Episode 22 Roar

On Roar today, the lion cubs are moving on to solids

and I don't think they're going to be fussy eaters.

Oh yes, I just love this job!

Hello and welcome to Roar. I'm Rani.

I'm Johny. These guys here are the incredibly cool pygmy goats.

Oh, Johny, I could stay here all day.

But alas, the clock is ticking and we've plenty more animals to see.

So many that we'd better get on with today's show.

-Come on, you guys, hurry up and munch.

-You'll give them indigestion!

Coming up, they've got sharp horns and they're not afraid to use them.

So how will the wildebeest herd react to the new kids on the block?

Will it be friends or fighting?

They say that pigs are as clever as dogs,

so Rani and I have a go at some basic training.

-Sit!

-Sit!

-Sit! Roll over!

And our Roar Rangers throw away their ballet shoes

and pull on the gloves cos it's bath time for Mum and baby.

Aw! Oh!

Now, all you regular Roar fans will have been following the story

of the four beautiful lion cubs that were born here at the park.

We filmed them from when they were just a few weeks old.

We've seen them have their inoculations against cat flu

and witnessed their first trip outside to meet Dad.

Now, I'm on my way up to meet them for the first time.

I am in for a massive treat now.

LION GROWLS

I've come to the lion enclosure.

Hear that sound? The growl, the rumble.

That is Yendi.

She is the lioness here,

and she is a mummy! Hi, Yendi.

Well, the reason I'm down here today

is for these little beauties! I can't believe it!

Oh! A little spit there,

and Gemma, you're going to be doing the honours

-and introducing me today.

-Hiya.

Gemma, this is amazing.

Look at them acting tough, showing us their teeth.

So, who have we got here? What have we got? Males, females...hello!

We have three females and one male.

CUB BARKS

Hear that? They're yelping away. Proper siblings there.

It's cos they know we've got meat.

So their natural instincts are coming out.

They're trying to fight each other to get to the bars,

so they can get the meat first.

OK, so, as a special, special treat today,

the Roar camera is here on a feeding stick.

-This is how you'd normally feed them?

-Yes, with a stick.

We wouldn't put our hands anywhere near them. Otherwise...

CUBS SNARL

Listen to that! Look at the teeth!

OK, and I am going to get to do this as well?

-Yeah.

-Oh, yes! I just love this job!

OK, then.

We'll pop a bit of meat on the end.

If I do the first piece of meat, you can tell me who I'm giving it to.

Who's this?

-That'd be Eva.

-Have you got it?

Eva, so Eva is one of...

Look at those claws!

-Eva's...

-Look at that!

Look at the pads on the bottom of her feet!

So, who's this one here?

Well, this one here, we've got Tanya.

-How can you tell the difference?

-They've all got little things.

Eva is much smaller and lighter,

and obviously we've got Klaus, who's the boy,

and he's a little bit dark on the back end.

That's Tana, and who's next to Tana?

-That's Kiana.

-Kiana!

Great names!

Tana's got bits of, like markings by her mouth.

Ah, OK.

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness.

And how does Mum react?

Is she a good mum? Is she very protective?

She's very protective.

Obviously, you can hear her growling now.

That's a "stay away from my babies" sort of growl.

She will keep an eye on us,

and if she thinks we're getting too close

or getting out of turn with them, she'll growl at the bars,

and make us realise that she will get us

if we do any harm to them.

CUBS GROWL

Hear them growling!

-I do love, though, their ears.

-Yeah.

Oh, shush! I'm coming!

You're so impatient.

Now, everything looks too big for their body. Their paws look too big,

their ears look big, but they will grow into all of it.

CUBS SNAP

Calm down.

They're just loving this meat.

How long have they been on meat, or solids?

They started taking an interest in meat at about six weeks.

They do it gradually,

so obviously, when they were younger and they were in here,

we would feed Mum, and then Mum would sort of show them what to do,

and they would have a lick,

and then they would start eating.

We're asking all about Mum. What about Dad?

Dad,

he sort of stays away.

He'll go over now and again, have a play with them,

they grab his tail and his mane,

jump all over him, but as soon as he's had enough,

-he says he's had enough and walks off.

-Gemma, I've got to say,

I'm growing rather attached to these guys.

We've still got a load of meat to feed them,

so why don't you guys enjoy the rest of the show,

and I'll just stick around here.

Who wants this, then?

Ooh, lovely.

This is one of nature's most spectacular events,

the annual wildebeest migration in East Africa.

Every year, between May and July,

over a million wildebeest set off on a 1,000-mile journey

from Tanzania to Kenya, and back.

They follow the rains,

and the water and fresh new grass it brings to the plains.

The Safari Park has a herd of wildebeest too,

though it's not a million strong

and it doesn't migrate.

In fact, there are just four wildebeest here,

all boys, and they live very happily in Monkey Jungle.

Wildebeest are slightly odd-looking antelope.

They look like they were made of spare parts,

with front legs longer than the back ones,

a permanent look of confusion,

and they certainly wouldn't win a beauty competition.

But head-of-section Andy loves them.

These guys turned up end of last year,

so yeah, fairly new for Longleat.

They're just a real cool, funky-looking animal.

I think they're great.

The name "wildebeest" actually means "wild cattle".

But they have several other names too.

They're known as...

common wildebeest,

blue wildebeest,

or brindled gnu.

So they kind of have three names.

There is actually a wonderful song about gnus.

MICHAEL FLANDERS: # I'm a gnu

# Spelt G-N-U

# I'm the gnicest work of gnature in the zoo... #

And it's an easy song to sing along to.

Well, I am not going to sing that.

LAUGHTER

What a spoilsport!

But it's a catchy tune, and it's just as well,

because the park's herd of four gnus is set to almost double,

with three more wildebeest coming from another collection today.

Keeper Ryan is looking forward to it.

It's always exciting to have new animals turn up.

We're all here to look after animals,

and we all want to see the place grow and our herds expand.

The three newcomers are just arriving at the park.

But the next step, mixing them with the four who already live here,

could be a very dangerous time.

We've got to see how they all rub along.

Because they're all boys together, they might start fighting a bit.

Wildebeest are heard animals,

and have a very strict hierarchy.

In fact, they may fight to the death

as they try and work out who's in charge.

We'll be back later,

to see how the introductions go.

When you see a group of wildebeest walking along,

you might think they look tired and depressed,

with their heads hanging low to the ground.

In fact, though,

what they are doing is smelling.

That's because wildebeest have scent glands in their hooves

and they follow the smell of the rest of the herd.

Cheesy feet? I don't think that would work with humans!

Why did the cow cross the road?

To get to the UDDER side!

Sssss!

What's pink and goes "moo"?

A pig with an identity crisis!

SHE MOUTHS

If the plural of hippopotamus is hippopotami,

what's the plural of what a fool am us?

What a fool am I!

Our Roar Rangers today are best friends

and budding ballerinas,

Molly and Cassie.

But they won't need those ballet shoes today -

wellies will be more useful!

These two are animal-mad

and between them they look after three cats,

two dogs and a hamster called Lola.

So what animal would they like to look after today?

I'd love to see lions.

And meerkats.

Meerkats, I love meerkats.

They're, like, meerkats.

BOTH: But not POO!

No poo?

Well, that would be a first for a Roar Ranger!

We're giving Molly and Cassie just two clues to help them

guess what they'll be doing today.

Clue number one,

a lettuce.

Clue number two, some eggshells.

It's lettuce, might be what they eat,

yeah, and some weird eggs cracked.

That might be what they eat, crack the eggs.

OK, girls, it's time to make your mind up.

It's a gorilla, gorillas eat lettuce.

I think it's a snake because snakes eat eggs and they're slimy.

-Want to have a bet?

-Yeah!

I bet the only person

who can tell you is the keeper you'll be working with.

-Hi guys!

-BOTH: Hi!

Welcome to Animal Adventure. I'm Kim, your keeper.

So, I've got some things for you.

Who wants the pink ones?

Cassie, you can have them.

You have the pink? Yours are yellow.

-Thank you.

-You might need these...

OK!

Still no idea yet?

BOTH: No!

-Washing some animals?

-Oh, getting closer!

You can have that one

and you can have this one.

Very nice! Exactly what we need!

Well, they certainly look the part,

but what animal is it?

You were given the shells,

because we're washing that part of the animal

and lettuce, because that's what they eat.

-Any ideas now?

-Oh, possibly birds.

It's actually the tortoises! We're going to bath some tortoises today.

-Amazing!

-I love tortoises! Tortoises are so cute.

Shall we go off and find them? Let's go.

There are 34 tortoises here from four different species

and Kim needs a hand

with bathtime.

This is Sandra

and she's one of our adult female tortoises,

so we've got a nice, big bowl here

and some warm water. So if you want to lift one of these

nice watering cans full of water

and empty it into the bowl. Not too deep, though, just enough...

keep going. Wonderful. That's it! Fantastic!

So what we do now is we put Sandra down into the water, all right.

I've got some very special tools for you to use,

one for you,

-one for you.

-Thank you.

The tortoise's shell is made of living tissue

with pores or tiny holes in it.

So it's important to keep it clean.

A shallow bath helps keep the shell healthy.

I never thought I'd be bathing a tortoise!

With a toothbrush!

But while the girls are gently cleaning Sandra's top,

there's been some action from her bottom!

She's just done a bit of a poo!

Lovely!

MOLLY LAUGHS

We've got a number two in the bowl... have to get rid of that.

And how do best friends decide? Ching, chang, chong, of course!

Ching, chang, chong!

Ha-ha! Off you go!

You've got gloves on, so you should be all right.

Lovely!

Don't put it over me!

Pop it on the ground behind you and we'll tidy it up, after.

It's, like, rubbery!

Cleaning up tortoise poo was a yucky job,

so now comes the reward,

meeting Sandra's daughter.

Let's just hope she doesn't poo, too!

BOTH: Ohh!

Tortoises can live for up to 100 years, so they may be sweet,

but you need to think carefully

before having one as a pet.

It's a big responsibility.

This one, her name is Hamble,

and Hamble is Sandra's daughter.

So we've got mum and we've got baby!

Bring them up close to each other, you can see the size difference.

So diddy, diddy little tortoise

and not quite so big but she's a lot bigger.

She's tiny!

-She's a lot lighter than her mum.

-Yeah!

So cute!

But their day isn't over yet.

Kim has got a surprise for these two.

You've done a fantastic job helping with our tortoises,

that I've arranged for them to go up to the giraffery,

meet Bev and go and see the big, big tortoises there!

And when Kim says big, she means big!

The next tortoises the girls meet

can grow to weigh as much as a fully grown man.

We'll see how they get on later in the programme.

We've come down to Animal Adventure to help Darren with some training.

-I've heard of training dogs...

-And training birds...

but have you ever heard of training pigs?

Darren, you have the Kune Kune pigs. Who have we got here?

We've got Rufus, which is this one here

and Wilbur who's the noisy one!

-Rufus and Wilbur.

-Is that you training them to stand?

Very good, Darren!

They certainly recognise us.

I mean, pigs can be trained, they're like dogs.

They can be taught to heel and fetch and sit.

Why would you want to train a pig?

It's to keep their brains active. They're intelligent creatures.

We give them their food on a plate,

so to get out, do stuff, that's important,

but also, control.

I don't want them coming out and biting people,

biting visitors, so the idea is if we can control them,

I can bring them with no worries at all, and we can say, "Heel"

and I walk them round and everybody can get close.

For today, really, they're only at stage one.

The first stage...you ready, I'm going to open the door...

Are they safe?

We've never actually gone in with the Kune Kune pigs before.

They are dribble monsters

and they do have big, sharp teeth. You have to be aware

if we put our fingers in that mouth they could take your finger,

so you've got to be aware. I have some treats and stuff,

but it's no fingers in mouth.

All right! Let's do it! I'm eager!

Which one is that again? Wilbur?

That's Wilbur and this is Rufus.

Wilbur! Rufus!

-Good piggy!

-Keep my fingers away from you!

What we'll do, eventually, you still need a reward,

if you're good you get a reward.

What do you feed them on?

This is a commercial nut,

it's a low fat nut, so they don't know.

There's nothing in this, really.

Looks a bit like my finger!

The idea is now, hopefully, I'm going to take

bits of apple with Rani,

if you chuck a few down, keep them here.

-We're going to walk away.

-They can jump!

-I didn't know pigs could jump!

-I've got to keep the pigs occupied.

I've never done this before.

Johny, you're doing a good job.

You've got the right tone, but it's not about tone, is it -

it's food!

It's about tone, so you'll use your best pig-calling voice.

Bear in mind we've only got apple, he's got yummy biscuits down there.

They should come because they recognise I'm with you,

and hopefully they should come like dogs.

Wilbur! Rufus!

I'm running out of treats, guys!

We've got some tasty apples! And here comes Rufus!

Hey! And again, we will reward for that!

-Well done!

-Look at that!

-Brilliant! Good, good!

-They're good, aren't they?

The next thing is, are we going to send them back to Johnny?

Hopefully! If he calls,

they may not come back, but if I walk with them, they should.

-We try...

-I love it! Oh, look!

-Good boy!

-Traitor!

Rufus, come back!

He wants some biscuits! He loves the biscuit!

Darren, do they know their names?

Yes, very much so. They can recognise words and sounds.

When we eventually go to the word "sit" and "heel",

just like a dog, they will follow those commands.

Shall we try that? Wilbur, sit!

-Sit!

-Sit!

Roll over! Yes!

I think I've got work to do. We'll get to that.

So now, in a minute, I'm going to walk them back.

They've got to come with me, go to bed. I'll thank them,

that's good manners.

You're trying to teach a pig manners.

Good luck with that, we've got to...

Don't forget your manners! Thanks very much, Darren.

Come on then, pigs!

Pig, pig, pig...

Back down in the jungle area

and the trailer carrying the three new wildebeest has arrived.

The keepers want

to mix them with the park's existing herd of four males

straight away.

Everyone hopes it will go smoothly, but they are not taking any chances.

Today I'll be manning the gates.

We're going to lock down the facility and make sure none

of the animals in the jungle get out,

and all the animals that are meant to get in

get in safe and sound. That's why I'm here today.

The wildebeest have had a four-hour journey

to get to the park,

and while every measure's been taken for their safety,

it's hard to predict how they'll travel.

Our main concern today is that they turn up safely,

but sometimes when animals are moved from one place to another,

you can never be 100% sure

that they haven't injured themselves during the journey.

Easy, tiger.

The safari park's current herd of wildebeest

are watching the new arrivals closely.

Easy, boy. Steady, steady, steady.

Will they give a friendly welcome or will they fight?

Just what you'd expect, really.

They're all boys together. A bit boisterous, and,

"Who are you? You're new, and this is our territory."

It's what we call handbags. Hitting each other with handbags.

The new boys have taken themselves off on their own.

Give it a little while,

they'll bond and get on together

and start acting like a herd.

I think the three little guys will integrate into it.

As soon as they know their place, everything will be good

and hopefully they'll run as a group. They're all gnu.

Keeper Ryan will keep a close eye on the herd while they settle in.

Quite pleased with the way it's going at the moment.

It's nice to see our older guys putting their heads down and grazing,

so I think they're more or less over it.

Though it's early days, I certainly think it's a job well done.

We'll be back later in the series

to see how the wildebeest -

or should that be gnus? -

are getting on.

It's cheat code time

for the Roar game.

Type in wood23

and see what you get!

New treats,

new animals,

even a new enclosure.

Just remember, keep checking up

on your park on the CBBC website

to make sure your animals are OK.

Happy gaming!

Our Roar Rangers have had a mixed day so far.

There was the surprise of

Sandra the tortoise's bath poo.

Lovely(!)

SHE LAUGHS

But meeting her baby daughter

-more than made up.

-Awww!

But there's still work to do, and they've come to meet

keeper Bev and her giant tortoises.

-Hi, girls.

-Hi.

-I'm Bev. Who are you?

-I'm Molly.

-And I'm Cassie.

Hello, Cassie. I've heard off Kim that you've done

really well at Animal Adventure, and you've come up here for a treat.

-Is that right?

-Yeah.

OK, well I've got something for you,

so come in here with me, and I'll show you our guys.

Meet Michelle and Rex.

The two enormous

African spurred tortoises.

As well as being the third-largest

giant tortoise you can find,

they're actually the largest

mainland tortoise.

OK, girls, what we've got today is melon to give to Mich,

which she'll absolutely love,

and sometimes she gets very excited and will really, really bite at it.

So what I need you to do is just hold it at the tip.

-So if I give you a piece each, hold it at the tip like that.

-Thank you.

And just put it in front of her mouth, and hold on to it.

Put the top end, that's it.

Oh!

Wow! Let's see that again.

Whoever said that tortoises were slow - not true.

In the wild, these giants live in dry areas

along the edge of the Sahara desert.

-Has she got a tongue?

-She's got a tongue, but she hasn't any teeth.

But she does have a very sharp beak.

-Will they grow teeth?

-No, not at all.

All tortoises tend to have more of a beak,

so all along here is very, very sharp.

That's why you've got to mind your fingers and keep them

-at the end of the melon.

-Very messy!

She does get very messy all round her mouth.

Will she eat the skin?

Yeah. She's so strong. She's got such a powerful jaw.

-They're just like humans' eyes.

-It's dribbling!

Has she had any babies?

At the moment, she's laid eggs

and things like that, but she hasn't bred properly.

But we've just put her together with a new male and that's Rex.

-He's in this paddock somewhere.

-There!

-Do you want to meet Rex?

-Yeah.

Come with me. He's coming over!

Now, Rex is extra-cute.

He's a bit smaller.

Stick that in front of his face

and see if he wants anything to eat.

But this is Rexy, and he's our little boy.

Little boy? He's enormous!

Rex will grow to around 70 kilograms.

That's the same as a fully-grown adult,

or around 130 lettuces.

Having washed one of the smallest tortoises on the park,

now it's time to bathe the biggest.

OK, girls. What we need to do is just pop him down in.

And if I slide him in, he'll probably be a bit grumpy,

but if you girls come round this side and just splash him.

There's some on his head.

This is nice warm water,

it's been in this pond all morning,

so it's a nice temperature for him

so he's not too cold.

Having spent the day caring for both large and small,

how do our two keepers think the Roar Rangers have done?

It's very important for anyone to learn about

how to look after animals well, and obviously

as well as the treats you get to do,

like feeding and holding and being close to an animal,

you've also got to pick up their poo and give them a wash

and do the dirty jobs as well.

I didn't think we'd use a toothbrush.

I thought it'd be like a small scrubbing brush

-or something like that.

-Yeah.

I think they make fantastic keepers,

especially small animal keepers.

-BOTH:

-We love tortoises!

Last year on Roar, we were there

when one of the sweetest animals ever

arrived at the park - baby Ebun

the rhino.

She'd come from Germany

and had been hand-reared because her mother couldn't look after her.

She was just one year old, and still needed her daily milk.

But just look at her now.

It is nearly the end of today's show,

but before we leave you, we thought we'd catch up with keeper Ross.

-Hi, Ross.

-Hi.

-And find out how Ebun is doing.

-So, how is she doing?

-She's doing really well now.

Over the last year or so, she's really becoming a rhino,

being part of the crush, growing up a bit, really.

You know, what's incredible is,

I'm going to sound like a granny here, but hasn't she grown?

-You could sound like a grandad, Johny!

-OK, yeah, a grandad.

But it's amazing that she's grown so quickly.

She looks like a proper rhino now.

-She's not a baby any more, is she?

-Yeah.

-How old is she?

-About two years old now.

-Fully grown?

No, she's got a bit more growing to do.

If she stayed like that,

she'd be pint-size.

I saw one of the bigger rhinos nudge her a little bit.

Is she getting on with the others or is she getting bullied?

When she first came here, they were a bit wary of her, obviously.

Rosina took a little bit longer than the others

-to get used to her, and used to hit her about a bit.

-Awww!

But that's a rhino thing, it's not a nasty thing.

As she's grown up, Njani's been really, really good with her.

He'll hold his head down low and let her attack it,

and now she's getting a bit bigger, he can give a little bit back.

So she's learning real rhino ways from other rhinos?

Yeah. She was hand-reared

so she didn't have a clue, really.

When she came here, this is where she really started

learning about what a rhino was.

It's great to have a catch-up with her. Unfortunately,

that's all we've got time for today.

Why not have a look what's coming up

on the next episode of Roar?

Meet Marmite the meerkat. She was hand-raised

as a pet and thinks she's a human.

What will happen when she meets wild meerkats for the first time?

Oh, my goodness!

How do you give Anne the elephant a wash?

With a power shower and a scrubbing brush, of course.

I think we're going to be here quite a while!

And me and the gang are off to meet one of the park's

-luckiest and most-loved animals.

-Ohhh!

It's Joey, the hand-reared baby wallaby.

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