Episode 26 Roar

Today on Roar.

The lion cubs have been having a great time

with Mum, Dad and all the pride.

But now there's going to be trouble,

because the cubs want some of the grown-up's meat.

And lions aren't good sharers.

-Hello, and welcome to Roar. I'm Johny.

-And I'm Rani.

And these impressive guys over there are new to the park.

They've got two different names.

They can either be called the blue wildebeest

or brindled gnus.

Or, Rani, we can call them the gnu guys, you know,

because brindled gnu and they're new to the park.

I've mixed it up.

Or we can even just say let's get on with today's all gnu show.

-You see what I did?

-I like it! Catching on.

All gnu show. I don't get it, though.

Gnu... New....

Coming up today, we'll see who's smarter,

the Roar crew or the rhesus macaque monkeys.

I'll discover the curious charm of the leopard gecko.

Oh, he's so cute and so chilled out.

And if you are eating, look away now,

because the Roar Ranger must tackle the anteaters

and they do the pongiest piles of poo in the place.

Oh, oh, wow!

To survive in the wild, lions must kill.

They hunt the largest prey, like zebra and buffalo

because lions are big meat eaters.

When they are babies they don't eat meat.

Like all mammals, they start off just on their mother's milk.

But the four cubs at the park are now 12 weeks old,

so very soon they'll need to be weaned,

give up milk and eat nothing but meat.

Keeper Bob has already started getting them used to the idea.

All we are going to do today is just stick-feeding cubbies.

He's been giving them little chunks of meat since

they were six weeks old to help mum Yendi with the weaning process.

That's a big mouthful for you, innit?

It's rare to get so close to any lion feeding.

To make the most of it, we have a special lens for the camera.

It's called a fisheye lens.

But there's more to stick-feeding,

than just getting some cool shots.

One of the good things about feeding with a stick from a young age is

you can see the development of their teeth, how big they are, the claws.

Are you going to show us your claws? Yeah, look at this. Lovely big claws.

While they are playing with that, we can have a quick check.

They are really sharp.

That would hurt you if they were to dig them into your skin.

Another reason to get the cubs used to stick-feeding -

if they ever need to be given any medicine,

it can be hidden in these little chunks.

We do this with all the big cats.

You can hide tablets, you can hide powders in them.

If you teach something at a very early age,

then it becomes instinctive to them.

Right, come on. Here you go.

Being this close also means the keepers

can really get to know the youngsters.

This is Eva. She's the naughty one, ha-ha!

To put it politely.

If there's going to be any trouble, then she's normally there somewhere.

And normally instigating it.

The cubs enjoy their little chunks so much,

Bob reckons they are ready now to move on to the next stage.

Eating big pieces of meat outside, along with the rest of the pride.

Trouble is, family meal time isn't exactly child friendly.

You see, here in the park, the lions don't chase live prey,

but they do have the next best thing.

The feed wagon.

Three times a week, a tractor and cage

is driven through the enclosures

as meat is dropped through a chute at the back.

This simulates the hunt, as the lions chase the wagon.

And, just like in the wild,

every member of the pride has to fight for their share.

It can get rough, and it's no place for babies.

Are the cubs ready for this or will they go hungry?

Stick around to find out.

When it comes to small and mischievous,

nothing beats the monkeys.

So, to keep them busy,

the keepers are always trying to give them a new challenge.

They built a massive climbing frame,

came up with a fruit and veg tombola

and experimented with net pinatas stuffed with treats.

But none of them kept the monkeys out of mischief for long.

So now keeper Andy has got the Roar production team

to come and help give the climbing frame a great big makeover.

Let's start at the top.

We've got our boy from the Roar office, Gareth.

Gareth, can I ask you, what are you doing?

I'm just stuffing this log that we've drilled holes into

with raisins and little treats,

and we've got an ice block filled with fruit and veg.

Oh, nice!

Let's move on then.

This is great. You get to meet the whole team.

-Hello.

-Sophie, what are you doing?

I'm just finishing stuffing some monkey nuts

and bananas in this entrance piata.

OK, Mark. What are you doing?

Well, it's the same as what Gareth's got at the top, really,

but we've got some sultanas in here, some peanut butter, and some jam.

-Now, here's our boy John.

-Hi, Rani. How are you doing?

-I'm very well, thank you. How are you?

-Good, yeah.

What are you doing today, John?

Stuff this drum full of camel hair,

and give them something to play with.

OK, Andy, the makeover is looking great,

but I have the eye for detail, what is it you want me to do?

I've got a pack of grapes. We can scatter a few around,

and you can lob some upon the top of the climbing frame.

Not that exciting. But that's all we've got left.

-I'm going to see it as putting the cherry on top.

-The grape on top.

The grape on top. Right, we are going to do that.

When the monkeys come over, we won't stand here.

No, we'll all clear out and go

and stand out of the way a little bit, and see what ensues.

I'm going to chuck the grapes.

But why don't you join us later

and find out if the monkeys enjoy their makeover.

Oh! Good throw!

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

There's two monkeys in a bath, and one says uh-uh-ah-ah,

and then the other one goes, quick, turn on the cold water!

BOTH: Baaaah!

Where do cows go to watch films?

I don't know, where do the cows go to watch films?

To the moooovies.

A-oooooh!

What's the difference between a lion and a matabooboo?

What's a matabooboo?

Nothing, Yogi.

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

These incredible looking reptiles here are the park's leopard geckos.

I'm here with their keeper Sarah to give them a health check.

-Hello, Sarah.

-Hi.

I'm very excited, cos I've never worked with the geckos before.

Never mind giving them a health check. Where would we start?

Right, basically, do you want to grab one out?

Yeah. Yes, definitely.

This is Harry, the other one is called Sally.

Oh, OK. Harry and Sally, lovely.

-Right, so we need to measure and weigh them, then.

-Yeah. OK.

-Let's put him on the scales, there we go.

-There we go, OK.

He's 73 grams.

-And is that healthy?

-Yeah, he's a good weight.

So what else are we looking for on Harry?

-He's a good weight. That's good?

-Yeah.

Another thing we do for our records is measure them,

so we can compare how much weight they are putting on

to how big they are getting.

-Oh, excellent idea.

-So we've got a ruler.

-It might be a little bit tricky, but if we just lay it down.

-OK.

-Oh, he's so cute, and so chilled out as well, really.

-Yeah.

-Do you want me to hold him?

-Yeah, if you hold him at that end.

Yeah, OK. I don't want to hurt him.

And then I'll get a rough...

So he's roughly about 21 centimetres,

including his tail as well.

-So?

-So, again, he's a good size for the age. He's seven years old.

Would you check the brightness of his eyes or anything like that?

Definitely. Make sure there's no discharge

coming out of the eyes or the nose.

His mouth is nice and clear, and his ears...

Do you see the holes there?

-That's his ears!

-Oh, yeah!

So there are nice and clear, no wounds on him at all.

And so, Harry seems chilled out, and perfectly healthy.

-Shall we have a look at Sally?

-Yeah.

Do you want to get her out?

I have to say, they are incredibly cute,

but I'm not so sure about this weird thing at the end.

That's just like an insect. It's like you've got a lizard,

and then this weird insect thing at the end, what is it?

It does look like that, yeah. Their tails are really important, actually.

A bit like a camel's hump, they are a fat storage.

So, in the wild, if there's not a lot of food around,

they can then regain nutrients and fat from their tail

to keep them going.

That's why it's quite plump.

So if it's a good size, it means that they are a healthy weight

and that they are eating OK.

We better get on with measuring and weighing Sally,

but it's been incredible to get so close to an animal like this.

Back in lion country, the feed wagon is on its way,

and tensions are running high.

The cubs have only recently come out to the drive-through enclosure,

This will be the first time they'll see the feed wagon in action.

But the cubs are just 12 weeks old.

At this age, they should hang back and stay out of the way.

Bob will be keeping an eye on them.

There's always that chance that something might go wrong.

One of the cubs might run in front of the tractor,

or in between the tractor and the feed wagon.

You know, we have one or two characters in this litter of cubs,

so they might take it upon themselves to try and hunt the feed wagon.

The feed wagon is going to be a new experience for their dad Nibalo too.

He arrived here a few months ago and until recently

he was kept in the paddock where the tractor can't get in.

So now, no one knows how he'll react.

If he sees a piece of meat that he wants, he will go and get it,

regardless of if there's a cub, a big lioness of whatever.

We're ready, Howard. Open this gate up.

We can see Nibalo and the cubs, they are right down the bottom.

They haven't sussed out yet that it's food.

Keeper Gemma is in the wagon, ready to start putting the meat out.

The cubs are well out of the way, as the lionesses begin the chase.

Nibalo hasn't worked out what's going on yet.

But once the meat is out, he can smell it.

And then instinct kicks in.

It's suddenly dawned on him that there's food.

Nibalo! Come on!

HE LAUGHS Oh, it's brilliant.

By the time Nibalo arrives on the scene, all the meat is out.

So now, he's looking for the biggest bit.

He'll nick someone else's if they let him get away with it.

When lions feed, they have to fight for their share.

So how are the cubs going to get any meat?

We'll find out very soon.

DID YOU KNOW?

Lions can be very loud.

SHE ROARS

A single roar can reach 114 decibels.

That's what sound is measured in.

Which is like the loudest noise ever made by a trombone.

If you stand too close, both of them can almost hurt your ears.

Though, with the lion, that might not be your biggest problem.

Our Roar Ranger today is 11-year-old magician Ethan.

We are giving Ethan just two clues to guess

what animal he'll be working with.

Clue one - some honey.

Um, it's honey.

And honey is related to bees,

so I have a feeling it might be bee keeping.

One time I got stung by bees and I've got a phobia of bees.

Please don't be bees!

Here comes clue two - it's a riddle.

I have a tongue that's stretched half a meter,

I'm a crazy insect eater.

Well, it could be an anteater or an armadillo,

but I know that anteaters don't eat honey, they eat ants.

So it must be an armadillo.

So let's see if he's right.

Today, Ethan will be...

-An anteater keeper!

-Yey!

Hold on, anteaters don't eat honey.

In fact, the park's two giants anteaters, Bonito and Maroni,

love honey.

And Ethan will be getting really close when he helps hand feed them.

But that's later, after the hard work is done.

-Hello!

-Hiya!

-My name's Ethan.

-I'm Becca. I'm your keeper for today.

-Are you going to get ready for some cleaning?

-Oh... OK, yeah.

You're going to probably need a mask.

-Is it that serious?

-And some gloves.

-Oh, goodness.

-The mask probably won't help very much.

That does sound serious.

Giant anteaters come from Central and South America,

where the climate is warmer than here.

Bonito and Maroni are fine outside during the day.

But they come into their heated house at night to sleep

and to do their business.

She's done a big poo.

So you're going to have to clean that up, OK?

-I'm going to get some equipment for you, OK?

-Yeah.

-To get you going.

-The smell isn't as bad as I thought it'd be.

You wait till you pick it up.

HE LAUGHS

It's like what my dog does, so it's nothing surprising.

OK, here we go, Ethan. Put it all in there, yeah?

Anteater poo is famous for its powerful pong.

But Ethan seems to be having fun.

So step by step instructions on how to clean anteater poo.

Step one, you need like a little bucket and a spade or something.

You put it there, that's step two. I'll give you step three.

And you just sweep it into the little bucket with the spade.

Step 4, just sweep it in.

And that is your instructional guide of how to clean anteater poo.

OK?

-All in there? Yeah?

-Yeah.

-OK.

After tackling one of the worst jobs in the park,

Ethan is in line for one of the best.

Feeding the anteaters by hand.

It's a strange operation that involves honey,

live insects and a glass tube.

But you'll have to wait a little longer to find out how it works.

Well, there you go. There is an amazing sight there.

All the rhesus macaques on their fantastic, improved climbing frame.

Cos earlier on in the show the Roar team helped Andy

set up some of the best things that we put out for the monkeys.

You know, little...

We've got, like, pinatas there with fruit in it,

we've got raisins stuffed in logs,

ice blocks with food, we've got camel hair.

They're all there, they're all loving it.

They obviously don't feel the cold,

cos they're sitting on that ice block and it's cold today.

I think they are just mad.

I think they can see there's bananas and stuff,

and maybe they just can't work out why they can't get it.

They can see bananas, and pieces of apple and things like that,

but they can't actually get at them, so I think they'll sit there

until they work it out and suffer the cold feet.

Hopefully by then, the ice block would have melted

and they will taste their treats.

That's a nice thing about ice blocks, it takes some time.

They've really done the logs with the bits of raisin and stuff,

but the ice blocks are going to stay there for quite a while.

They'll have to work away at them as they melt.

That's good enrichment, cos it'll take a long time.

And the hay sack as well, because that will keep swinging around,

so that's got to be maybe slightly scary.

I don't think it's so much scary swinging around, cos

even the little ones they are banging all round this climbing frame.

There's a couple of tiny little ones that just got in there.

Oh, yeah!

They'll start coming in after the big males

have been in here and had their fills.

Mums are bringing their babies in.

It might not have been safe to come in with babies

if there was a fight or a squabble.

And they are watching what Mum's doing.

They're learning what's good to eat,

how to climb, how to do this, that and the other.

It's all learning by associations.

It's one big family in here,

and everybody gets on and looks after each other.

Speaking of happy families, I've got to say, it's like the Roar team.

They set all this up for us today, and it's been great for us to see.

Thank you so much for letting us do it.

-It's all right, Rani, no problem at all.

-Oh...

OK, you gamers, here's what you've been waiting for - grass456.

That's today cheat code for the Roar game.

And if you haven't been playing the game, it's never too late to start.

You'll find it on the CBBC website and it's great fun.

Happy gaming.

Our Roar Ranger Ethan

has already seen the bad side of being an anteater keeper.

So now he's about to experience the good bit.

You've done a great job, so you get to feed the anteaters.

We'll use some honey, cheese, some mealworms and some crickets.

-That does not make a good mix.

-It doesn't, does it?

And we are going to put it in the pipe,

and hopefully she's going to put her tongue all the way down the tube.

Anteaters have amazing long and very sticky tongues.

They use them to slurp up ants and termites,

from right inside their underground tunnels.

Feeding the anteaters with a glass tube

gives them a chance to exercise their tongues,

and it also means the keepers can see the tongue

to make sure it's all right.

-The honey and crickets are stuffed in one end.

-Yeah.

And some mealworms.

And to make it perfect, there's one last ingredient.

Let's put some cheese in. She'll love cheese.

-Animals do like weird things, don't they?

-She'll love it.

Cheese is one of her favourites.

The tube feed is almost ready to go.

But will the anteaters go for it?

Let's see if that will intice her.

Go on, Maroni!

The cheese is at Maroni's end of the tube.

She can just stand and go out.

Hold it there.

But you can really see that tongue in action

when she goes for the honey and bugs.

See it coming down?

Up here now, by your hands.

She's loving the cheese at the moment.

Of all things, I never knew they would eat cottage cheese.

So he's learnt a lot.

But has he got what it takes to be an anteater keeper?

I think Ethan did very well as a Roar Ranger.

He didn't mind the smell at all, and it's a disgusting smell.

-It isn't too pleasant.

-He is quite funny.

-Step four.

It definitely helps to have a good sense of humour,

just because you do have some hard jobs you've got to deal with,

especially the smelly ones.

And what did Ethan make of the day?

It was an electrifying experience.

I never ever thought I'd get so close to an anteater.

Wow, amazing! I love it!

Back up in lion country,

the whole pride has just been fed from the meat wagon.

The adults are tucking in,

but this is the first time the four cubs are being fed like this,

and they don't know what to do.

They are ready for that meat, but dinner time with the family

can be dangerous. So their best bet is to sneak up

and see if they can find some spare bits.

You see who the dominant ones are,

who possibly could be pride male or pride female

in later life.

There's been one in particular, the young boy,

he eats his food there.

And no one is having it, and he sticks to it, and I think it's great.

The chunks of meat are huge for these youngsters.

One bit is more than enough for all four.

The cubs are brilliant. There, as you can see they are sharing.

That will stop in a few months' time,

because they will be finding their own place in the hierarchy of things,

and they don't tolerate brother or sister

feeding off the same piece of meat as them.

They've got a piece of meat there. Look. That's the cubs' mum.

She'll sit back and let them get their fill first.

But lion mums can never relax.

One of the other adults is on the prowl for extra meat.

Yendi is ready to guard her cubs.

The other lion got a spare piece of meat, but Yendi has seen her off.

One of the females has come over a bit too close to her cubbies,

and Mum's rushed over and told her off and forced her out of the way.

So that her cubs would eat and their food doesn't get pinched.

Yendi is a brilliant mum.

She's very laid back, but when she needs to tell her cubs off,

or needs to tell the other lions off, she does.

So now the youngsters have seen the feed wagon for the first time,

put in some good meat eating practice,

and started to learn how to stand up for themselves.

All in all, it's been a good day for the lion cubs.

We're almost out of time,

but before we go, we are off to the vulture aviary,

because we've heard some news.

A group of nine white-backed vultures has been here for years,

but they never had any chicks until a few months ago,

when a single youngster was spotted in the highest nesting box.

Problem was that nobody could get a proper look at it.

Even the keeper in charge of them, Mark Tye,

never got more than a glimpse.

We've had vultures for about seven years now,

and this is the first successful chick we've had,

so I've been patient enough to wait that long, a bit longer I can handle.

But now, we've rushed up to meet keeper Sarah inside the aviary,

because we've heard that the chick has finally managed

to flutter down to the ground.

That is true, about two days ago now, he left his nest for the first time.

-Wow!

-Only two days ago!

-Yeah.

And we are in the aviary, so he/she is around here somewhere?

It's around here somewhere hiding.

I think he is right over there in the corner.

Obviously, he's quite nervous. This is all new to him.

Obviously we are new, he's never seen a film crew before,

so yeah, he's a little bit nervous.

He's only been in this world for a couple of days.

How long did it take him to come down from his nest?

It must have been nerve-racking.

It's taken him a while. He's five months old now,

so it's taken him five months to leave the nest.

So for five months he stays in the nest, Mum feeds him,

looks after him, but now he's out all by himself over there.

-Where's Mum and Dad?

-Mum and Dad will be about there,

they are up on one of the high trees over in the corner there.

They'll be keeping an eye on him.

So out of the nest, does that mean that he's flying out now by himself?

Not quite yet. It can get a little bit high, but now its wings are not

strong enough to get right up on to the top of the trees yet.

But in some time he'll practise and they'll get stronger.

Well done, Mum, and well done you guys as well,

but I think that little one is cosy enough in the corner,

so we should probably leave him for now.

That's right. While we get out of here,

why don't you check up what's coming up on the next episode of Roar?

Imogen, the giraffe needs a vital operation,

and there's always the danger it could go wrong.

The Roar A-Team take on Genghis Khan and his brothers,

so who's going to win?

They've got some mean tusks on them.

And Hansel the armadillo is looking for love.

And he's in a hurry to find it.

He's so fast! Look at him!

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