Episode 9 Animal Park

Hello and welcome to Animal Park. I'm Ben Fogle.

And I'm Kate Humble. And we're in Monkey Jungle with the Rhesus Macaque monkeys.

There are 80 in total - males, females, youngsters and even little babies like this one just here.

They are among the most entertaining animals at the safari park,

although you might have to donate a little bit of your car to keep the show on the road!

We will bring you stories from all over the safari park today.

Using our secret camera, we discover why rhino dung is like catnip to the lions.

He's actually rolling in it.

We'll seek out some of Longleat's native species who have been living right under our noses.

That's fantastic.

And our keepers battle it out to determine which is Longleat's ultimate animal.

But first, earlier this year Barbary lion Kabir fathered two beautiful female cubs -

Malaika

and Jasira.

Over the spring, the cubs have been growing up fast, testing their limits by exploring the enclosure.

The keepers make the surroundings stimulating for the lions.

Recently they gave them a new set of ropes to play with, which was a real hit with the cubs.

The cubs are more than six months old now and they're ready for another new experience.

I'm out in the lion enclosure with Brian Kent and Bob Trollope,

who constantly come up with ways of enriching the lions' lives.

And today, guys, we have a bag of rhino dung. Is that right?

-Yeah, that's correct.

-What for?!

Basically, it's for enrichment, to come across different smells like they would in the wild.

-OK.

-We've got rhinos in here with them, so we brought some rhino dung to see how they'd react.

-So, Bob, what do you think they're going to make of it?

-The youngsters will be cautious.

-I'd have thought Luna would be the one who comes up first.

-Fantastic.

We'll see what happens. We're going to take full advantage.

Just over here is specialist wildlife cameraman Andy.

-What have we got here, then?

-A small remotely-controlled camera.

-OK.

-Being very low on the ground, it's a point of view we don't get.

So if we spread the rhino dung all around here, we can track a shot all the way round?

Yeah, follow them all the way round and it'll be a nice low shot that we don't normally see.

Absolutely. You've carefully camouflaged it to blend in(!)

I know you've used similar cameras out in Africa.

-Has it always survived?

-Yes, we've not had a problem, but Brian thinks we might have here.

-The lions are very inquisitive!

-We'll leave you to it, Andy, and join you later.

Guys, do you think this is going to survive the lions of Longleat?

-No!

-No?!

-I think they're maybe going to have a little pull on it.

-It's possible.

-Time will tell.

Join us later in the programme when we see what they make of the dung and our camera!

Arranged over 250 acres of Wiltshire countryside, the safari park is home

to more than 50 species of animal from all over the world.

Each has its own definitive characteristics and adaptations

evolved over millions of years to fit a particular niche in the wild.

But which is truly Longleat's ultimate animal.

We've asked 10 keepers to pick their favourite species.

They'll go head-to-head as visitors vote for their Pick of the Park.

The first of our contenders is a real African heavyweight - the mighty hippopotamus.

Ian Turner reckons they'll devour the competition.

They can open their jaw to 150 degrees and they literally head butt each other.

They've got massive teeth about that long.

They're really powerful animals.

They spend a lot of time - 18 hours - in water. They're very susceptible to the sun.

They've got this special liquid that forms on their bodies, like little blood spots,

and that keeps the skin nice and fresh, like sun tan cream.

They're grazers. They use their mouth on the short grass and they're like hoovers!

They hoover it up, but for their size they don't eat very much because they don't do very much.

They spend 18 hours asleep or in the water doing nothing.

They may look passive, but they're one of the most dangerous animals in Africa.

In the water, they just disappear and hold their breath for 5 minutes,

then appear out of nowhere. It's the shock factor.

More people get killed by hippos than anything to do with lions.

They're dangerous and powerful.

At number two, Bob Trollope is backing the Canadian timber wolves as leaders of the pack.

# I see a bad moon rising

# I see trouble on the way... #

They're the largest of the wild canines and weigh in the region of 60-100 pounds.

Strong jaws. I think their crushing power is about 500lbs per square inch,

which is incredible. They can reach speeds of 40mph

and at speed they can do a leap of about 16 feet.

They should be number one because they have so much mystery.

You're brought up with the Big Bad Wolf, but they're not. Incredible team players.

# There's a bad moon on the rise... #

Next up is a bit more of a slow and steady species,

but Darren Beasley's passionate that a tortoise should win.

I've worked with loads of animals in my time - big ones, small ones, hairy ones, ones that bite.

This is the ultimate animal.

It's better than anything in the safari park. These guys have been around since before the dinosaurs!

250 million years! They're still around.

They've got a shell.

It's a defence from birds pecking and it's a solar panel -

it soaks up sunshine, they get warmth and energy from the sun.

Best thing - they live to be over 100 years old. How do they do it?

When it gets cold, they go to sleep. Forget winter. Never see winter.

Go to sleep, cool yourself down, stay in bed.

Tortoise - fantastic animal. The best animal at Longleat.

Darren is certainly convincing, but coming up we have seven more contenders.

Only one will take the title. We'll find out later which is Longleat's ultimate animal!

Although most visitors come to see the exotic animals,

Longleat also provides a sanctuary for many native species.

In the wilder areas of the estate, a host of small creatures live secretly right under our noses.

These indigenous animals are just as worthy of preservation

as the lions and tigers, hippos and rhinos,

but it's hard to know how they're doing, so I've come down to the woods to see what's stirring.

Thanks, Andy. As you can see, it's a very, very wet, soggy afternoon at Longleat.

I'm with Mark Satinet, who records mammals for Wiltshire County,

and Andy Hayton, Head of Section. We don't usually come in here.

No, this is just one of the wild areas that we've got. It's left undisturbed.

And Mark is here with a barrel of quite, well, vicious-looking kit!

The plan is to try to establish what is living in these wild areas of Longleat.

In terms of small mammals, yes.

'Mark is Wiltshire's official mammal recorder. His job is to monitor the population of native mammals,

'so he's trained and licensed in the use of humane traps.'

They go into the end of the tunnel and when they walk over that the end drops down.

'After the mammals' condition and location are noted, we'll release them again into the wild.'

Would this area here be a good place to put a trap?

Yeah. What you do is look at where small mammals will be.

Underneath vegetation, next door to small holes, along broken logs.

That's the kind of places where they'll be feeding.

At the bottom of tufts of grass or just underneath hazel coppice.

-Like that.

-Ideal.

-Let's get a trap set up.

-What do we need to do?

-Right. First, the bag you're carrying has got the hay in it.

-OK.

So we stuff some bedding in. It really is creating a perfect little nest

for any animal that goes in here, so they're as comfortable as possible.

That keeps them nice and warm. Then because we'll be getting voles and mice,

we'll put food in for them. There could be 100 mice just around us,

20 or so shrew, common shrew,

15 or 20 pygmy shrew,

-one or two water shrew...

-Probably lots of water shrew!

There is a stream nearby.

Great. It'll be a really good surprise to see what's here.

And it would be very nice if it would stop raining!

Find out later what we find in the woods of Longleat.

Now it's back to our competition to find the park's ultimate animal.

10 keepers have nominated their favourites,

but the visitors will determine the winner.

The fourth contender for the title needs no introduction.

Head of Section Brian Kent thinks his fearsome charges should scare off the competition.

Longleat lions eat 40 tons of meat per year.

That's the equivalent of two 9-stone people a day.

Lions have truly voracious appetites.

When lions are mating, they do this up to 50 times a day.

It's pretty good at that as well!

I think lions are number one because they were here first.

They were the main attraction everyone came to see.

They're the biggest, most powerful animal.

The lions may look hard to beat, but the fifth animal to scuttle into our list

has a real sting in its tail. Jo Hawthorne thinks scorpions are sensational.

They've been around for millions of years and are one of the first vertebrates on land.

When it's underground and needs to know what the season is,

it can stick its tail out and light sensor cells detect what time of the year it is

and whether it's light or dark.

Scorpions may look ugly to us, but they make huge efforts to attract each other.

They do a mating dance which can last from two hours to two days.

Us humans, we go out disco dancing - we didn't invent dancing. Scorpions did.

But it's not just their romantic side Jo loves. It's their family values.

Fantastic parents. They'll carry up to 50 or 60 live young on their back.

If one topples off, Mum puts down the claw and up the baby will scuttle.

They are ultimate animals because of their parent skills, they glow in the dark

and they're tough and durable.

They'll have to be tough to stand up to our sixth competitor.

Andy Hayton is rooting for one of the finest athletes in the park.

Ostriches can run at over 40mph and cover 23 feet in a single stride.

A mature ostrich can deliver a kick of up to 500lbs a square inch

and kill an adult lion with a single blow.

Ostriches may be long on brawn, but a little short on brains.

They've got the largest eyeball of any animal - up to two inches across.

But the sad thing is their brain is smaller than their eyeball.

Trev should be the ultimate animal. He's the only animal on the series with his own theme tune.

DANCE MUSIC PLAYS

Mark Tye is bananas about contender number seven.

It's his closest relative at the park - the western lowland gorilla.

They share 98% of the human genes, so they're pretty much on par with us, bar the talking really.

It's believed a gorilla is about 6-7 times stronger than an average man.

Pretty impressive for an animal that's similar in size, but just eats fruit and veg and doesn't work out.

Unlike the ostrich, gorillas have the minds to match their muscle.

I think they should be the number one animal purely for intelligence alone.

Some animals you look at and they seem quite cold,

but with a gorilla it's definitely a working brain

and they're looking back at you, working you out.

Coming up, the last three keepers champion their favourites

and we find out which of our ten animals the visitors think is number one.

Over in lion country, Kabir's pride are hot on the trail of a brand-new scent.

Lions have a very keen sense of smell, which they use for hunting and reading territorial markings.

Any new odour is a trigger for them to investigate.

I'm in the lion enclosure with Bob Trollope and Brian Kent,

who spread some rhino dung to see what the lions make of it.

We've taken advantage of this and our wildlife cameraman Andy set up a little camera

that he is concentrating on now. Now the lions have come straight up to the dung.

Amazing how quickly they've moved. And interested in the camera!

They're smelling our scents as well as the rhino dung.

-They've got an amazing sense of smell. The youngsters are interested in the rhino dung.

-Wow, look!

Look at Kabir! He's really curious about everything.

What are they doing to the dung? Eating it?!

They've got to test if it's palatable for them or not. It's curiosity.

Amazingly, lions don't just use their nose to smell with.

They have a special organ in the roof of their mouth that also detects minute traces of scent.

Kabir's actually rolling in it.

-Is that much like a dog would want to roll in fox poo?

-Very much so.

It's a new smell to them. They want to get it on.

If there was another rival male, it would put them off.

He's being territorial on it! He doesn't want anyone near it.

-Curiosity killed the cat!

-Did you think they would do that?

No, I thought they'd sniff around, but to actually roll in it...

'In the wild, lions sometimes use dung to disguise their own smell,

'which helps them sneak up on their prey.' Is the idea that he wants to mask his real scent

-with what's around him?

-To make him smell even worse than what he already does!

-Is he pretty smelly anyway?

-He does pong a bit!

-Are the youngsters copying dad?

It's just born into them.

They are copying him, but it's pure curiosity.

It's totally new, a different smell.

Oh, he's coming to investigate.

I wonder if he can hear the camera moving.

-Oh, look at that!

-Well, it was fantastic while it worked!

Andy, Bob, Brian, thank you very much.

I think we need to go and rescue that camera before Kabir goes off with it.

Now it's back to our quest to find the park's ultimate animal.

Our eighth contender is one of the most endangered species.

For Kevin Nibbs, the white rhino is a nose ahead of the rest.

The rhino's horn never stops growing. It's actually matted hair, like ours in our fingernails.

Despite weighing up to two tons, rhinos are amazingly quick on their feet.

A rhino can charge at up to 30mph - pretty quick. Quicker than me!

Coming from the hottest continent in the world, they have also perfected the art of keeping cool.

Rhinos don't actually sweat. To keep cool, they wallow in mud.

Number nine in our animal pageant is Sarah's particular passion -

the powerful royal python.

Most of their body is actually muscle.

What they do to kill their food is wrap around it and squeeze.

That's how they kill their food. They're very strong and powerful.

One of nature's primary predators, pythons kill their prey and swallow it whole.

They don't eat that often, so when they do, they eat a large amount.

They can stretch their mouths open really wide to fit in these big bits of food.

They eat their food headfirst. I think they're very misunderstood animals.

They deserve a bit more appreciation because they are fascinating and very interesting creatures.

And, finally, the 10th in our list of hopefuls is Craig's favourite animal.

He thinks the tigers should take the title.

The tiger's teeth, the canines are about four inches long.

They have about 30 teeth in their mouths.

Their eyesight is very good. They can actually see six times better than myself or you.

Their back legs are longer than the front. They're designed for jumping or for an ambush.

The ultimate animal in my eyes they should be because they are solitary hunters, hunt with stealth,

and I do prefer to work with tigers.

But it's not the keepers who decide. It's the visitors to Longleat who will vote for the winner.

Coming up, we'll find out which species takes the title of Longleat's ultimate animal.

Now it's time to go down to the woods again to see if our survey of native mammals

has produced any results.

Bit of a soggy morning here.

Last night I came down with Andy Hayton and Mark Satinet

to set small mammal traps. This is the moment of truth, Mark.

-Wet weather's not great for small mammals, is it?

-Well, they tend to go into cover.

They might actually be out. You get darker nights, so the owls aren't out there to see them.

So they could be in the traps.

-Just to reiterate, if there is something in there, it will be totally unharmed?

-Completely, yes.

The whole idea of this is live trapping.

-That's the trap part of it. This is like the bedroom.

-Right.

-So it's quite luxurious!

-Exactly. They've got bedding, lots of food.

They can kick back and eat things and wait for morning.

I'd prefer to be in somewhere like that! Then we put them into a bag,

so that we can see them. After that, we let them go. It's a safe way to spend the night.

Want me to hold that? You're quite practised at this.

And we've got a shrew.

Oh, how fantastic. They're relatively common, aren't they?

They're very common. Because they're so small and usually in leaf litter,

you don't actually see them. You can see the little white tufts around the ears.

Yeah. And that wonderful nose.

-Oh, look. That's fantastic.

-Really cute.

This looks like a very plump, healthy little shrew. Obviously they're doing very well.

-Lots of insects, dead wood and stuff. Wonderful.

-Shall we let him go?

-Certainly.

-He's obviously furious!

-Thank you very much for being an unplanned TV star.

-We've got something here as well.

-This is an amazingly rich area.

-Nobody ever comes in here. It's totally untouched.

Not only do we look after the big stuff, but we have these safe areas

and we're doing good stuff for British wildlife, like this guy.

-Look at that!

-This is a yellow neck.

-Is this a relatively common mammal in Wiltshire?

-You know them better than anybody.

-This is mature woodland.

-And you get ancient woodland with them.

-It's been fantastic.

-Absolutely wonderful to find out that Longleat has this secret nature reserve.

-We know they are about,

-but to see them and find out what we've got...

-Is very good news.

Mark, Andy, thank you very much. We probably ought to let you go!

You're furious! A very wild mouse.

Over 400 animals live in the safari park, but only one can take the title of Longleat's ultimate animal.

The keepers have had their say. Now it's time to find out which species came top in our poll.

The visitors have voted. In third place...it's the howling Canadian timber wolves.

Taking second place by a nose is...

the white rhino.

But there can only be one winner in our competition.

First place goes to...

the King of the Jungle, the mighty lion!

There's not a beast on the planet that wants to pick a fight with a lion.

Our poll says they are the pick of the park, the undisputed holders of the title

Longleat's Ultimate Animal!

We're at the East Africa reserve with Deputy Head of Section Ryan Hockley and the pygmy goats.

We've got the two kids here and you've got one of them.

-These are a great success story.

-We're really proud of them - our first goat kids for several years.

Whenever you breed, it's a bonus, but when it's the first time for several years, it's more of a plus.

-He seems to be eating your shirt.

-He's enjoying that!

-Sadly, not all of the pregnancies were successful.

-No.

-But you must be thrilled with the three you've got.

Yeah. A lot of these mums were first-timers, but quite an age,

-which isn't the best odds.

-And these guys are healthy?

As you can see, he's got a lovely tummy to him. Really inquisitive, really strong. All three of them.

And quite distinct characteristics. All the goats are big characters.

Frapper here, he's soft as you like. He loves being picked up, stroked, cuddled. He loves attention.

-Whereas Clara, the fawny-coloured one...

-Just behind us there.

-She's rather bolshie.

She doesn't mind approaching you, but only to give you a head butt.

And Sweep over there, the dark one over at the fence,

-he's just quite stand-offish.

-Quite independent.

Which upsets me because he was the one I named!

-Are there any plans to bring the billy goat back?

-Definitely, Ben.

This winter or early next year, we'll go through it all again.

-Fantastic.

-We'll look forward to seeing the results of those.

Sadly, that's all we've got time for on today's programme. Next time...

The vultures go into a feeding frenzy. We'll find out what it's like to be the victim.

The otter pups have finally learnt to swim, but they still like it best in the shallow end.

And giant cockroaches, monster scorpions and blind mutant fish.

We'll be getting friendly with the stuff of nightmares.

That's all coming up on the next Animal Park.

Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2007

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