Episode 8 Roar

Today on Roar...

a baby sea lion is born on the beach,

but unless it gets help quickly,

both mother and pup may not survive.

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

..and I'm Rani, and welcome to another ferocious episode of Roar.

Why are we facing this way, Rani, can't we turn round?

No, no, no, Johny! You never turn your back on a tiger!

That's their most successful way of attacking their prey.

I'm just glad there are these big bars between us and them.

I don't think they like us very much!

-TIGER ROARS

-Aaarrgh!

I think you're right. Let's get on with the show!

Coming up today...

the mischievous monkeys have been causing trouble with visitors' cars,

so can our Roar rangers tempt them

onto their new climbing frame instead with fruit?

He's cute, he's stripy,

and he's just a few days old.

I'm off to meet the new baby zebra.

And the Kunekune pigs may have got big noses,

but will they be able to smell out our buried mushroom treats?

But we're starting today down at Half Mile Lake,

where the park's eight Californian sea lions live.

The group is headed by big daddy Buster.

Over the years he's been father to more than 20 sea lion pups,

including last year's baby, little Riley.

And this year it looks like he's going to be a dad once again,

'as female JoJo is looking very pregnant.

'Mark Tighe is the head keeper here.'

JoJo's this one here in the middle, and if you look at the size of her,

in comparison to Nancy, here,

awfully lot fatter,

and she's due to give birth, hopefully, in the next week.

Just the one baby, they only have one.

I've never heard of twins.

She probably wouldn't able to move if she had two in there!

SCREECHING BRAKES

13-year-old JoJo is a very experienced mum.

She's had five babies before.

She looks fantastic, you know, she's a model mum.

She's really good, she's an old hand at it,

you know, no problem at all.

And Mark is hoping that JoJo will give birth here, on Sea Lion Beach.

This is where we want them, this is why we had this built.

It's easy to wash down, keep clean, somewhere safe for them to go,

and safe for the pups, because there's a nice,

gentle slope into the water there.

It's very rare to see a sea lion having a baby,

so we've rigged up a secret camera

to see if we can film it for the first time here.

But Mark knows not all sea lion births go according to plan,

so we'll come back later to see how JoJo gets on.

The California sea lion only has two predators in the wild,

the killer whale

and the great white shark.

Luckily, last time we looked,

there was none of these in Half Mile Lake!

-ALL:

-Now you know!

If you're a regular Roarer, you may remember last year

that three baby zebra were born here in the safari park.

Kichaa, Kimbaya and Kibibi,

spent the summer racing round the paddock.

Well, today head keeper Andy, has asked me

to come up to the East Africa Reserve.

Andy, I believe you've got good news?

We've got some really good news!

After a couple of weeks waiting and worrying,

Jinga's finally foaled, and we've got a new baby zebra here.

We can see it! Tiny, tiny little thing!

Beautiful, isn't it? Absolutely stunning.

-How old?

-It's about four days old.

Walking around absolutely fine!

Oh, these things get up, go in, really, really fast,

it's kind of a defence mechanism,

get up quick and get moving with Mum,

and then you're not going to get eaten by a lion, basically.

Tell me what Jinga's like as a mum, then.

Jinga is an amazing mum. She's so good,

she just kind of cracks on with it, does it,

nobody dares go near the baby. Zebra mums are really protective.

Very, very rarely do we see a zebra being born.

They do it at night when it's quiet, you come in the morning,

there's a baby bouncing around, it's fantastic.

You can't fret over it or anything, they just get on and do it.

How can you tell whether baby's healthy?

Just the fact that it's up and about?

It's up and about, going to Mum to drink.

How many times a day is it feeding from Mum?

Probably every four, five hours. It's quite hard to tell.

Once you've seen them drink, they'll go back and snatch a little bit,

they'll have a little drink every now and again,

so, three, four, five hours, it...

And it's going to be milk for how long?

-They'll normally wean about six months.

-OK.

Mum kind of gets bored with them,

and we look at sort of, six, eight months, that we wean them,

but Mum does it on her own a lot of the time.

So the message is Mum's healthy, baby's feeding well.

Male, female? Do we have a name?

We believe it's a little boy,

and we don't name anything until it's at least a week old.

It's bad luck to name them too soon.

Johny'll have some ideas!

It's L this year, this year is L.

L. Lionel? Lenny?

Luka? Linford?

Keep trying, Rani!

Leslie?

'Andy's not giving anything away,

'but as soon as they've decided on a name,

'we'll let you know!'

-What do you call a bear without shoes?

-I don't know.

-Bear

-feet!

What did the bus driver say to the frog?

Hop on!

THEY WHOOP

Why are chefs cruel to animals?

Because they batter fish!

'We're heading back up to the lake now,

'because there's been a problem on Sea Lion Beach.

'JoJo has given birth,

'but things haven't gone well.

'She had the pup in the back of the cave,

'which our secret camera couldn't see.

'Luckily, we had given keeper Mark a Roar camera in case of emergencies,

'and an emergency,

'is just what happened!

'When all animals give birth

'there's a bit of blood, which is quite normal.

'But, as he shot the footage, Mark realised there was a problem.'

Normally, as the pup comes out,

the mother will chew through the umbilical cord.

Unfortunately, she didn't do this, and every time the baby moves,

it pulls on its navel.

'All mammal babies are attached to mum, by an umbilical cord.

'It's how they're fed as they grow inside the womb.

'Since JoJo hadn't cut the cord when the pup was born,

'it was now a real danger to the pup,

'and to JoJo.

'Mark had to act quickly,

'and this time, our camera caught all the action.'

So, I had to get a scalpel blade on a long pole,

risk my legs, and go in there and give it a quick snick

so the pup could be parted.

'Going so near to a newborn pup was a dangerous operation,

'as a mum's instinct is to protect the baby any way she can.

'And sea lions have very sharp teeth.'

She was a little bit narked about it.

Luckily, I've known her since she was a baby, she knows me well,

so, you know, she knows I'm not going to do anything harmful to her.

'With two other keepers ready to rush in if JoJo became aggressive,

'Mark cut the umbilical cord

'and helped save the pup's life.

'The little one was out of danger,

'and could now hop about, and explore its new world.

'The small bit of cord left on the pup

'will dry up and drop off naturally.

'Now, two days on, Mark has invited us down to See Lion Beach.'

Do you want to come and have a look? Got something to see!

Look down the side of the bridge.

One little baby sea lion.

She hasn't left it much yet,

so, I can't tell yet whether it's a boy or girl.

That one has got a very dainty little face,

so I think it might be a girl.

Some of the male ones look quite ugly sometimes,

so I think it's a girl!

'For now, JoJo will keep watch on her pup,

'feeding milk every few hours,

'and the pup is just getting used to life.'

This pup will just stay around here,

until it's comfortable to swim which can be from a week onwards.

They can instinctively swim on day one,

although mums choose they rather wouldn't.

'It's early days yet,

'but sooner or later the pup will have to go in the water.

'Will she sink or swim?

'Don't go away, because our cameras catch all the action!'

'To be a park keeper,

''you need to be a real team player.

'So, it's just as well

'our two rangers today are sports mad!

'Looking to pitch in with whatever is thrown at him,

'is 11-year-old Louis,

'and looking to hit him out of the park today,

'is 10-year-old Fraser.'

Me and Fraser are going to be really good Roar rangers today,

because we're really active and up for everything!

I got it!

'They're certainly confident, but if they're going to guess the clues,

'they're going to have to put their thinking caps on!

'Clue number one...

'a toolbox!

'And clue number two...

'a key, ooh, and some grapes!'

-What do they taste like?

-Grapes.

What about the toolbox?

The hammer could, like, squash the grapes, to make wine.

'Drunk animals? I don't think so!'

The key...

'Any ideas?'

Fraser, what do you think?

I need help.

'They can't unlock the clues,

'so it's off to keeper Corinne for some answers.'

-Morning boys!

-Morning.

Any ideas on what animal you'll be working with?

No idea!

The reason you were given a key,

was because we're here with the monkeys.

Monkey, get it, yeah?

Good one! Monkey!

This is the Monkey Jungle,

and we've got a troop of about 100 Rhesus macaques in here.

'In the wild, macaques live in central and south east Asia,

'and like all monkeys, they are clever,

'very clever!

'Here in Monkey Jungle,

'they also have a bit of a reputation for, well...

'playing with the cars!

'That was the toolbox clue!

'You see, they can't resist a bit of monkey mechanics,

'pulling bits off the cars,

'and with up to 1000 cars a day coming through the jungle,

'they never get bored.

'Once the monkeys have had their play,

'they just leave everything lying around.

'Cleaning up after them, is a regular job for the keepers,

'so Corinne needs the boys' help to tidy up.'

And I need you guys to put these on

and give me a bit of a helping hand with them.

More hard work!

'So our Roar Rangers hit the road for their first job of the day.'

Right, boys, out you get.

Right. Now, we're actually inside the monkey enclosure.

Stay really close to me because they're quite smart,

they're quite curious, and they might approach us.

Stay as safe as possible.

'By staying close to Karin, a trained professional, at all times,

'the boys will be totally safe.'

Anything you see on the ground that looks like it belongs to a car,

I want you to help pick it up and put it in the back of the truck.

-All right?

-Yep.

-Shall we go and have a look?

-Yeah.

'It's a huge enclosure and there's lots of stuff to pick up.'

I've got a windscreen wiper.

Oh, that's a good haul, that big, long bit.

We'll have that piece of trim. You've got one.

'All the car parts are saved

'so that the owners can come back and claim them.'

Oh, brilliant. That's an aerial. Yep, we'll have that.

Oh, you've got a jackpot there. That's a number plate.

-A windscreen wiper.

-And a mirror! Wow! Brilliant!

'It might not be good news for the car owners,

'but it's a good form of enrichment for the car-crazy monkeys,

'as it keeps their busy minds active all day long.'

That's a tidy job, fellas. Well done!

-Shall we put it in the back of the car?

-Yep.

-Yeah.

'Back at the truck, the boys have a closer look

'to see exactly what they've found.'

-Is that it there?

-Yeah. Or it could be from the window.

If my dad had this on his car

and one of the monkeys ripped it off, he'd be really annoyed.

I think the boys were really surprised

by how much of a haul we get every day

from what the monkeys pull off the cars. They're little hooligans.

So it's quite a stash that we take away.

'Karin and the other keepers have been thinking up ideas

'to try and stop the monkeys being so naughty with the cars.

'They've built them a massive new climbing frame.

'Can our rangers tempt them onto it with the tasty grapes?

'Come back later to see if the plan works.'

No. An uncooked mushroom barely smells of anything.

One animal in the park has an amazing sense of smell.

We're going to test it out today.

Michelle is going to tell us which animal it is.

-I'm imagining a duck-billed platypus.

-No.

-An elephant?

-No.

-Which animal is it, then, Michelle?

-It's not one, it's our two kunekune pigs.

-Wow!

I see their snouts. They have a really good sense of smell, do they?

Yeah. Pigs are actually used to sniff out truffles underground.

-A truffle is a kind of mushroom, isn't it?

-Yeah. They're both fungus.

We can't, unfortunately, afford truffles,

so we're going to use mushrooms instead.

So, how much are these truffles worth, potentially?

The most expensive one went for £28,000.

£28,000!

'Truffles are a rare type of underground fungi

'or mushroom which are often used in very expensive cooking.

'Traditionally, pigs, with their superb sense of smell,

'have been used to hunt for them in the woods where they grow.

'They're very valuable and worth more than their weight in gold.'

So, do you reckon our pigs will be able to smell them out?

We're going to give it a go. We've not tried it before.

-So we'll see what happens.

-OK, Michelle, who've we got in here?

This is Wilbur and Rufus in here.

Wilbur and Rufus. OK. Where are they now, then?

They're inside because they can get a bit boisterous.

-Where shall we put them?

-What we're going to do

is dig a hole in the sand,

put the mushrooms in, cover it over and flatten it down.

-Have you done this before?

-We haven't done it with mushrooms,

but we've buried some of their food. It's good for them.

It takes them longer to find their food,

so they don't just wolf it down really easily.

And it's good enrichment for them.

Obviously, they don't know where it is.

If we train them to sniff out truffles,

we could make quite a bit of money.

-We could.

-Let's get on with it.

-Come on, then!

# I need a dollar, dollar

# A dollar is what I need, hey, hey

# Well, I need a dollar, dollar

# A dollar is what I need... #

Right, Michelle, this is the last one.

So, shall we get out of here and let the pigs in?

-I think we should.

-This is going to be good!

They're coming out. Will they know straightaway

-something's different about their enclosure?

-Hopefully.

Come on, then, Rufus and who's this?

That one's Rufus, this one over there in the mud is Wilbur.

I can see their noses twitching. They're having a good smell.

-How good is their sense of smell?

-Their sense of smell is very good.

They can smell something buried 15 centimetres below the ground.

-Wow! They should be able to smell these mushrooms, then.

-Yeah.

It's not just their sense of smell. Aren't they intelligent animals?

Yes. They're meant to have the same intelligence as a dog.

-As a dog? Wow!

-Yeah. So you can actually train them, as well.

To be honest with you, they... He's got it!

He's got one! Just when I thought it was all over!

So, do you think he's going to eat it?

I don't know. He's not amazingly interested in eating it, is he?

They've only sniffed out one of our mushrooms, but that's a good start.

I think if we train them a little bit more,

we'll be, like, truffle millionaires before you know it.

Oh, yes! Bring on the money!

'Everyone knows that the giraffe is the tallest animal in the world.

'But did you know that its heart is over half-a-metre long

'and weighs 11 kilograms?

'That's as heavy as a one-year-old human baby!'

ALL: Now...You...Know!

'Our two Roar Rangers, Louis and Fraser

'have spent the morning cleaning up after the park's naughtiest animals,

'the makak monkeys.

'The keepers could never stop the monkeys from playing with the cars,

'but are trying to distract them with a different play area,

'a giant climbing frame.'

In here, I've got a load of fruit and veg.

-You remember the grapes and things?

-BOTH: Yeah.

Well, here we have some grapes. What I want you to do

is a bit of a competition between you boys.

See how much fruit you can get up on that platform up there.

They need encouragement.

It's something new, so they're a bit not sure about it.

A bit of bribery, a bit of fruit,

and hopefully, they should come over and play on it.

'The problem is, ever since the keepers built it,

'the monkeys have ignored it.

'So today, keeper Karin has a plan to encourage them to climb.

'First challenge is to get food up to the top platform.'

Grab your ammunition.

First to get the grape on there wins.

'The boys are putting in some incredible throws.

'The top platform is covered in grapes.'

Frase, I think it's working.

'At last! The monkeys can't resist their favourite fruit.

'And the whole gang is coming over for some free food.'

Just here, can you see? There's still one being carried by Mum.

Hopefully, that will keep them going a little while.

'The monkeys are loving their climbing frame.

'But who won the throwing competition?'

-I am the champion!

-No, no, no. I got loads of grapes.

I got thousands of grapes!

Boys, it doesn't matter your scores, but you both did really well.

The monkeys got on the climbing frame. Top marks for you both.

'So, after a long day of monkey keeping,

'have the Roar Rangers been successful?'

I'm really pleased. That was fantastic.

The boys were great, we got what we wanted.

The monkeys are all on the climbing frame. So really thrilled.

-"The feeding of these monkeys is strictly forbidden."

-Whoops!

I was very impressed with the boys' sporting ability.

They throw really well, cos that's quite high but they did very well.

Come on then, lads. Let's see your best monkey impression.

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

because it's another valuable one.

Type that in and see what you get. Happy gaming!

'Back up at Sea Lion Beach,

'and the new baby sea lion pup is now two weeks old.

'And as keeper Mark thought, she's a girl.'

As you can see, she's doing fantastic.

Playing, confident, you know, great.

Just typical sea lion.

Inquisitive, playful, that's what they're like.

They want to nose at everything and have a look at everything.

Poor little thing got stung on the nose by some nettles the other day

because inquisitiveness got the better of her.

'She's also been investigating the shallow end at the edge of the lake.

'Sea lion pups can swim soon after birth,

'but really only do so if they're threatened by predators.

'Safe on Sea Lion Beach,

'this little baby has only been into the water a couple of times.'

At the moment it is tentative first steps.

They stay right near the edge. That's comfort for them.

This is where they were born, so they're happy and comfortable here.

So it's just little up and down the beach,

around the jetty and stuff, but that's it for the minute.

It'll probably be quite a long time before she ventures off further.

We've had so many babies born on this beach.

They really enjoy it.

It's nice for them to slip and slide up and down on,

and as you can see, she just seems really happy.

'But she's also very inquisitive, and whilst we're filming,

'she decides to take a look at the deep end.'

"Shall I? Shan't I?"

'She's gone for it!

'But not for long. It'll be a few more days

'before she's confident enough to really go in for a swim.

'For now, she's happy splashing around in the shallow end,

'where mum can keep a close eye on her.

'She'll stay near mum,

'living purely off her milk for the first few months.

'It's one of the richest milks in the world,

'so this pup will double in size in just a few weeks.

'We'll be regular visitors to Sea Lion Beach

'to see how this little one gets on.'

Now before we leave you today,

Johny, I have got an offer you can't refuse.

How would you like three for the price of one?

Three for the price of one? Sign me up.

Hang on, what am I getting three of for the price of one?

All right. In this enclosure we have got three different creatures,

and to tell us all about them, Sarah.

-Hi.

-Hello Sarah.

Who have we got in here?

We've got rock hyrax.

Redheaded igamas, which are a small type of lizard.

-And pancake tortoises.

-You're going have to point these out then.

Can I just ask first, what's this?

Is it this colour because it wards off the predators as well?

No, I'm afraid that's for cleaning.

We've got quite a bit of dusting to do.

Now that you've picked that up

I think you should probably do a bit of cleaning!

Who's that in the corner?

These are rock hyrax up here.

They're quite nervous.

They've got sharp old teeth on them, haven't they!

They have. They're like tusks coming down.

They are actually distantly related to elephants.

Oh distantly. They're tiny!

It's unbelievable, isn't it. But yeah.

I'm having a good look round, but I can't see these lizards anywhere.

They're quite a small type of lizard,

so in the wild they would have to be well camouflaged to be hidden away

from any predators that might want to hunt them.

So Sarah, would you naturally

find these animals together in the wild, then?

They all come from Kenya and Tanzania in the wild,

so yes, they would share certain areas out in the wild.

So you clean them out every day?

Yeah we put their food in, do their water,

and just give it a dust round for them, yeah.

Would you mind showing us how you do the dusting then,

because you must be really good. I'd like to get it right.

-OK, I'll show you.

-While Sarah does some dusting,

why don't you guys check out what's on the next episode of ROAR?

Next time. A baby joey is found abandoned in Wallaby Wood.

The keepers must step in to save his life,

but even with all this love, can the little one survive?

There's a new pride of lions up in the safari park,

and we're going to be meeting them for the very first time.

And they say elephants never forget, but what about keepers?

Can this lot catch out the boss with some jumbo questions?

-Oh, that's pretty nasty actually.

-That's all next time on ROAR.

Don't miss it!

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