Episode 13 Roar

The lion cubs must go outside and meet their dad for the first time,

but he is dangerously unpredictable so will they survive?

The worst possible result will be that if we do let Dad out

that he comes over and kills them.

Hello, and welcome to Roar! I'm Johny and this is Rani.

What are you doing?

Shh! Meerkats are really good at keeping watch, being nosey,

looking out for things. I'm looking out for something, too.

What could you possibly be looking out for?

-What's coming up in today's show.

-I want to see, too!

Today on Roar.

It's got more legs than 10 football teams

-but will the kids catch the keeper offside...

-Oh, my goodness!

..about the giant millipede?

Why are we giving the giraffes massive ice lollies?

And no, it's not just because they've got massive tongues.

And we'll meet Whippet the owl. He's only a baby but already

he's got some fancy moves.

I am so in love and I love all this.

But we're starting off with the lion cubs

because they're about to face the most dangerous day of their lives.

So far Mum, Yendi, has been doing a great job.

And keeper, Bob, is delighted with their progress.

The cubs, at this moment in time, are about seven and a half weeks old

so from being born and being this size they've virtually trebled

in size over the past seven weeks.

They're just coming to the age now when they're branching a little bit

further away from Mum each day, just finding their feet a little more.

SHE GROWLS Calm down.

Yendi is one of the more dominant females in the pride.

She's a very good mum, one of these females that will protect the cubs,

no doubt.

At this age, the character of each cub is starting to show.

The male is quite a quiet young lad, whether it's cos he's got

three sisters that pick on him, I don't know!

The paler one with the head on the other one is very, very feisty.

Knowing what the parents are like,

I'm pretty sure these are going to be a handful.

Just like pet kittens and puppies, the cubs have to stay indoors

until after they've had the injections that protect them

from various diseases. Those are now done,

so today they're going outside for the very first time.

Since they were born, this is all they've known so the next step

is to get them used to grass, big wide open spaces,

they've got to be used to being out in the big wide world.

It's going to be an anxious time but it's got to be done.

It's a big step for them, they're going to be scared

but Mum will try and reassure them as much as she can.

Going out will be the easy challenge today.

The tricky part will be meeting Nibilo, the big pride male.

He is their father and it's natural for them to live together

as a family group but Bob reckons he could be unpredictable.

Dad is a bit of a character.

Niblo is a nice big male,

he looks stunning and he's now very much the head of the pride.

Dad and the cubs have seen each other but only through

the mesh inside the lion house and this is the first time that

Nibilo has had cubs, so no-one knows what he might do.

If he was to go and take over another pride and they had cubs,

the first thing he would do would be to kill all the cubs.

Everyone wishes it would just be textbook and you open a slide

and they'll run out in one big happy family but there are concerns.

Most keepers will think, oh, I don't know about this,

if I want to pull that slide back, but you've got to let them all mix.

And that's exactly what's about to happen.

Will Nibilo attack?

We're going to find out very soon so don't go away!

Scientists have been arguing about the zebra for decades.

Is it a white animal with black stripes

or a black animal with white stripes?

In fact, if you were to shave their hair off...

..you'd find that underneath most zebras have dark skin.

Tell you what, this is the life.

Out on the beautiful East African reserve among the zebras,

the giraffes and the camels, oh! No work to do, right, Karin?

Afraid, not, Johny, we've got our ice lollies

but we've got some for the giraffes. We need to get those out.

I've never heard anything so silly as giving lollies to giraffes.

-Are they really going to go for this?

-You wait and see.

We've got all sorts in here. They're going to love it.

-What have we got?

-Here we've got apples, oranges,

I think there's grated carrot in there as well.

They're going to absolutely love that.

We've got some work to do? I was enjoying that as well.

We'd better get on with this

because these giraffes look like they're pretty thirsty.

They are, they do seem quite keen,

so if you stay here I'll pop off the back and we'll get these up.

Do you need a hand?

You hand it to me as I get out as unfortunately for safety's sake

you've got to stay on here.

OK, I'll stay on and pass it over.

-You've got a lot of experience working with these guys?

-Yeah.

A fair few years, now.

We've got Bev over here as well. You all right?

Can I pass... These are really heavy, actually.

-All right? Have you got it?

-Yep.

On one of the chains on these ice blocks we've got a little camera

so hopefully we'll be able to see a giant giraffe tongue

coming out and licking the lolly. Pretty cool!

Is it important to put their food quite high up?

-Would they naturally snack high?

-Definitely in the wild.

They're browsers, so they're going for the trees, so this is basically

-mimicking how they would eat in the wild.

-This is the ice lolly

-with the camera on it, have you got that?

-Yeah.

-OK.

These giraffes seem pretty chilled out,

do they ever argue over their food?

No, there's not such a kind of a matriarchal hierarchy

like you'd find with elephants, something like that.

I suppose the adults go in first and the little ones,

especially with browse, where obviously it's varying in height,

you'd find the little ones underneath the adults so there's a nice mix.

Unfortunately the little ones from last year are going to miss out

as they're just that bit too small.

Both lollies are in position. Join us later on in the show

to see what these giraffes make of their tasty treat.

What do you get when you cross a parrot with a centipede?

A walkie-talkie!

Squawk! Squawk!

What happened to the lion when he ate the comedian?

He felt funny!

Ooh-ooh, ah-ah, ooh-ooh, ah-ah!

What's a duck's favourite food?

-Don't know.

-Cheese and quackers!

It's time for Ask the Keeper and armed with an array

of amazing answers about that millipede is Ms Tucker.

-Hello, Ms Kim Tucker.

-Hello.

You've got the answers, but do we have the right questions for you?

Who wants to ask Kim the first question?

-What kind of millipede is that?

-This is a giant African black millipede.

How many species have toxic compounds in them?

Most of them. When they get attacked by other animals, like meerkats,

through the grooves in their skin,

they can excrete some pretty nasty tasting stuff.

That can have lots of different chemicals in it.

They don't taste very nice, the animal drops them and they get away.

Can we hold or stroke a millipede?

Would anyone like to touch Kim's millipede? Go on then.

You can all have a hold. Two hands together.

It's a bit tickly, that's all. It feels like a moving hair brush.

-What do you think? Is it smooth? Is it tickly?

-It tickles.

How many legs are there?

Between 250 and 350, depending on how old the millipede is.

Do you get more legs with age, or lose legs?

They grow extra segments, so they've got extra legs on those segments.

-What are the waggly things at the front?

-Those are antenna.

The millipede can't see very well, and they live under leaves,

so she's using those to feel around with.

How long do they live for?

Millipedes like this can live up to eight years. So quite a long time.

I think she's found something she likes!

They get more tickly the further they go up your arm. There you go.

-What do you think, Clara?

-It grips.

-It does, yes.

-It's weird.

-All right?

-That's wicked!

-Well done, guys. Do you want a go, Rani?

-Really?

Yeah, go on.

A bit more weight to it than I thought there would be.

-They're quite heavy.

-How big are they when they're born?

You said they keep growing segments.

Do they just have two legs when they're born?

No, they've got quite a few legs, a good 100 or so, when they're born,

but they're very tiny.

As they grow, each segment's got two pairs of legs on it.

so, they grow another 10.

It feels like a little brush on my arm.

-As lovely as it is, I want to hand it back now!

-Thank you very much.

It kind of tickles. Kim, I think you're doing well with your answers,

but it's time we stepped it up.

It's time for the killer question. Come on!

-Are we ready? Are we ready?

-ALL: Yes!

-OK!

If a pair of trainers cost about £20,

how much would it cost to kit out a millipede?

-Oh, my goodness!

-Think about it.

He's in the 2012 Olympics. He needs some new running shoes.

I'm going to say £24,000.

Oh, Kim!

Any millipede expert would have known it was £2,500.

-Oh, no!

-But you do know your other millipede stuff,

so thumbs up or thumbs down for Kim? Yeah, thumbs up.

And I give you a thumbs up for letting us stroke the millipede.

Back at the lion house, the four cubs are about to have

the most exciting and dangerous time of their lives.

Since they were born, they've lived indoors.

But today, they're going to be let out into the paddock.

We've rigged up some extra mini cameras

to see how the cubs react to the great outdoors.

They've never seen the big outdoors, never been on grass.

They've not done a lot of things that we take for granted every day.

The dangerous part will be when the cubs have to meet their father.

But first, Bob wants to let Yendi and her youngsters out on their own.

So he's brought the other females in.

The rest of the pride, we've had to put them in

so that the compound is clear and so that nothing goes wrong.

So Mum can go out and feel safe.

The best possible result for us today

would be all the cubs getting out into the compound.

There's nothing to say they'll come out straight away.

We're just going to open the doors and hope that Mum will call them out.

That's it. Mum's out.

Hopefully, Mum will go out and have a look around

to see that everything's safe.

Come on then. Take them out.

For the cubs, everything is a first.

Even flowers are challenging!

To watch them seeing things for the first time is incredible.

There are a few plants in that tunnel they've taken a liking to.

The stinging nettles frightened one of them!

So far, they've stayed within a couple of metres of the door.

There's Mum.

So Yendi has to lead them right out into the paddock.

Come on. Hooray!

Good girl! Go on. All of you.

Good girl!

# Baby, you light up my world Like nobody else

# The way that you flick your hair Gets me overwhelmed

# But when you smile at the ground It ain't hard to tell

# You don't know oh-oh

# You don't know you're beautiful

# If only you saw what I can see

# You'd understand why I want you So desperately. #

We've got a result here.

They look so happy running round, playing with Mum.

# You don't know you're beautiful

# Oh oh-oh That's what makes you beautiful. #

This is going really well,

but what comes next could be a different story.

The next step is to let Dad out. The cubs love him to bits.

They meet him in the house and try to get to him

so hopefully, they'll be a big, happy family.

And we'll soon know if they're going to be a big, happy family

because Bob is about to let Nibalo out.

Will he love his cubs or turn against them?

Stay tuned to find out.

Earlier on in the show, myself and Karin put some ice lollies up

for the giraffes and now it's time to see what they make of it.

I think it's a hit. They're over there already.

-Karin, are you surprised by that?

-Not at all.

Giraffes are very inquisitive animals.

They're used to us putting browse out,

so the fact that it's a different shape and it's a bit cold

isn't that surprising to them.

Poor Gloria. She's one of our younger ones.

She's trying to have a reach there.

She can't quite reach, can she?! Poor Gloria!

She'll get her tongue out and give it a good go in a minute.

Also, on one of the ice lollies on a chain, we've got a mini camera.

Hopefully, we'll get some amazing shots of the giraffes up close.

I sometimes get very sensitive teeth.

Will the giraffes get sensitive teeth as well?

They don't actually have many teeth.

They've got a hard palate with the ridged roof of their mouth.

They only have teeth on the underside,

which they use to comb the leaves off the branches.

So these guys should be well designed

for not getting any tooth problems or brain freeze.

It's incredible how intrigued they are by these lollies.

Doto, the tall one, he's our bull, on the right hand side,

he seems to be the keenest.

He's going for the bottom,

so he's probably slurping up all the stuff that's melting.

But Doto, being the tallest, has an advantage, really.

It doesn't look very tasty, but Doto's licked the camera

so hopefully, we'll have caught that.

-Doto is massive. How tall is he?

-He's definitely over five metres.

-Really?

-He's quite a substantial size.

-And how tall can they grow?

Is that about the right eight for a giraffe?

Males are always taller than females.

I think the tallest male would probably be about six metres,

that's ever been known.

About that high.

It's been absolutely amazing to see these giraffes

snack on some ice lollies, but how about we get back to ours?

I think that's a good idea.

There's a couple of lemon ice lollies waiting for us. Let's go.

Hey, gamers! Have you got your own animal park on the Roar game yet?

If you haven't, you should. It's great fun.

To make your park a success,

you need to collect as many cheat codes as you can.

Today, it's crystal8.

It also helps to check on your animals every day. So happy gaming!

Being a presenter on Roar means I get to go backstage

and show you all the animals before anyone else.

Whoa! Read it and weep!

I've got an access all areas pass, thank you very much.

I'm here to see Jimmy the falconer. The falconer. Oh, Jimmy!

Not to you, but to this. Who have we got here?

This is Whippet and he's an 11-week-old boobook owl.

HE TWEETS

-Listen to that sound. Is he OK?

-Yeah.

He's hand reared, so he's really friendly.

He kind of looks at us like Mum and Dad.

-Do you want to have a go at holding her?

-Really?

-Yeah. Put that on.

This is to keep you nice and safe. Not that she's dangerous or anything.

-So it is a girl then?

-We're not exactly sure.

We'll find out when she or he is fully grown.

It might be a bit difficult because he's never done this before.

You're the first person, apart from me, to hold him.

If I can't, that's OK. But it would be lovely to try.

If we go backwards like this, and then we'll try.

-Are you like Daddy to Whippet?

-A little bit.

-And then if you go that way.

-Here we go.

-There we go.

-Oh my goodness!

I'm the second person to hold her.

He will nibble at your fingers, but he's very gentle.

-He's only just feeling for food because we hand feed him.

-Wow!

-Hey, you.

-He uses those little whiskers.

-He's so soft and feathery.

He's cute. These little feathers are his baby feathers.

They will go in a few weeks so he'll look completely different.

And how old before he can fly?

He's getting there now so this is the exciting stage, really.

And what are you feeding him?

He'll eat small rodents, mice and voles and things like that.

But we feed him bits of beef, chicken and things like that.

What kind of noise is he making?

This is like a baby call, so he's just reassuring himself.

He's talking to us, saying, "I'm here. Don't forget about me."

We're never going to forget about you. You're just so gorgeous.

-Where are boobook owls from?

-They're from Australia and New Zealand.

At the moment, he's got this little baby call,

which is a bit like a grasshopper when they rub their legs together,

but when he gets bigger, his call will go, "boo-book, boo-book"

and that's how he gets his name.

He is unbelievably beautiful. I love all these soft feathers.

On his wings now, these are the adult feathers?

The darker feathers you can see on his wings there

are new flight feathers coming through

and these fluffy bits around the edges are baby feathers,

which will go when he takes to the skies.

-When he is bigger, how big is he going to get?

-That's kind of it.

He won't get any bigger than that.

He'll fill out and get a bit beefier, but that's as big as he gets, really.

-He's the smallest one here.

-I'm so in love, and I love all this!

-Our Roar viewers are very lucky today.

-You're very welcome.

Thank you so much for letting them say hello to Whippet.

ALL: Did you know?!

In real life, owls don't bring the post. But pigeons can.

Homing pigeons have been used to carry messages

since the time of the ancient Greeks.

But now, back with the lion cubs. The moment of truth has arrived.

The four cubs are about to meet their dad, Nibalo, out in the open.

We've only had Nibalo here for a few months,

so we don't really know what he's like with youngsters

because it's all new to him, as far as we know.

He could be a right so and so.

Nibalo has seen the cubs through the mesh inside the lion house,

but this will be the first time he can get at them.

The worst possible result would be if Dad comes over and kills them.

He shouldn't do, but you can't say for sure what's going to happen.

They can't put it off any longer. It's time to let Nibalo out.

Come on.

Once he's out, there's no going back.

Behave.

Nibalo and Yendi greet each other

for the first time since the cubs arrived,

and then the cubs come face to face with their father.

Nibalo doesn't seem to know what to do.

He almost seems frightened of the cubs.

But after a few minutes, he settles down and lets the cubs come to him.

He's acting like a grumpy dad, but the cubs aren't fooled.

This is new to him.

He's never sired before,

so we didn't know what he was going to be like with the cubs.

There were tentative moments, but look at them. They love him.

It's absolutely brilliant. He's being hounded, mind!

A big male like Nibalo getting picked on by a little cub!

It's a great moment for everyone.

I think we can give ourselves a pat on the back

and definitely give Mum and cubs and Dad a pat on the back.

Well, not literally, obviously!

It's been a proud day for Bob and the big cat keepers.

Whenever there are any babies in the park, it's good news.

But the best ones are always in the lion reserve, obviously.

And of course,

we'll be keeping a close eye on the cubs all through the series.

# I'm glad you came

# Oh oh oh oh-oh Oh oh oh oh-oh

# Oh oh oh oh-oh Oh oh oh oh-oh

# I'm glad you came Oh oh oh oh-oh

# Oh oh oh oh-oh Oh oh oh oh-oh. #

It's almost the end of the show but before we leave you today,

we've popped to Animal Adventure to meet Alexa,

who's got someone very special to show us.

Hi, Alexa. Oh, no! You've got a big rat on your arm! Quick!

What is this?

-This is Freya. She's a giant African pouched rat.

-So she is a rat?

-She's a type of rat, yes.

-She's bigger than most rats.

-Just how big can these guys get?

-Boys will get bigger.

She's a little girl, but she's fully grown now at two years old.

-Boys can sometimes be even double her size again.

-You said, pouched rat.

Is that the difference between her and a normal rat,

or is it just the size?

Size as well, but she has little cheek pouches like a hamster.

You might just be able to see.

She's got some nuts in her cheeks at the moment.

You can see that her cheeks look a bit of an abnormal size.

She's storing nuts in there.

They can store lots of food in their pouches

and they can move about three kilos of food in two hours.

-You've got Freya on a little lead. Do they make good pets?

-They can do.

They like to bond with one person.

A lot of people are keeping them now

because they live longer than normal rats.

These ones can live up to eight years and they're a lot more intelligent

so more people are keeping them now.

But they're few and far between in the UK.

How can a rat be intelligent?

They use these guys in Africa and train them as sniffer dogs.

They can sniff out the chemicals in land mines

and being so light, they don't set them off.

They alert their handlers to its whereabouts

and they can be disposed of correctly.

They are pretty bright then. Talking about pets, they're a good size.

When people keep rats at home, they keep them in a little cage.

-You'd need an extension for this thing!

-You'd need a spare bedroom!

Look at the length of the tail!

She would need a very large cage and it would have to be metal

-because she'd eat through plastic.

-What size are we talking about?

The bigger, the better.

So if you want to keep one of these as a pet, you need a big bedroom.

That's all we've got time for on today's show.

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

on the next episode of Roar?

The prairie dogs are notorious escape artists.

We're about to release the prairie dogs. Send over the reinforcements.

So can the keepers stop them from doing a runner?

She's a celebrity, she can do what she likes

and she weighs almost four tonnes.

So how do they get Ann to come out for a walk?

And when it comes to coati poo, the Roar Ranger is fearless.

I can't believe you just smelt it!

But does he really have nerves of steel?

I don't like it! I don't like it!

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