Episode 20 Roar

Tigers are the perfect athletes.

They're fast runners,

amazing climbers,

and great gymnasts.

But which tiger can jump the highest?

Today, it's boys versus girls.

-Hello and welcome to ROAR. I'm Rani.

-And I'm Johny.

Rani, I have a joke for you.

What happens when one of those guys

turns on the central heating?

I don't know. What does happen, Johny?

It gets 'otter' and 'otter', and 'otter'.

-That's rubbish.

-That weren't mine. That's the cameraman's, that one.

-Adam!

-Hang your head in shame, cameraman.

Whilst we get on with the rest of the show.

Coming up, it's Jessie the tapir versus the film crew.

Can we catch her swimming, or will she have the last laugh?

Our ROAR Rangers have got the boots and the gloves.

That can only mean one thing.

It's time to get dirty.

BOTH: We're going to scoop that poo.

But what animal will they be looking after?

And we've got a lovely pair of coconuts.

But will the porcupines really be able to floss with these?

We're starting today down with one of our favourite animals.

Jessie the tapir.

She's lived here in the park for 14 years now,

has raised six gorgeous babies, and, to be honest,

she's a bit of a legend.

Hey, Jess.

Her loving keeper is Bev Evans.

Jessie's been here since she was very, very little,

possibly only 18 months old.

She was brought in with her mate Jethro.

They were together until unfortunately Jethro died last year

at the age of 13.

She loves anything to do with food. She loves sleeping.

She loves being brushed and touched and tickled.

She loves swimming...

Sorry...

She loves swimming.

Swimming?! Jessie does have a pond in her enclosure,

but ROAR has never seen Jessie swim.

Lots of people don't believe tapirs swim.

There's been lots on camera of what Jessie does in her day-to-day life,

but I don't think you've ever caught her swimming.

That's why, for some reason, you just don't believe me.

She doesn't look much like an Olympic swimmer, though.

It does come naturally to a tapir.

They come originally from the rainforests.

This is a Brazilian tapir. It's very damp.

Lots of small ponds, brooks, streams.

They love to stay underwater, keep the flies off them.

They enjoy swimming, and also it's a defence thing.

A predator comes along,

and they'll go to the pool and get out the way,

because a lot of big cats like the jaguar

wouldn't go and follow her in there.

There is some evidence Jessie's been in the pond.

SCREAM

Yes, it's a floater.

She uses her pond as a toilet.

In fact, all tapirs love to poo in water, rather than on land.

So she must be going in for a dip sometimes.

And it seems everyone, except the ROAR cameras, has seen it.

She's always in and out of the pond.

Sometimes she'll sit in there for literally hours at a time.

They have that little nose they use as a snorkel

and can spend half a day in the water.

I can't understand it.

I can't believe you've never caught Jessie swimming on film.

Very strange.

There is one way we can see Jessie swimming.

But that's cheating.

Come on, Bev. Help us out!

The best way for you to catch this

is to probably have a bit of a stakeout.

If we go, "Quick, come up to the paddock. Jessie's in the pond",

you'll turn up, she'll see you, go, "Oh, it's them!"

and then come out the pond.

And that's it. Show's over.

You've got to put the hours in to try and get this.

Right, the challenge is on.

Time for a stakeout in Jessie's enclosure.

I'll leave you down here.

It might take you absolutely hours. But I've got to go.

So, I'll catch up with you later.

The ROAR team are ready.

Will Jessie go near that water?

We'll leave our cameraman to it, and come back later

to see if he catches any swimming action.

He better!

Tapirs are a very ancient animal.

They've remained pretty much unchanged for 20 million years.

They are most closely related to horses

and rhinos.

Amazing!

ALL: Now you know!

Last series, we put Sundari, our female tiger, to the test.

We placed a big chunk of meat up this tree to see if she could

jump and climb and get it down.

It was no problem.

We've got Turlough, a new tiger male, here.

How about him? Will he able to match Sundari?

We're going to find out, aren't we, Johny?

We certainly are, Rani. I reckon Turlough will do us lads proud.

Ooh! Fighting talk!

I'm going to put some meat on here.

Is that the last piece, Bob?

-Yeah, that's the very last one.

-OK.

We have a camera up here

which will show Turlough grab this piece of meat. Hello!

-Can I come down?

-Come down safely.

-Are you holding that tightly?

-I am, yes.

Bob, we need to find out a little bit more about Turlough.

-So, he's a new male here.

-He is.

How old? What's he like?

Turlough is 15 years old.

That's quite a healthy age.

He's ten years older than Sundari.

So, in tiger years he's senior.

-OK!

-Have you ever seen him climb a tree before?

He's a big old lad, isn't he?

Actually, no, I haven't. So, this is a real test.

Is there a possibility he won't be bothered to go up there

and the females will come out and they'll go,

"See you later, Turlough, I'm having this piece of meat"?

He possibly won't go there. He's very laid back for a tiger.

We could leave the ladder here, give him an advantage.

THEY LAUGH

We ARE giving him an advantage, aren't we?

Is it right you want to let him go about a minute before Sundari?

We will give him a slight advantage.

Hopefully, curiosity will get the better of him,

and he'll come over, smell the meat and get it.

Join us later to see how Turlough goes,

and if he's up for the challenge. I think he will be.

Let's get out of here, guys.

Why didn't the elephants go swimming?

I don't know.

Because they only had one pair of trunks.

Raaaarrrrrrr!

What d'you get if you cross a kangaroo with a sheep?

A woolly jumper.

Moooo!

Why did the firefly get bad grades in school?

Cos it wan't very bright.

THEY LAUGH

Back up at the tapir enclosure,

and keeper Bev has dropped by to see how we're doing.

Immediately, she points out a problem with our wildlife stakeout.

At the moment, she can see him.

She loves people.

She'll be snuffling around him, seeing what he's up to.

So, Jessie's just too friendly to go swimming when we're around.

So, it's back to the drawing board.

But what's Plan B?

He'll have to go a bit more low-key.

He'll have to hide out,

so Jess can't see him.

If she realises someone's here, I don't think she'll go swimming.

ROAR will not be beaten. So, into hiding it is.

THAT'S not hiding!

If ROAR is to have any chance of seeing her swim,

there's only one way to do it.

Build a camera hide.

Staking out wild animals can be a long process,

so it's best to be well-prepared.

You need patience, a keen eye,

and be ready to roll at any moment.

HE SNORES

Oh dear!

Will we ever get the shots?

Will Jessie ever go in the pool when we're around?

We'll come back later to find out.

Welcome back. We're now in the safety of Bob's vehicle.

We are ready to witness Turlough's Test!

Come on, Turlough! Bob, are we ready to let him out?

All I need to do is call up Brian and he'll let him out.

-Let's do it.

-Let's do it. Let's see some action!

OK, you can let him out, Brian.

Here he comes.

Hello, Turlough.

Oh, my goodness, he's HUGE!

That way! The meat's that way.

-Will we be safe?

-Of course we are.

Look at this. Oh, my goodness!

He's right up... He is half the size of this truck.

The size of his head is humongus!

He's sniffing round where we've been walking.

He'll be looking around.

Obviously, he'll see that camera up there.

It's incredible to see him move.

What's interesting is that he moves so slowly, usually.

-Could he go really fast if he wanted?

-If he wants to, yeah.

When he's in the mood of chasing the feed wagon, he motors on.

He keeps up with it, yeah. He can move when he wants to.

He knows there's something there. He's just looking up to it.

You can see him sniffing. Up the TREE!

-He's going to do it!

-Come on, before they come out.

Go on, do it!

Look at the size of him!

Absolutely huge. You really see how big he is here.

How much would you say he weighs, Bob?

I should imagine 500 or 600 pounds in weight.

That's incredible.

Turlough's had his chance. He's had a good sniff, and walked off.

Let's get the girls out and show them how it's done!

-Shall we let them out?

-All right.

Brian, can you let the girls out now, please?

OK, who's this?

Sundari.

Look at that. Leaner and lighter, and smaller.

-A lot smaller.

-It's incredible, isn't it?

She's maybe half her weight?

Huh?! Look at her go! You go, girl!

That's incredible climbing. Look how strong...

SHE LAUGHS

I reckon he knows what to do now.

He's just got to work out how to do it.

I think they know the meat's up there.

Aw! Ha-ha!

-So, who's that that went up there?

-That's Sundari.

Sundari, you go! Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo!

Look at the SPEED! She's running!

Oh! One of them's just knocked it out of her hands.

She's still got it back.

-Come on, Turlough!

-He's weighing up the odds.

Is it worth him going to get that,

-or can he go over and get Sundari's food?

-Does he do that?

Well, he will. The easy option is to scare off her food.

So lazy. I can't believe you, Turlough!

She's just sussing it all out now to see the best way up.

There she goes.

That was incredible, wasn't it?

That's about seven metres she's jumped up and jumped down.

Yeah, she did!

Cos those tigers are there now, she's just warning them off.

"This is my meat. Come over here and I'll have you."

I hope it is for the other tigers, not for us,

cos that is such a scary noise.

You know what, Turlough did let us boys down.

But I have to admit Sundari did it for the girls.

That was pretty awesome.

And, I have to say, rather scary.

One thing now, Bob. How will you get that camera down?

I'm going to leave it to Johny.

THEY LAUGH

Don't look at me! I put it up there.

Our ROAR Rangers today are cousins Chloe

and Lucy.

BOTH: Rrrrrr!

I think we'll make really good ROAR Rangers

cos we love all animals.

BOTH: We can't wait to be ROAR Rangers!

BOTH: Whatever happens, we're going to scoop that poo!

Ah, welly boots. It's good to see you've come prepared,

because you will be scooping lots of poo.

First challenge for our Rangers

is to guess what animal they'll work with.

We give them two clues.

Clue number one. A power hose.

Clue number two. A horn.

It could be like a bird caller, or something.

Come on, girls. Any ideas?

We think it'll be a really messy bird.

TRUMPET NOISE

A messy bird that we have to clean out! Ssssh!

Let's see if you're right.

BOTH: Rhino!

The girls are on their way to the rhino house

to work alongside keeper Emma

and the park's five African white rhino.

Morning, girls. Today you'll be rhino keepers. How do you feel?

-Are you very excited?

-Yeah!

This is Cara, one of our white rhino.

There's a good girl. Do you want to give her a bit of a pat?

Don't put your hands in-between her and the bars.

Just where we can see them.

The girls can only touch Cara

because they are with a trained keeper who knows her behaviour.

If you rub your hands over lightly,

-can you feel the little hairs?

-BOTH: Yeah.

Cara.

-It's really hard, isn't it? And rough.

-Yeah, you can do the hair.

But not every part of Cara's body is hard and hairy.

Come over here, girls, OK?

Just pop behind just inside the inside of the leg there,

and you'll feel how soft it is, OK?

-It's really smooth.

-It's really smooth, isn't it?

There's a good girl. Much softer to the outside, isn't it?

Rhino skin is like armour plating,

and in some parts is up to two centimetres thick.

That's ten times more than humans.

It was really rough at first,

but then when you got into the leg, it was smooth.

When you got into the leg,

it was like a different animal because it was so soft and smooth.

So far, the girls have had a good time.

But there's work to be done.

Here are your gloves. You've got to pop those on.

Uh-oh. Gloves. That can only mean one thing.

Poo!

First job for the girls is to collect a small amount of that poo.

We're going to make what's called a midden.

Rhino always poo in the same place.

The pile of dung is called a midden.

In the wild, it marks the boundaries of the rhino's territory.

It's also like a message board that tells other rhinos who lives here.

So, if you want to grab a little piece each. OK.

The keepers use this natural behaviour to their advantage.

By putting a small amount of another rhino's poo

in their night quarters,

the rhino will always poo on top of it,

which makes it easy to clean up.

Clever, eh?

Or you find you come in in the morning,

they've pooed in their drinker,

or pooed through the bars. It can be quite messy.

This way we can get to it easily and clean it out nice and quick.

It stinks and it's all squishy.

It's gooey and has loads of sticks in it.

Each rhino poos around five kilograms of dung every night.

Then, there's the wee.

So there's always lots of mess to clean up.

And the best way to do that is with a power washer.

D'you have to this every single day of the year?

We DO have to do this every single day of the year.

It's really hard to control.

It'd be really hard to do this every day.

I'd get really big muscles.

Looking after rhinos is tough work.

So, we'll join the girls later in the show

when they take part in a spot of rhino guiding.

I wonder how you give rhinos directions?

Right, ROAR gamers.

It's cheat code time.

Type sand876 into the ROAR game on the CBBC website,

and see what it gets you.

New treats, new animal, or even a new enclosure.

Happy gaming!

What d'you get if you cross some coconuts,

a porcupine

and a keeper?

-Don't look at me! Let's ask Rebecca. Hi, Rebecca.

-Hiya.

-So, I've got some coconuts, and we've got porcupines.

-We have, yeah.

What's going on today?

The porcupines are one of the largest rodents.

Their teeth are constantly growing,

so we need to give them things to gnaw on

to keep their teeth nice and short.

If we didn't give them anything to gnaw, their teeth'd keep growing

and could end up going into the bottom jaws or top jaw.

It's not like it'd keep coming out like tusks. It would be dangerous,

-so you must do that.

-We have to.

How will do this? I have to say

these are hard coconuts.

Are we going to chop the open, just give them the flesh,

or do you really want to give them them whole?

-Give them whole.

-Really?

-Yes.

OK. So, this is Brussel and Sprout.

Can we tell which one is which?

-Yeah. This one's Brussel.

-A bit bigger.

Bit bigger. And Sprout has got a bit more of a mouth...

-Can I come over?

-You can come over.

OK. Cos they have got very, very sharp...

If you want to hold the end of the coconuts...

You show me how it's done.

Oh, my gosh. Have they got really sharp teeth?

-Their teeth are quite long.

-Look at that!

It's a good way to gnaw their teeth down.

Have you ever done coconuts before with them?

We give them coconuts quite often.

To help with their teeth.

-And eventually would they crack?

-They can get through to it.

-So, their teeth are really, really strong.

-They have very strong teeth.

What kind of stuff do they eat in the wild

that they need to have such strong teeth?

That'll be root crops. We give ours carrots and parsnips.

They're not that hard! I can eat them raw.

They'll also eat carrion, like dead animals.

They'll gnaw away at the bones.

We have some bones behind us to give them, as well.

Nice. OK. Let's get the bones out, then.

OK, guys. Come on.

Come on, Brussel and Sprout.

-Brussel! Sprouty!

-Here we go. I'll just put it down.

The meerkats seem really interested.

They just wandered over from the enclosure next door.

Are they safe with the porcupines, cos they have big teeth?

The meerkats pick on porcupines more than anything.

They'll try and nip their feet, but then the porcupines

show their quills up at the meerkats, and then they run off.

-So, it's a happy family, really.

-Yeah, they get on all right.

I think the coconut was more of a success than the bones.

Maybe when we're gone they can sink their teeth into it.

Back up at the tapir pond,

the ROAR cameras have been on a wildlife stakeout

to try and get shots we've never managed to get before.

Jessie the tapir swimming.

It's tricky, as Jessie is one of the friendliest animals in the park,

and has always been more interested in talking to us

than going for a dip.

But finally, after hours of trying, and with several cameramen,

our patience has finally been rewarded.

It's beautiful to see.

Jessie loves to swim.

As the pond's only one metre deep,

she can trot along the bottom whilst cooling down in the water.

Her prehensile nose can be used as a snorkel

and she can also hold her breath underwater for up to two minutes.

Unbelievable.

I can't believe ROAR finally got the footage of Jessie swimming.

It's like with all wildlife filming. You have to get the right setup

and put the time in, and hopefully you'll get exactly what you want.

Jessie has been a star,

so it's a big ROAR thank you to our favourite Tapir.

Today's ROAR Rangers, Lucy and Chloe, have mucked out,

made a midden and even power washed the rhino house.

Are they finished? No!

There's still work to be done!

Take a seat in the back, there.

Each morning, Emma and the team guide the park's white rhino

up to the massive paddock

where they spend the whole day grazing an area

the size of 43 football pitches.

We're just letting the rhinos out of the yard, and it's our job

to guide them all the way up to the park for the day, OK?

Why don't you just let them go up there on their own?

Even though they do know their way, sometimes they are little pickles,

depending on what mood they get up in the morning.

They can walk off somewhere they're not meant to go.

That's why we guide them up in the tractors.

Good boy. Move up!

The keepers are very experienced,

and they know when the rhinos are mucking about.

Look how close she is.

She is not even a metre away from the car.

With particularly naughty rhinos,

a push on the horn does the trick.

The car horn, that is. Not the rhino's.

She saw the eland, which are these antelope just over our shoulders.

She's a little pickle, she is.

She saw an opportunity to give them a bit of a chase.

That's what she done.

With the rhinos safely guided into the safari park,

Lucy and Chloe can just enjoy the moment.

It's amazing that you get this close to a rhino.

You're SO lucky to get to work with these rhinos every day!

As the working day draws to an end,

it's time to find out just how well the girls have done.

-What was that like?

-Oh, SO brilliant!

Who would have ever thought that we would get to touch a rhino?

Today was AMAZING! We could never have done something like it!

I thought our ROAR Rangers did an excellent job.

Very attentive. I think they'd make good keepers when they're older.

BOTH: We love rhinos!

We have nearly run out of time for today's show, but we thought,

Ryan's around. Let's squeeze in a little bit more.

Ryan, how are the Ankole cattle doing?

Doing very well at the moment, Rani.

It's a good time of year for them.

They love the summer, although you wouldn't think it today.

It's a bit miserable, but the grass is green, and they're a grazer

so they're out in this all day and all night, and doing really well.

We don't get to see the Ankole very often.

Is there a special occasion today?

Well, you can see behind me here we have our latest addition to the herd,

a little female, as well. She's just under a couple of weeks old.

-She's so cute!

-They're really cute, aren't they?

She's got these really long legs, it looks like, and really slim.

Yeah, they're very small.

Look, she's hiding. We're not scaring her, are we?

Mum's there to protect her. She's the closest big one to us.

-No one's going to mess with them horns.

-No!

But she hasn't got her horns yet. At what age will she get her horns?

Hopefully over the next three to four months we'll see those develop.

They're still quite soft when they start to break through,

so probably about a year till they start to look anything

that might cause you a bit of discomfort.

Aw, she's having her head licked!

Is mum cleaning her head? What's all that about?

Mum will clean them off and lick them. That helps to make them bond.

It also teaches young one what she'll have to do in the future.

I have to say she's a perfect size to be sheltered today

when it's just starting to rain.

I think we better get out of here, but why don't you lot check out

what's coming up on the next episode of ROAR?

Next time on ROAR,

there's an emergency when four tiny monkeys

escape from their new enclosure.

Can the keepers catch them before it's too late?

The flamingos look pretty in pink,

but they can be rotten parents,

so I'll be finding out EGGSACTLY how to hatch their eggs.

They say owls are wise, but will this lot be clever enough

to catch out keeper, John, with their barn owl questions?

Don't miss it!

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