, let's jump out of here.

'Coming up on the show, sea lions are big, they've got lots of teeth

'and they go ballistic at feeding time.

'So, can the Roar Rangers stand their ground?'

'The porcupines are spiky, but how strong is their bite?

'We'll be having a tug of war to find out.'

'And I'll be helping to feed the tigers.

'Are they chasing the wagon or are they hunting me?

'Out in Africa, zebra live in herds of between ten and 100 animals,

'which are usually large family groups.

'But here in the park, they had just three, all females,

'named Stephanie, Jinga and Saga.

'They used to have a male, but he died,

'so they haven't had any babies here for several years.

'Then 18 months ago, the keeper in charge of the zebras, Andy Hayton,

'brought in a new male from Ireland named Guinness.

'Pretty soon, all three of the females were pregnant,

'and just a few weeks ago, Jinga gave birth to the first baby zebra

'at the park for five years.

'It's a girl, and they've named it Keecha.'

There we go. This is Jinga and just hiding in there behind her

is our brand new zebra foal, Keecha, that we're all very proud of.

They're just glorious little animals, aren't they? Amazing little thing.

'Baby zebras aren't born with a shiny black and white coat.'

Keecha's looks different because she's just got her baby coat,

so she's brown and fluffy at the moment.

But look at Jinga. She's really black and really white.

Keecha's will develop into that and she'll lose her baby coat

as time goes on.

Hopefully, she's be as good-looking as her mum. Her mum is stunning.

'One of the ways a baby zebra can find its mum

'is by her unique pattern of stripes.'

Zebra have all got really distinctive coats.

They're all different. It's like a thumbprint.

-No two zebra markings are the same.

-'To start with,

'the zebra mums keep everyone else away

'so that the baby can learn her stripes and bond properly.'

The first few days, nobody goes near the baby, bar mum.

And the other zebras are pretty canny to that.

They get too close, they're kicked with both back feet and bitten.

'But, after that stage, the rest of the herd help to protect the baby,

'especially when anybody else gets too close.'

You can see, just coming round to get a better view of it,

they've pulled the wagons into a circle

and they've stood around the foal to protect it. The foal's in the middle.

And, because we've pulled up, they see us as a threat

and the group's worked together and just encircled it.

Nobody's getting in there to mess around with that little one.

'So, the first baby is healthy and well.

'But there are two more still to come

'and although Jinga was already an experienced mum,

'the next who's due is the one named Saga,

'and she's never had a baby before.

'The park's vet, Duncan Williams, is keeping an eye on the situation.'

The issue with first-time mums, they're just not experienced.

It depends on the age. If they're very young when they have one,

they're a little bit nervous and shy

and scared of... Something major's just happened to them

and they really have no clue of what to do with it.

Everyone's different and we have to wait and see, I think.

'If Saga gets too frightened and confused when her baby comes,

'she might not look after it.

'Then the newborn would have little chance of survival.

'So, like the vet said, now we'll just have to wait and see.'

Now, I like my veg. I like it in my soups and in my salads

but most of the time, I do like it cooked.

So why, oh, why are we giving the porcupines raw veg kebabs?

That is really hard vegetables.

Absolutely. These vegetables are so hard, it's to help their teeth.

Their teeth are continuously growing,

which means they do have to keep them nice and chiselled down, really.

OK. We've got all this veg. I guess we're making another kebab

-because we've got two porcupines in here.

-Absolutely. Let's finish this.

And then we'll see how Brussel and Sprout feel about them.

Yeah, we should've put Brussels sprouts on here.

Kept them all happy. They are shut away at the moment, aren't they?

They are indeed. So when they come out, they're going to smell for this.

They'll have a bit of a look round just to see what we've been up to,

cos they realise that we're out here.

And they might actually have a bit of a sniff, might climb on us a bit

-and...

-You're talking about porcupines with really sharp quills

and big teeth and claws. They're going to climb on us?

-We'll be absolutely fine.

-All right, what are we doing with this kebab?

-We're going to hold it.

-It just gets worse. Let out the porcupines.

-Here they come.

-Ooh!

-This is Brussel.

-How can you tell the difference?

Brussel has got a kind of wider nose than Sprout

and she's usually the one that's out first.

OK, so Brussel's out first. Sprout's at the back.

Do we need to waft it around so they can smell it? Oh, my goodness.

Actually, their sense of smell is absolutely incredible.

You can see Brussel coming over to us. She knows there's something here

but they just have to find it. Their eyesight's not great,

so that continuous sniffing,

-that means she will eventually see what's going on.

-OK.

So, this is Sprout coming up to us.

So the idea is, they need to first get comfortable, smell it.

-Oh, my goodness!

-You can see the power of Sprout.

You can see how good their teeth are.

And they absolutely love these potatoes.

-There's a bit of a tug of war.

-Oh, my gosh!

Brussel has taken the potato away. Potato is one of their favourites.

In the wild, are they just gnawing constantly?

Absolutely, yeah. Their teeth are continuously growing

so that means that, if they don't gnaw vegetables and things,

their teeth would get too long and it would cause them problems,

they wouldn't be able to eat and they wouldn't survive.

What are they eating in the wild to keep their teeth down?

Any type of root vegetables they can find.

They can even gnaw away on bones, as well.

If they're in Africa, in the Savannah,

they'll pick up bones and gnaw on them for calcium.

They seem to be getting through that swede and butternut squash

and they've got a whole kebab to go. I think we should leave them to it.

'Our Roar Rangers today are sisters.'

THEY ROAR

Eleanor is 11 and Izzy is eight.

I want to be a Roar Ranger because I love animals, I am an animal

and I love wolves.

SHE HOWLS

My favourite animal in the world is a leopard.

I'd love to just go up to one and cuddle it. That would be nice.

SHE SNARLS

'At home, they've each got their own hamster to look after.

'But today, they'll need to work together as a team.'

-I'm obviously the better ranger.

-I'm going to be the better ranger!

'Because most of the animals here are a bit bigger than hamsters.

'And a whole lot wilder.

'So, will they be up for the challenge?'

-BOTH: There it is!

-'Let's see what they get.'

Izzy and Eleanor, today you are going to be sea lion keepers.

Get ready for some fishy fun.

'There are five Californian sea lions here in Half Mile Lake,

'the big male, named Buster,

'three females called Jo-Jo, Nancy and Zook,

'and a brand new baby, little Riley.

'So Izzy and Eleanor are in for a treat

'if they can get close.

'But first, there's dirty work to do.

'Keeper Sarah's got it all lined up.'

Here we are, then. This is our first bit of the job

-of being a sea lion keeper.

-Fishy.

-It does smell fishy,

cos that is what they eat.

What we need to do with these is put their vitamin tablets into it.

Every day, they get vitamins to keep them bright and healthy.

And then our next lot of tablets here are salt tablets,

because sea lions naturally live in saltwater,

-so we need to replace that salt.

-Make it taste a bit salty.

-Exactly.

'If you're a little squeamish, you might want to look away now.'

This is the really disgusting bit.

You need to get your finger and stick it down into the fish

and make a hole to fit all those tablets in.

-Urgh!

-That's it. How you doing? Are you in?

-Sort of.

-Look at that.

-Not very well.

-Blood.

-Yak!

-Look at my finger.

-Oh, yes.

-Strawberry milkshake.

-Fishy, fishy!

-Does it matter if they're all bunched up together?

-No.

As long as they're in the fish and they can't taste them, it's fine.

That's the end of fishing.

SHE LAUGHS He's been stuffed.

'That was a disgusting job,

'but Eleanor and Izzy came through with flying colours.

'Now the next stop is the beach.'

Right, let's put our gloves on. Let me see.

They'll be very big for your little hands, but give them a go.

'Whoa, hold on a minute. Those gloves aren't just for hygiene.

'They're for protection against vicious teeth and killer claws.

'Is there something you want to tell us, Sarah?'

Now, sea lions can be quite boisterous little characters,

so they can be quite playful. Mainly with each other,

but their play is a bit rougher than what we're used to,

-so you need to be very careful.

-Or we'll end up like these guys.

Yes, or you will end up like these guys.

'On the beach, there'll be nothing between them and the sea lions.

'Big, boisterous Buster alone weighs almost 200 kilos

'and he goes wild for fish. Was this a good idea?

'Stick around to find out.'

-What do bees chew?

-I don't know, what do bees chew?

Bumble gum.

HE HOWLS

What's a mouse's favourite game? Hide and squeak.

SQUEAKING

What do you get if you cross an elephant and a fish?

Swimming trunks.

THEY LAUGH

Right, we're in the tiger enclosure.

I'm here with Bob and we're going to give the tigers a feed.

Check this out! We're actually being followed by three tigers.

This is amazing!

Do they get aggressive? Look at this!

They jump up at the cage at times. As you can see, they're pretty hungry.

So we're going to feed them today. Is there are hierarchy?

-Who'll come to us first?

-You normally find that Sindari here

will come up to us first. She's a naughty one.

She'll puncture the tyres and all sorts.

-You can see, she's trying to grab the tyres.

-That's clever.

Is she doing that because she knows that will slow us down?

She's basically hunting us. She's trying to kill the feed wagon.

So as soon as she's caught us, we can give her that

and then hopefully she'll go off and eat it.

-If we start chucking it out, it might save our tyres.

-Let's save the tyres.

We need to get an escape route out of here.

Where are we putting the meat? We don't have to open the...

No, no, you just chuck it straight down this hole here,

they'll get a bit and then hopefully walk off and eat it.

So do you encourage them to chase us and attack us?

Yeah, we try to simulate the wild as much as possible.

Obviously, we're not allowed to put live animals in here to kill,

so this is their way of hunting.

This is quite surprising, because this tiger here...

Oh, she's just found a piece. But she was looking at all the pieces

-and picking the biggest one.

-Yeah.

-Do they do that?

-Probably, yeah.

-Right. Listen, I'm holding this big chunk of meat here,

a big bone. Do they find it difficult to chomp on that?

Because it's a real big chunk of bone.

Well, no, they're really adapted to it. They've got big teeth

and they can bite into it and tear all the meat off

and then there's little bits still left on the bone

and they use their tongue. They've got very coarse hair in their tongue

-and they lick all that off, so they don't waste anything.

-Incredible.

-They're specially adapted to destroy these pieces of meat.

-Yeah.

There won't be a lot left later on.

Bob, this has been incredible, to be in an enclosure

and have the tigers on the outside chasing us, it's been amazing.

-Thank you so much.

-That's OK.

'There's been some exciting news from the zebras.

'First-time mum Saga had her baby.

'Keeper Andy has been watching them to make sure they're all right.'

We have got a brand new baby zebra.

It was born last night and, as you can see, doing phenomenally well.

'Which is a relief, since they were worried about Saga.'

It's Saga's first foal here with us.

We didn't know what she was going to do, how she was going to take it,

and she's just the perfect mum. You couldn't ask for any more.

Look. It doesn't get any better than that, bouncing around there

and you've got two baby zebra running around here and everybody's fine.

It's just wonderful. This is what this job's all about. Really good.

'And a week later, there's yet more good news,

'when the third mum, Stephanie, gave birth to another healthy baby.

'So now they've got three, all girls who have been given African names.

'The first one was Keecha, the next one, Kimbia,

'and the last one, Kabibi. They're all getting on great,

'but there could be trouble with the other animals.'

There could be friction out here. If the giraffe come down

and start messing with the babies, they'll get it.

The antelope will get it. Everyone is going to get it

if they start fooling around. Zebs rule the roost out here.

'And the new mums seem to regard the male zebra in the same way.

'Just look at this footage. One of the mums has just noticed

'that her baby is standing next to him.

'She shepherds the youngster away

'and gives him a kick for good measure.'

They don't want anybody near their foal. They want to bond with it.

Guinness got a good old kick.

'But this is just a stage. Pretty soon, they should all relax.

'And even with the agro, Andy is still over the moon.'

We've waited for this for so long.

It couldn't be better. I personally am absolutely ecstatic.

They're gorgeous little foals. There's just something about them.

They're fantastic looking. And three little girls. Couldn't be better.

'Calling all you gamers.

'Pay attention now, because here comes today's cheat code.

'It's drought6. Type that in and see what it gets you.

'Now, if you haven't had a go at the Roar game on the CBBC website,

'it's high time you did. It's easy to get started

'and great fun. Happy gaming.'

OK, chocolate biscuit. Chocolate biscuit. Can I smell it?

-You can. This way.

-Is it... Is that it?

Darren, I cannot smell the chocolate biscuit! I just want a biscuit.

Well, maybe later. I just want to prove that we rely on our eyesight.

You probably couldn't smell that very well, but there's lots of animals

here and around the world that rely on their nose to smell for dinner.

-I'm going to chuck that over there.

-Which animal are we talking about?

-I think I can smell the animal!

-It's not me! I did have a shower!

-This is Super Barney!

-Super Barney! Hello, darling.

He is one of our lovely ferrets. And they do whiff a bit.

-Can you smell that?

-I can.

-That's taken over chocolate biscuit.

If you said to me we were testing a ferret's hearing,

I would go, "Yes, because they've got big ears."

But their eyes are tiny and their nose, even smaller.

They eat rodents and things like rabbits,

so they're designed to go underground, where's it dark.

The eyes are no good. Maybe a bit of hearing.

But it's the nose. They have to be able to smell out their lunch.

And he's also very bendy.

-SHE GASPS

-Does that not hurt him?

-Not at all.

They've got a very flexible spine. It's for going down tiny mouse holes,

rat holes, rabbit holes. So what we thought we'd do

is show you how good he is. I've got a little test for him.

-OK, go on, then.

-Over here. Look at this.

This is a super-duper fandango ferret maze.

A fandango ferret maze! OK.

The idea is to send Barney in there

and what will be his appeal to get to the top?

One of his all-time favourites, a little bit of smelly ferret biscuit.

-So I reckon...

-Do you want me to hold Barney?

-Do you mind?

I won't bend him in two like you did, cos it doesn't look right.

And there is his incentive to get all the way to the top.

So we're using his nose for smelling

and his flexible body. I'm hoping he's going to go in.

-There you go, my son. In you go.

-In you go, my son!

-Look, can you see, straight away he's flattened his body.

-Yeah.

He's sniffing all the time, trying to work out where he has to go.

-He's having a good old sniff.

-Yep.

He's just twisting his body round now. Oh, he's up.

Now, he's taken a dead end there. We've made a dead end in that one.

So he's got to turn around. This is where this flexibility comes in.

He is designed to do this. Not in a homemade maze,

but some of the rabbit warrens, some of the holes they go down

to find their dinner are miniscule,

because a rabbit won't make a big hole a ferret can get down easily.

-Ooh!

-Isn't it incredible?

-He's just completely bent his body in two.

Amazing! Let's see that again.

And he enjoys all the bending and twisting and wriggling round?

It's this mental and physical enrichment

and it's important for every animal. It's important for us, too.

He's certainly getting something out of it. And he'll get his biscuit

-when he eventually gets there, so double reward!

-Oh, bless!

He's doing quite well. It's the first time he's been in this maze.

Yeah. It all smells new and different to him and it's curious.

Do you think he maybe needs a bit of an incentive or something?

Yeah, if we do this again, I might put biscuits throughout the maze,

because he can stop and have a little snack halfway.

-In fact, can you see what he's just done?

-Hello!

He's come back out to tell you he's done well!

Super Barney, you did do very well this time,

but next time, I think Darren's right, some treats all the way up.

Come on, let's go and get you a snack.

'Back at the lake, our Roar Rangers, Eleanor and Izzy,

'are about to feed the sea lions.

'But this could get dicey, because sea lions have very sharp teeth,

'the heaviest here weighs 200 kilos

'and they all go absolutely bananas for fish.

'Stand by. It's show time.'

Let's go and meet the sea lions.

Come on, girls.

-Up on the rock. If you come behind me.

-Hi, Nancy.

-If you stand over there.

-OK.

-Which one am I feeding?

-The big one in the water.

-You're feeding the big, noisy one.

-OK.

-Zook.

'It's Eleanor and Izzy's job to keep big boisterous Buster distracted

'while Sarah makes sure the others each get a fish

'that's got vitamin and salt tablets hidden inside.'

-Yeah!

-Zook.

'But that only takes a moment,

'and now Nancy, Jo-Jo and Zook have spotted

'that the girls have more fish.'

-No!

-Oh, you missed!

Right, OK, girls, go on.

'The sea lions have got them surrounded,

'but the sisters are standing their ground.'

They just want more fish...

'Of course, keeper Sarah knows just how to keep them under control.'

Here comes the big boy.

-This is Buster.

-Hi, Buster.

-Hi, Buster.

-Wow, he's got big teeth.

-He's very hungry.

-All that preparation.

-Look at the baby!

-Yeah, that's our baby.

-Ohh!

That's Riley.

-That is so amazing!

-How old do you reckon Riley is?

Is he six weeks? Ten weeks?

Not too far off. He's just under eight weeks old.

Oh, wow.

'They haven't got any fish for Riley because he's too young

'and he's still just getting his mum's milk.'

How do people get to the sea lions? Doesn't look like they can come here.

No, this is for the keepers, this area.

The public get to see them out on the boats.

'And it's from the boats that the sea lions get most of their food.

'In the wild, they'd have a lot of exercise chasing fish.

'Here they get a workout chasing the boats.'

As you can see, they're very acrobatic, as well.

They're very good at moving in the water.

I'll make them jump. Watch this.

-THEY LAUGH

-Oh, you left me all the best bits.

Oh, just for you, Izzy.

'You can always spot a sea lion keeper. They're the ones with...'

Very mucky, smelly hands.

Bleurgh!

OK, well, I hope you guys have had a very good day. That's it for us.

But I hope we haven't put you off being a sea lion keeper,

-even with the fishy hands.

-No, not at all.

'And, after everyone's washed their hands,

'there's just time to look back on the day.'

Yeah, I think the initial, whoosh, sea lions out onto the beach,

was a bit of a nervous moment for them,

but they coped with it very well. I've seen other people run.

-BOTH: Thumbs up for Sarah.

-She was fantastic.

Very good Roar Rangers. We'll have them back one day to help us out.

BOTH: Being a sea lion keeper was fantastic!

It is almost time for us to bid you farewell, but before we do,

we've come out on the truck to help Tim feed the deer.

Now, Tim, they're quite close, quite shy. Shall I keep my voice down?

-I think it would be good, Rani, yes.

-For once.

-Sorry.

How many deer have we got here?

We've got about 50. We've got hinds and calves, mothers and babies.

You said there's 50 out here so we've got a lot of feeding to do.

Shall we get on with it? What have we got for them?

Right, we've got high-fibre cubes in the bag here.

I don't know if we can throw some out. They may come a bit closer.

They're quite shy because they've got their calves,

-the babies, with them.

-These pellets don't look that nice to eat,

but they seem to be enjoying it. Do they eat anything else?

They do, Johny. As you can see, they've got lots of grass growing

at the moment, this late flush of grass,

and they're quite happy to graze for the majority of the time.

So they're munching on the grass and they've got the pellets,

but what about the little ones? Do they eat the same stuff?

Well, they are, actually, at the moment.

But they're also suckling from their mothers, so they still take milk.

-How old are they?

-They're about five months old now.

-So still really little, then.

-They've got a lot of growing to do.

It's always so nice to be out here, so thanks for that.

We've got a lot of deer to feed, so while we do,

-check out what's coming up on the next episode of Roar.

-Snack?

'Next time on Roar, be ready to go gooey,

'because when it comes to cute, the baby otters are off the scale.'

'There's high drama with the giraffes.

'Imogen is expecting a new baby

'but the first calf she had almost killed her.'

'And the Ask The Keeper kids are after answers about the white rhino.

'How fast? How heavy? How smelly?'

Have a sniff. Go on, guys, get in there, don't be shy.

'So, don't miss it.'

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