Episode 7 Roar

Today on Roar,

the team must go into the lions' den to give some vital inoculations.

Lucky, then, it's only the cubs that are being treated.

Hello, and welcome to Roar.

I'm Johny, and today, myself and Rani are here

with the elegant eland.

Oh, I've got to say, look at them.

And there's some cute little babies, as well.

What a perfect place to grow up.

All this open space, loads of food, an adoring public.

-I'll tell you what, Rani, they've

-e-landed

-on their feet!

-Oh, Johny!

-Sorry.

Let's just gallop on with today's show. E-land, Johny?

Coming up today, I'm not taking any chances with one of the most

dangerous animals in the park...

..because there's Bubble trouble up with the pygmy goats.

I'm glad I wore my shin pads. Look at this, she's attacking! Ah!

I'm going on a mission to find and weigh the newborn baby deer.

So little, but with such long legs. Awww!

And, there's tricky questions and bare-faced bribery

when this lot ask the keeper.

If you guys are nice to me with the killer question,

I may have enough fish here for everyone to have a go.

But first, we're going straight up to the big cats

to see our favourite new babies -

the lion cubs.

They're now seven weeks old,

and today is going to be a big day for them.

Just like domestic cats, lions can get cat flu and worms,

and cat flu, if left untreated, can be fatal.

So today, they'll be getting their inoculations,

and safari park vet Chris Mangan is in charge.

But it's going to be a first for him.

I've done cats and dogs as a student, but, no,

I've not done a lion before, so this will be a new one.

I'll just treat it as a big cat, I think!

Chris will need to give the injections by hand -

that means going in with the cubs.

He's going to need some help to catch them,

and keepers Gemma and Amy are ready. Or are they?

This is actually my first time doing this, so I'm quite nervous.

There's two of us and four of them, so we're a bit outnumbered!

I have done this before. It didn't quite go to plan.

Their teeth seemed to like my skin a bit more than I wanted to!

Keeper Bob Trollope has worked with big cats for over 30 years.

He'll be keeping an eye on them.

The damage they could do at this age, they've got very, very sharp claws.

I'd be more wary of them than the actual teeth, but, yeah,

they could cut our skin like a knife through butter.

Mum Yendi is being moved into a pen further down the house,

so she can't swipe at the keepers through the cage.

But they've made sure she can see the cubs,

which should reduce her stress. Dad Nibalo is next door.

It's almost time to begin.

The big cat team will be going into the pen

with the four feisty cubs, but not the Roar film crew.

So you can get a close-up view,

we've put special mini-cameras on keeper Gemma, and Chris the vet.

Got a little camera on my head, just so you guys can see

closely what I'm doing. They're quite small,

so it's difficult to get in there with big cameras and stuff.

You don't want to stress them out. So hopefully this camera on my head

will enable you to see what I can see.

Everything's ready. Will the inoculations go smoothly,

or will the lion cubs attack the keepers?

We'll be back shortly to see what happens.

Lions are the only members of the cat family where males

and females look distinctly different.

Male lions have a fur mane around their neck,

and are much bigger than the females.

ALL: Now you know!

You're watching Roar, and I'm Johny Prawn!

There's only enough room for one Johny on this show, and that's me.

In fact, I'm going to feed this prawn to the otters.

We've come up with a crazy contraption

with a camera inside to see how dextrous

the little otters are with their incredible hands.

In the wild, otters use their paws for swimming

and digging out food, but what we want to show today is not

only have dextrous they are, but also how clever.

Can they work out how to get the prawns out of the box?

-Now, Bev is just over there. Bev!

-Hello!

-Hello, Bev.

Can I come in, please? Yeah.

Thank you. Oh, look at this.

What do you think of this little contraption we've made?

We've done it so the otters can try and feel through

and grab one of the prawns. Do you think they'll be able to do it?

I think they'll be really good, yes.

-So who have we got here, then?

-This is Sumalee.

-Hello, Sumalee.

You know what?

Before you eat my shoes, why don't you try our little contraption?

-If we put it down...

-Yeah, did you want to put it over in the water?

Totally, let's do it there.

This would be great to show her using the paws, basically.

Their feet, the front paws.

I have to say, her paws, they're incredibly cute,

but can they use them like we can use our hands?

-How dextrous are they?

-Yeah, very dextrous indeed.

As you can see, they can get their paws right in there.

She just grabs them out like we would grab with our hands.

They have webbed front paws, as well, but in the wild they would use them,

they would put them in the water, rice fields, as well,

and just have a feel around for any food that they can find.

Remind us where we'd find otters in the wild.

Are they quite a common animal?

You could find them in England, couldn't you?

Yeah, there's different types of otters.

The short-clawed Asian otters, these come from Asia,

-they're one of the smallest type of otters you can get.

-Look at that!

That's one way of doing it, using their hands to push it over!

-They're cheating!

-Are they intelligent animals?

There's a certain amount of intelligence

to know what's in there and get it out.

Yeah, they're quite intelligent, I reckon,

because we put other enrichment ideas in here, this is one of them,

and they do work it out quite quickly,

I'd say they're quite intelligent.

We've put prawns inside there. Are prawns their favourite treat?

Yeah, they don't mind prawns. They like crayfish as well,

we do give them crayfish.

Any crustaceans, molluscs, small mammals

and rodents we feed them as well.

I have to say, I love the way they're actually holding the prawns!

Usually, they'd sort of go around, and they're playful animals,

so even in here, they'll play with all the pebbles,

and you'll see them juggling with the pebbles.

-Yeah, and playing around.

-Yeah, with shoes!

She had her hand in there, she was actually tickling my feet!

It's been incredible to get close to these otters.

You know they're my favourite animals.

But I'm getting quite peckish looking at these.

Fancy a prawn salad?

They're looking serious. It must be time for Ask the Keeper!

OK, today, Sarah Keith,

we are asking you questions on the pink-backed pelicans.

-Are you ready for this?

-Maybe!

-You look quite scared! Are you scared?

-I'm a little bit scared, yeah.

-You know what, guys?

I think if Sarah's a little bit nervous, we should be nice to her.

Yeah? Nice to her? Nice to her? OK, Jude, ask her a question.

I know that, in the wild, the pelican chicks eat regurgitated food

out of their mother's throat, but how do you feed them in Longleat?

Ugh! Do you have to regurgitate food?

Well, we don't quite regurgitate food for them, but what we have to do

is we do have to chop loads of little bits of slimy fish to feed them.

Do they live in groups?

Yep, pelicans do live in big colonies of anywhere

from 20 up to 100 birds altogether.

How do you tell if it's a male or female?

Very good question, actually.

The main difference you can tell from looking just from here

is that the females will have shorter beaks, so these two over here

with the shorter bills, they're females, and then this one

over to the left, there, as you can see, its bill's a little bit longer

than the females', and that's how you can tell from looking at them.

Other than that, we generally tend to take a feather sample, and then

the people in the labs will test the DNA, and that's how they sex them.

Do the adult pelicans fish like they do in the wild,

or do you feed them already dead fish?

We do feed them already dead fish,

but we do like to give them smaller fish sometimes,

and we'll scatter that out into the pond for them,

and that encourages them to fish and feed like they would do in the wild.

Shall I throw a bit out to them?

They're all waiting in the background there.

Woah!

But, I'm afraid to say that the rest of this fish is actually my bribe,

so if you guys are really nice to me with the Killer Question,

-I may very well have enough fish here for everyone to have a go.

-Oooh!

It's a toughie. What do you think?

-Catch Sarah out, or feed the pelicans a fish?

-Catch her out.

Catch her out, catch her out, catch her out? All right,

it's time for the Killer Question. In we go, in we go.

OK, so we've got to come up with a Killer Question.

THEY MURMUR

All right then.

-Sarah, we have sacrificed feeding fish to the pelicans...

-Right.

..to ask you a Killer Question.

Where does a pelican crossing get its name from?

Because pelicans are cool.

And why not call a crossing a pelican crossing? I don't know.

Uh-uh!

It's actually because it stands for Pedestrian Light Controlled.

So, the PE from "pedestrian", the LI from "light",

and the CON from "controlled"!

You know, because there's a light so pedestrians can cross safely.

I can't believe you didn't know that!

Hang on a minute, though. Pelican doesn't have an O-N in it.

Sarah's right. It should really be pronounced "peli-con",

but everyone thinks "peli-can" sounds better.

What if Sarah was to let you feed the pelicans?

Thumbs up, or thumbs down?

Sarah, do you think we could feed the pelicans, please? Please?

As I'm feeling in a nice mood, why not? You can all have a go.

What do you think, thumbs up or thumbs down for the pelican feed?

That's what we think of feeding pelicans!

Back up with the big cats, and keepers Amy and Gemma

and safari park vet Chris are about to go into the lions' den.

They need to give the cubs inoculations against cat flu,

because if they don't and the cubs caught it, then they could die.

Keeper Bob is giving the young keepers some last-minute advice.

Go in there, be confident.

The art is to grab them by the scruff,

round the back of the neck, and hold them down firmly.

You don't have to put too much pressure on, obviously,

because they're only small. Vicious, but they're only small.

The things to look out for are, obviously, are the claws

and the teeth, but mainly the claws.

A bite or a scratch would be bad, but there's something worse -

much worse - that could happen.

The worst thing is being pooed on,

because they do a panic poo, obviously. That's the worst thing!

First into the lions' pen is Amy.

The safest way to catch a lion cub is to hold it

firmly by the base of its tail and the fur on the back of its neck.

After a short chase, she gets the first cub.

The injection doesn't hurt the cubs, they just don't like being held.

And Dad is getting protective.

The worming solution is squirted down their throat,

and a stick helps to prevent Chris' fingers getting caught.

Vaccinating the cubs is essential.

It could save their lives in the future.

So despite the noise, the team have to get the job done.

CUB GROWLS AND WHIMPERS

Amy's second cub goes like clockwork.

With two of the lion cubs successfully vaccinated,

it's now Gemma's turn to have a go.

Keeper Amy had done it before, but it's Gemma's first time.

To make matters worse, the cubs now know what's happening,

which will make it harder and more dangerous to catch them.

How will it go? Don't go away.

What do you call two married cats?

I don't know, what do you call two married cats?

A purrrrfect couple!

Quack, quack, quack, quack!

How does a turkey eat its food?

It gobbles it up!

Snort, snort!

What did the bat say to his girlfriend?

I don't know, what did the bat say to his girlfriend?

I love hanging around you!

ALL LAUGH

Now, this next challenge is going to be a dangerous one,

because I've been told by keeper Bev to wear some protective padding.

There's only one man brave enough for the job, and that's me.

Let's bring it on! Bev, where is this beast?

DRAMATIC MUSIC

Oh, it's only Bubble, the pygmy goat.

To be honest, we've got about 17 pygmy goats in this paddock,

but one of them is a little bit naughty.

Can I just take a guess? Because I can see one of them

attacking our director and our soundman here!

She's having a good nibble at Lucy. Why is she doing that, then?

It's anything new, to be honest.

The only reason she's any different from the other pygmy goats is,

because she was hand-reared, it gives her more confidence around people.

She's not scared of people one bit, and she does tend to try

-and dominate anybody new who comes.

-You're all right, basically?

-Yes.

She likes you. OK, so what can we do?

She's attacking our crew! What can we do

to stop her attacking our crew?

Maybe try and give her something else to take her mind off new people.

OK, and her mind off me! I'm glad I wore my shin pads.

Look at this, she's attacking! Ah!

Bev, I don't want to panic, so what should I do? Should I stand there?

Just stay still. She'll get bored in the end, and she'll wander off.

So she's doing it because she wants to assert her dominance over us?

Yes. There's a huge hierarchy in this pygmy goat paddock.

Lillian, our big white female, she's quite dominant, and Bubble,

because she was hand-reared and brought in,

and not brought up here from a very young age, she was around people,

she had to work her way up the hierarchy, so now...

I think she's still quite low, to be honest!

I'm just laughing because, behind the scenes,

this pygmy goat is giving us a nightmare.

-Come on, let's try and find something to distract her.

-OK.

-Hang on. Yes, OK, we can do that.

-So, what have we got, then?

We've got some sacks here, and what we can do is hang them up

and see if she wants to butt some nice plain sacks, instead of people.

Come here! Look at me, Bubble!

There you go, look at that, it's working. Come on, Bubble.

So how long has Bubble been here, then?

Well, she was born here, so she's nearly four years old.

-Wow, four years old.

-And she had her first babies last year.

-Ah, so she's a mother as well?

-She is.

-Now, Bubble is butting.

Any particular reason why she's doing that?

She's butting to make a point, and to be honest, goats,

that's their main strength, their horns and their head,

and that's just generally goat-speak for sorting everybody out, really.

-I guess they could do damage with those.

-They could do.

She is only small,

but she does have an incredible amount of strength behind her.

Right, OK, well, I think that whilst we tie these sacks up,

we'd better get going, because she certainly doesn't like our crew!

I think Bubble's won!

And on that note, I think we should get out of here! Come on. Quick!

Cut!

Right, all you gamers, pay attention for today's secret Roar code,

because it's a valuable one.

Type that in, and see what you get.

New treats, new animals, or even a new enclosure. Happy gaming!

In the safari park, there are over 240 deer of four different species.

In springtime, it's a never-ending battle for keeper Tim Yeo

to track all of the new babies.

He has to check each of them to make sure they're healthy,

and to find out if they're a boy or a girl.

Today, Rani's going to help him.

Tim, I am prepared for anything. What are we doing?

Rani, what we're going to do is, what I'm doing at the moment, is to

try and find and tag and weigh newly-born fallow deer fawns.

-Awww!

-They lay around in the nettles here, their mothers leave them

there for protection.

-So they haven't abandoned them?

-They haven't abandoned them, no.

They just leave them after they're born,

and she goes away and feeds, and just leaves her fawn.

OK, so they're in the nettles? I'm glad I put my gloves on.

You're going to need them!

So are we just going to root through the nettles?

Well, what I've done is I've found one previously,

because we could look around here for ages and ages.

So how are we going to do this? We don't want to freak him or her out.

I'm going to put the net over in case it runs.

So we're going to weigh it, and we're going to tag it.

OK. Do I need to move any of these nettles out of the way? Ow!

-There we go.

-Oh, my goodness! Oh, she's beautiful!

They're so little, but with such long legs.

So, we'll get the net away, if I can get the net away, there. OK.

-All right, sweetie.

-Well done, excellent.

-We'll get this little tag.

-If I just take this.

-You got it?

-Yeah.

-Oh, I've got to say, I've been stung by the nettles and it stings!

-Oh, well done, well done.

-All right, sweetie. Oh, you're so little.

-If we can try and get the net away from the fawn...

-You hold onto this,

-and I'll get the net off.

-OK.

-There we go. And the last little piece...

-DEER CRIES

-Oh!

Let's just weigh it quickly. So that's...

We're going to call that five kilograms.

OK, it's a female, it's a female,

so that means I'm going to put a tag in its left ear.

Do you put different tags in different ears for male and female?

-That's right, yes. Left for a female, and right for a male.

-OK, sweetie.

-So this is just a quick...

-Is it going to hurt?

Is it like getting your ears pierced?

It's like getting your ears pierced.

-And that's done.

-And now you're going to be safe and you can go back.

-So what will happen now? Will you just let her free?

-That's right.

We just let her go into the nettles there.

Little one's gone and hid in the nettles again, we've come over here.

How old do you think that little fawn was?

It's very difficult to say exactly.

-It could be that that is about 24 hours old.

-Really?

And it can kick its legs like that,

-and move around like that?

-Oh yes, oh yes.

-But we have a few more to find.

-Come on, Tim. I'll help you out.

'Baby will now stay hiding quietly in the nettles

'until we've gone, and then Mum will come back to feed her.'

Fallow deer were introduced into the UK by the French

after the Norman invasion of 1066.

Oh-la-la!

Back up with the big cats,

and keeper Gemma is about to enter the lions' den.

The cubs must have their inoculations against cat flu,

but Gemma has never tried to catch a lion before, and she's nervous.

The thing I'm worried about is the claws and the teeth.

CUB GROWLS

Happy? Hold him really tight.

Push him down. Watch his claws.

Her first cub is frightened, and puts up a fight.

It takes Gemma several goes before she can get a hold

that's safe for her and Chris the vet.

The claws are razor sharp, and can easily cut through skin.

They work as quickly as possible to reduce

the amount of stress for both the cubs and the parent.

But Dad isn't happy.

Keep him pushed down, otherwise he'll get his claws.

-Lovely.

-All right?

-Yep.

Cub three is now done.

Just one more to do, but this one is definitely a fighter.

-We've got the one with attitude.

-SNARLING

A frightened and cornered lion cub is very difficult to catch,

as you need to grab them from behind their neck.

So Bob gives Gemma a helping hand.

-Happy?

-Yep.

Within seconds, it's all done.

The whole operation has taken less than ten minutes, and now Mum

is back with the cubs, to reassure them with a big lion lick.

But keeper Gemma hasn't escaped completely unscathed.

I did get a bit of panic poo, yeah, but just a bit, so it's not too bad.

Just one scratch on my arm, so that's OK.

Just there, so just a tiny one.

I'm happy it's out of the way and done now, so I can relax a bit.

No scratches, no bites and no panic poo, so, yeah, all went well for me!

Amy and Gemma are very good keepers.

That is quite a daunting job to do, and I've seen grown men

get scared when they go in there, so I think they've done really well.

I'd pass them as good keepers!

As for Chris the vet,

does he still think they're just like big housecats?

They had a lot more fight than I thought they would, to be honest!

Certainly a bit more feisty than a domestic cat.

In three weeks' time, when they get their second inoculation,

just as a booster for the first lot. They will be a lot livelier,

a lot bigger, and a lot more angry, so that's the one to beware of!

And, of course, we'll be there following all the action.

-I'm telling you, they don't eat chips!

-They do!

Why do you think they call them chip-munks? It's true.

Oh! We're going to have to find the truth about this,

and the man to help us is Darren. Darren, big question. Chipmunks.

Are they called chipmunks because they eat chips?

-No.

-Yes! In your face.

-Oh, Darren, you've ruined the joke!

-She was about to buy that as well.

-I was not going to buy that!

-Yes, you were.

-Sorry!

They might eat chips if they come across them, but we give them

peanuts, so they'll have peanuts, and lots of fruit and vegetables.

Now, are there any chipmunks around? Maybe we can offer them one.

There was a couple around just a minute ago.

-Oh, right over here, on the back, look.

-Oh, yes.

-Shall we go over? Do they bite?

-Well, these are all friendly.

We got these tame to take food from you,

so if you stretch up and see... That's a very young animal.

-Hello! Aw!

-Scared!

-Well, maybe if I put it there.

Now, of course, this is their big, new, open enclosure.

Are they loving it, is that why he just ran away from me?

Oh, my goodness. This is actually chipmunk paradise.

There are so many places to hide and run, and we let

the visitors walk through, so you'll get chipmunks coming up

and sniffing toes and running up trouser legs.

How important is it to try and get

animals out of cages and into open-top enclosures?

What you have to think, an animal, they're free in the wild -

there's no boundaries, but in captivity,

or with us looking after them, you can give them a lovely environment

and protect them at the same time, so we've got vets, we've got security,

we can check birds aren't swooping down and taking them.

-Nuts on tap!

-Food on tap!

Ah, well, we've got plenty of nuts to keep them here today.

That's right. While we feed the chipmunks,

why don't you check out

what's coming up on the next episode of Roar. Mmm!

Next time, a baby sea lion is born on the beach,

but unless it gets help quickly, both mother and pup may not survive.

He's cute, he's stripey, and he's just a few days old.

I'll be off to meet the new baby zebra.

And the mischievous monkeys

have been playing with the visitors' cars.

Can our Roar Rangers distract them with a new climbing frame?

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