Episode 16 Animal Park

Hello, and welcome to Animal Park.

-I'm Ben Fogle.

-And I'm Kate Humble, and if you ever needed to be

convinced that spring is on the way, then surely this will do it.

Thousands of yellow daffodils making this one of the most colourful walks around Longleat.

And we're going to be bringing you stories from the house, the estate, and of course the safari park.

Here's what's coming up on today's programme.

This baby Bactrian camel was born with a dodgy leg.

Will he ever learn to stand up for himself?

It's breeding time in the aviary, and not an ugly duckling in sight.

And the injured Pere David deer needs urgent medical attention.

But the keepers have to catch her first.

But first, alongside Ankole cattle and deer, scimitar horned oryx

and white rhino, live Longleat's six Bactrian camels.

Native to the Gobi desert and plains of central Asia,

Bactrian camels have evolved to withstand one of the most extreme climates in the world.

Their shaggy coats protect them from driving winds and extreme cold,

allowing them to survive in temperatures as low as -30 degrees.

Sadly, Bactrians are now critically endangered in the wild, and so keepers are eager to

breed them in the park.

There are five females living here, and one adolescent male called Khan.

Khan joined the herd just two years ago as a calf, and keepers

thought it would be a few years yet before he reached sexual maturity.

But today, to the keepers' surprise, one of the females has started

showing some unusually broody behaviour.

What we've noticed this morning is that Bhali,

one of our Bactrian camels, has been going away from the group and showing an enormous amount of restlessness.

She goes right away and she appears to be looking for somewhere to

give birth.

That, coupled with the size of her udder, is suggesting to me that she's very close to calving.

The baby could arrive any time now, so Tim and deputy head of section

Kevin Knibbs set to work turning the stable into a comfy nursery.

With an imminent birth, we have to make sure we can get the pens prepared for her for comfort

and then we have to keep watching her all the time to make sure that,

when she gives birth, she will actually look after it properly.

If she doesn't, we can step in and help her in any way we need to.

We're talking hours rather than anything else.

It's imminent really.

Once the pen is ready, Bhali is brought into the house with her mum, Mrs Bruce, for company.

Now all we do is leave her and let nature take its course.

Now all Tim and Kevin can do is wait and see if tomorrow will bring a brand new Bactrian baby.

All over the park, the breeding season is underway and baby animals are emerging into the sunshine.

Over at the aviary, the sacred ibis are getting broody.

Last year they successfully raised four chicks, even though they made their

nests on the ground and ignored the specially-built nesting platforms.

Come on, guys, come and get your nests.

'Not long ago, I went down with keeper Michelle Stevens to make

'sure that they had enough sticks to make their nests again this year.'

A few weeks have passed and now I want to see if our hard work has encouraged the ibis to breed.

So, on a windy spring day, I've come down to check up on their progress.

I'm in the aviary with head of section Mark Tye.

Spring has definitely come now.

-It's peak breeding season, so have they done anything?

-Yes, definitely.

Up in the tree up there, we have two ibis nests.

-Fantastic!

-They have sensibly this year built up in the tree.

I suppose it's difficult to tell whether they have got eggs or not.

I've seen two eggs in the lower nest, so I should imagine there are two eggs in

the other. They both reared successfully last year so I don't see why they shouldn't this year.

That's great news.

I feel quite proud of my hand in their nest-building then.

What about the others? Obviously the spoonbills are not going to be breeding.

No, four males, that won't be happening.

No, but you have got some really

-pretty little ducks.

-We've got the white-faced whistling ducks.

Those are the ones that really do make a lovely whistling call.

Yes.

They're from South America through to Africa below the Sahara.

-It's a duckling!

-That's the Carolina duckling.

The Carolinas, which ones are they?

The females are,

for want of a better word, the boring brown one.

-Always the way.

-The male is the fancy black with white stripes on his head.

It's beautiful. Just one duckling?

Just the one, yes, unfortunately.

Quite a lot of water birds do pair up, it's thought, for life.

Do you see evidence of that amongst this collection?

I've seen it with the whistlers. They definitely seem to have picked mates and stayed with the same ones so far.

The ring teal have definitely stayed together.

It's difficult to know with the Carolinas, they are a bit of a mob. We have got too many males.

We can't obviously leave out the flamingos.

They've gone from being - I hate to say it - but slightly dowdy, not terribly exciting looking birds,

to really magnificent proper pink flamingos now.

Yes. When we first brought them in, most of them were

between one and three years old so they are all juveniles.

They had this browny colour to them, but now they are coming up to sexual maturity, they are adult birds now.

They look beautiful.

It is the most joyous thing to sit in here, in the sunshine,

looking at birds, with eland in the background.

You do actually have the nicest section in the park, don't you?

-I think I do.

-Well, thank you very much.

Many of the animals housed in the safari park are under threat in the wild.

Part of the park's purpose is to breed them so that they never become extinct.

Every birth is crucial, which is why Head of Section

Tim Yeo is eagerly awaiting the arrival of a new Bactrian camel.

But he's already had exciting news this spring

with some of his most endangered animals, the Pere David deer.

These are the rarest residents of the park.

There are just a few thousand Pere Davids left in the world, six of them here at Longleat.

Tim was delighted to find one of the does had given birth to a beautiful calf.

But just days after the baby was born, Tim saw something which gave him cause for concern.

The calf was lying down by itself and not moving.

Immediately, he called in vet Duncan Williams.

The baby Pere David has got a really serious fracture of its left foreleg.

It's not just a simple break, which would heal really easily,

it's a split and there is a segment bit loose.

No-one knows how the leg was broken so badly, but keepers think it was caused by an adult deer.

In the wild, the calf would surely have died, but with Duncan's treatment she has a chance.

We stabilized it as best I could and put a plaster cast on it, which

is a very lightweight one made out of plastic rather than plaster of paris.

It sets really hard but it's nice and light,

and will also be waterproof so it can stay outside.

It's just a question of how many complications we've got now.

In the 1970s the Pere David species dwindled to just 18 animals in one captive herd.

Since then, breeding programmes have brought the

species back from the brink and some have been reintroduced to the wild.

But there are still only a few thousand Pere David in the world, and every single baby is precious.

Two weeks have passed and the calf seems to be doing well.

Now it's time for the cast to be changed...

..but even a lame deer will be hard to catch.

The calf is growing at such a rate that Duncan feels he really must take this cast off.

We're here to try to catch it this morning.

It's very mobile, this little one,

and it can move surprisingly well on three legs really so it could be interesting.

Even though being captured will cause stress to the calf, it's vital that the cast is taken off.

Tim's hoping that a flanking movement will take her by surprise.

Down to the fence then.

Run him along the fence.

Even on three legs, the baby deer is much faster than her pursuers,

and rather more nimble.

Finally, keeper Ross Ellis manages to corner her near the fence and catch hold of her safely.

If you sit down, then...

just shovel yourself back...

We're going to take it down to Rhino House, take the cast off, have a look down there.

We have got electricity and stuff.

I have never run like that in my life!

She looks all right.

We'll be back when the cast comes off.

Earlier this year, up in Lion County, Barbary lion Kabir

fathered two beautiful female cubs - Malaika and Jasira.

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

The keepers make the surroundings stimulating for the lions.

Recently they gave them a new set of ropes to play with, which was 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 head of section Brian Kent,

and keeper Bob Trollope, who are constantly coming up with ways of enriching the lions' lives here.

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

-Yes.

-What on earth are we going to do with this?

Basically it's for enrichment.

We come across different smells as we would in the wild.

We've got rhinos in here with them, so we thought we'd bring some rhino

dung to see what they would do, how they would react to different smells.

Bob, what do you think they will make of it?

I should imagine they'll be a bit cautious.

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

-We'll see what happens.

We're going to take full advantage of this opportunity. Just over here

is specialist wildlife cameraman Andy Milk. Hi, Andy.

What have we got here then?

Just a small remotely controlled camera.

Being very low on the ground, we can get a point of view we don't

normally get when you are in a hide.

So if we spread the rhino dung all around here, we will be able to track a shot all the way round?

Yes.

It will be a nice low shot looking up at them.

A shot you don't normally see.

Absolutely. You've cleverly camouflaged it to blend in with the Wiltshire countryside.

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

Has it always survived?

Yes. We've not had a problem.

Brian thinks we may have a problem here.

Apparently their lions are very inquisitive.

We'll leave you to it and join you later.

Guys, you've heard what Andy's said.

-Do you think this is going to survive the lions of Longleat?

-No!

I think they're going to maybe have a pull on it, it's possible.

Time will tell. Join us later in the programme when we see what the lions make of the dung and our camera.

Back at the camel barn, there's excitement in the air.

Yesterday Bactrian Bhali started showing signs that she was ready to give birth.

First thing this morning head of section Tim Yeo went to check,

and found what he was hoping for.

I sort of heard, as I was approaching.

And looked in and there was the little one, mum standing over him.

I think he was actually sucking the wall at the time.

The little boy looks healthy, but there's a problem.

I don't think he wants to get up.

He should be on his feet and feeding by now.

That animal has to drink the vital colostrum,

the first milk that comes through from the mother.

That milk holds the antibodies which help to build up an immunity to

different ailments that the camel may be subjected to.

So it's vitally important that they do.

I think it is probably within the first three hours,

they need to have that colostrum.

Worryingly, Tim notices a weakness in one of the calf's hind legs,

which is making him unsteady on his feet.

The calf, having been folded up miraculously inside the uterus,

it's rather crooked when it comes out.

It's not fully straightened up.

That can hamper the calf from actually standing up properly.

Tim wants to interfere as little as possible, but the baby must get up and feed soon.

He decides to support the leg with a bandage.

Tim tries again to encourage the calf to suckle, but even with the support

the little camel is just not steady enough on his feet to manage it.

It's still going out a bit.

With the calf still unsteady on his feet and weak from hunger,

Tim decides he's going to have to take matters into his own hands.

I'll just try and take some milk off her. See if I can.

If the calf does not begin to suckle, keepers may have to step in and hand-rear him.

But the baby will need to be fed every three hours for months to come.

Hand-rearing would be a huge task, and could lead to more problems

down the road, as Tim knows from bitter experience.

The last calf born at the park was a lima.

She had to be hand-reared because her mother rejected her.

Although she grew up strong and healthy, she was a bit confused about her identity.

For a while, she bonded with the Ankole cattle and used to follow them around.

Tim's done all he can to help the young camel bond with his mother and begin to feed by himself.

Now he can only hope that hand-rearing won't be necessary.

Now we just leave her alone.

But I would like to see very much a situation where we look in and we see

the little one feeding from mum.

We know then that everything we've done this morning has been

OK and we haven't mucked anything up, and it's helped.

And that's it. I'll be happy then.

We'll be back to see if the new baby Bactrian

will begin to feed from mum, or whether he'll end up on the bottle.

Every animal at the park, whether large or small, has a place to shelter from the elements.

Many of the shelters are specially adapted for the animals that use them.

Over at Pets Corner, Kate's introducing some of the

park's smallest residents to their new "des res".

It's moving day at the guinea house.

I'm here with Bev Allen at Pets Corner.

And all sorts of things going on.

We've got a new house which was made for us.

And we've got quite a few guinea pigs, 26 guinea pigs altogether.

-Crikey.

-Plus we've got four babies down there who are moving in as well today.

Yes, look, tiny little things.

Very sweet. What do we need to do?

We need to get all the guinea pigs out of the basket and put them in the house.

I know this is going to be chaotic.

Right. Now what does a guinea pig need?

These are quite elaborate houses.

What are the important things to make sure your guinea pig is fat and happy like you?

They need a nice secure house.

We put wood shavings in for them on the floor.

Also lots of hay which they like to bed down in and eat.

It's important to give them hay to eat.

And it's got to be warm and dry as well.

And of course they've got room to go outside and exercise.

They can sleep in here, go out and run around.

It's guinea pig heaven basically!

Yes, they love it here.

Just looking at all these, they come in every colour and shape and size.

They're amazingly varied.

It's nice to see all the different colours together as well.

It is, they all look extremely content.

I've got the babies round here.

Let's have a look at you.

Look how sweet you are. How old are these?

They're about 13 weeks old now.

What sort of age would you wean them?

They can actually start

eating solid food within 24 hours of being born.

But they still need mum's milk.

Usually they want be with mum for about five weeks, six weeks.

Then they are ready to be separated.

And be independent.

So these look like they've all come from the same litter.

It's fantastic colouring.

-Wonderful colouring.

-Where are these going?

-They will go in this little house.

-They get the new house,

lucky you! Let's see.

They're going to be very scampery.

Got you. I'll give you that one. Little bundles of fluff, these.

There you go. Next.

So you would have to, with a long-haired guinea pig

like these, you would actually have to brush them.

Would they end up looking like me if you didn't?

You've got to give them lots of hairbrushes.

It's really good to do it because it gets them used to being handled.

So it's quite good.

It gives you a chance to give them a health check when you're doing this,

to feel for lumps and bumps, check the nails and make sure you check the teeth as well.

They're all settled in.

I know you've got a bit of clearing up to do around here before they go.

I hope you're very happy in your new homes, guineas.

And we have got lots more for coming up on today's programme.

It's the moment of truth for the baby Pere David deer.

-Oh, right.

-We find if she'll recover from her broken leg.

The lions are released for their smelly surprise.

But will our camera survive to tell the tale?.

I wonder whether he can hear the camera moving?

And in Longleat House, conserving a precious work of art

has accidentally uncovered a hidden family secret.

But now, up in the Deer Park,

the injured Pere David calf has been brought inside so vet Duncan Williams

can remove the cast and check on the broken leg.

I think what we'll do is take the cast off, see how the leg is.

See if it's going to be any use. It was really badly broken.

And then if necessary we can stick another cast on.

This is the moment of truth for the young Pere David.

Head of section Tim Yeo and the team are desperate to find out if the leg has actually healed.

Just hold that up out of the way.

Have you got the leg, Kev? Support it under there.

Ooh, right.

You see what's happened there.

It's actually, since we casted it,

the bones have gone through, it's stinking, it's really rotten.

This is going to fall off and die.

The leg is going to die.

The news could not be worse.

All the best efforts of the team have been in vain.

Unfortunately the fracture's not healed at all.

The bone ends where the fracture is, has actually broken through the skin.

Because it's been out in the mud, it's all infected.

The bottom end of the leg is actually dead now, gangrenous really.

Unfortunately we will have to put the calf to sleep.

Putting the calf out of its misery is the kindest thing to do, but Tim is devastated.

This is the worst kind of news that we could have really.

A female calf, I'd been wanting to build up the numbers up.

So it's a real setback.

It's a female calf, a hind calf.

But, accidents happen.

They're big animals. If a calf

is around its mother trying to drink and the others, you have a jealous female hind next to this.

My hunch is that that was somewhere along the lines what befell this animal.

Then these accidents happen.

You've got to take it, a bitter pill to take.

But that's the way it goes.

Although the treatment failed to save the calf,

Duncan hopes his efforts will have some benefits for the herd.

By casting it, and giving it these two weeks,

we've helped the mother maintain or develop her rearing instincts.

If we'd put the calf down straightaway she would never have done that.

So it's good for the future in that if she has a calf next year, she'll know what to do with it.

Now the staff can only hope the Pere David will breed again next year.

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

Lions have very keen sense of smell,

which they use for hunting, and also for reading territorial markings.

Any new odour is a trigger for them to investigate.

I'm out in the lion enclosure with keeper Bob Trollope and head of section Brian Kent who

earlier on spread some rhino dung to see what the lions would make of it.

We've taken advantage of the situation, and wildlife cameraman hidden back there,

Andy Milk, has set up a little camera he is concentrating on now.

If we move around, the lions have come straight up to the dung.

It's amazing how quickly they have moved up. They're a bit more interested in the camera.

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

They've got an amazing sense of smell.

They are interested in the rhino dung.

The youngsters more than anything.

Wow, look at Kabir.

He is really curious about everything.

The young ones, what are they doing to the dung? They seem to be eating it.

Yes. It's a new smell to them, they've got to test whether it's palatable for them or not.

It's curiosity.

A lion can smell with more than just the nose.

In the roof of the mouth is the olfactory gland, which can detect minute traces of scent.

And Kabir is actually rolling in it.

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

Very much so. It's a new smell to them.

They want to get it on them.

I suppose if there was another rival male in here, it would put them off.

Look at that, he's being territorial, he doesn't want anyone else to come near it.

Curiosity killed the cat!

Isn't it amazing! Did you think they were going to do that straight away?

No, I thought they'd sniff round at it. But to actually roll in it...

I thought the youngsters would play with it.

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

'which helps them sneak up on their prey.'

And is the idea that he wants to mask his real sense with what surrounds him?

Yes, to make him smell even worse than what he already does.

-And is he pretty smelly anyway?

-He does pong a bit.

I'm interested, the youngsters have started rolling in it as well.

Are they copying dad?

It's born into them.

They obviously are copying him.

But it's pure curiosity, something new, a completely different smell to what they've ever been used to.

Oh, he's off, he's coming to investigate.

I wonder whether he can hear the camera moving.

He's trying to find it. Look at that.

It was fantastic while it worked!

Andy, Bob, Brian, thank you very much.

I think we need to rescue that camera before Kabir really does go off with it.

Longleat's Great House was built in the late 16th century

by Sir John Thynne, an ancestor of the current Lord Bath.

For more than 400 years since then, the Thynne family have collected

an astonishing array of antiques and artwork.

There are more than 500 paintings here, including

portraits of many of the great and the good throughout English history who had connections with the house.

I'm on the grand staircase with curator Kate Harris.

We've come to look at a portrait which has recently come back from restoration.

-This is the portrait here.

-It's a portrait of Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick.

-It's been away for just over two years.

-Wow.

The Dudleys were one of the most important families in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

Ambrose Dudley was Earl of Warwick.

The young man is his brother's illegitimate son.

As neither of the Dudleys had surviving legitimate sons, it was

decided that this boy would be heir to the family title and fortunes.

The Earl and his young successor are portrayed standing on a battlefield, ready for action.

So this painting is saying, I'm big, I'm brave.

Is it also recognising this boy as a potential heir rather than hiding him away?

Very true. He's got an absolutely stunning state of-the-art little wheel lock pistol there.

This is not just a page, this is the heir.

It's very patriarchal.

-It is.

-You said the way the portrait is now.

What do you mean by that?

In the course of restoration, we made several major discoveries about it.

X-ray showed us the major figure, Ambrose himself, was very differently presented in the original picture.

You had the whole painting X-rayed?

Yes, we had 24 X-rays done during restoration.

-If you like we can go upstairs and have a look at some of them.

-That would be great.

Now we're uncovering a mystery..

Indeed.

The painting came to Longleat in the 17th century,

when heirs of the Dudleys married into the Thynne family.

It's hung here for centuries, but until recently no-one suspected it might have hidden secrets.

The key thing about the restoration and the X-rays

is to show this major change in the picture.

'The X-rays reveal that underneath the surface

'is another layer of paint, which made up an earlier image.'

Basically what you've discovered is that there was an original portrait

of Dudley, and this is a new one painted over the top.

Not entirely new but an adapted version to present a very different much stronger image.

Here you've got a third hand and a stick.

Rather than holding the boar spear in this very strong aggressive fashion,

he was actually shown with the boar spear in the background originally, leaning on a stick.

The background has also been changed from an interior scene, to show Ambrose Dudley and his heir standing

in front of a military tent, probably at the siege of Newhaven,

a battle at which Ambrose had been injured.

He was gravely wounded at Newhaven at the siege.

He was actually shot in the leg and was never right afterwards.

He never commanded in the field again.

So he is shown leaning on the stick. It's quite realistic as well.

That's quite unusual, don't people usually try to make themselves look more beautiful or more grand?

That's what they decided do in the second version.

He is then the sole representative of the Dudley dynasty, with his younger

brother's illegitimate son next to him as their sole hope now.

So he is shown in this much more what we might call gung-ho fashion.

Wouldn't it have been more sensible for somebody as noble and clearly as

rich as this to have thrown that old portrait away and had a completely new one done?

We're trying to make up our mind about that.

There's two possibilities we're playing with.

One is they needed the picture very quickly,.

-They had the bare bones of it.

-So they needed for some occasion to have this new dynastic picture.

Or that Ambrose was so ill he was not available to sit for a new version.

So they had to make it up.

They are only hypotheses.

We don't know. There must be some explanation.

Kate, that was absolutely fascinating.

Incredible to think that after all these years you have discovered this whole new story about this painting.

Thank you very much indeed.

Earlier in the show I was out with keeper Bob Trollope in the lion enclosure.

Bob remained with the film crew to pick up a few shots of the lions.

But now, there's a problem.

Bob's vehicle is refusing to start.

This is all very embarrassing.

Yeah, we're in a situation where anywhere else we would be able to get out and push start it.

But with our neighbours just here, you don't really want to do that.

You could end up as lunch.

Even though Bob works with the lions every day, he knows that

if he were out in their enclosure they could well attack and kill him, as they would any other prey.

The safest thing is for us to stay in here and let someone else get out!

Within minutes, head of section Brian Kent spots that Bob is in trouble.

But to get a tow rope on Bob's vehicle, someone is going to have to get out.

Bob and Brian have practised the emergency procedure for this situation many times,

in case they had to rescue visitors.

But they didn't expect to have to rescue each other.

First Brian drives the lions into a corner.

Then, with Craig Faggoter standing look out, there's a chance to get the rope on.

I take it all the lions are over that side, are they?

All the lions are over there?

All right.

With the rope safely in place, the keepers manage to jump-start the jeep.

The emergency procedure has worked perfectly.

That's the boogy. Now we're fine.

I shall keep the engine running for a little while.

The lions didn't even notice.

It looks like the lions will have to wait a little longer for their lunch.

Back at the camel barn, a week has passed since the first Bactrian

calf born here for three years came into the world with a weak hind leg.

The calf couldn't feed properly, and head of section Tim Yeo

was worried that his mother Bhali might reject him.

But with plenty of TLC from Tim, the situation has improved dramatically for the young camel.

Mother and calf have been allowed outside into a temporary paddock,

and to his keepers' delight the baby has been seen suckling properly.

Today, it's time for safari park vet Duncan Williams to give him his first check-up.

Why did you put the bandage on?

Just to give it that support, yes.

She was flicking over on her fetlock?

She was actually right over.

-Sorry, he.

-He, yes.

-Shall we take it off?

-Yep.

Let me hold you, come on.

CAMEL BLEATS

What Tim is describing is a weakness in the ligaments.

I think this joint was collapsing forward

as the baby was putting weight on it.

That tends to strengthen as the calf get stronger,

the ligaments and tendons firm up a bit as the calf get stronger.

Thankfully, the calf's leg has healed well and otherwise he's fit and healthy.

Now that he's survived the tricky first week, the keepers have decided to give him a name.

I understand you're going to call him Elvis?

Well, the other members of staff certainly are keen on the name.

-I am not quite sure.

-You're not an Elvis novice find yourself?

-I am.

Young Elvis is already showing a different character to the shaky newborn of a week ago.

Now the little calf is ready for his next big step.

He's making his debut in the enclosure.

Once the baby goes out, he's going to be extremely inquisitive of other animals.

He's going to want to approach them.

Some of those animals may not want to be approached.

So it's going to be a pretty hair-raising events I think.

Tim will have to keep a close eye on the calf so he doesn't try to get

too friendly with the heavyweights of the enclosure like the White Rhino or the Ankole cattle.

Come on, then. Girls, come on.

Once the baby is out, Tim takes up his position nearby, ready to intervene if he heads into danger.

It really is a serious matter when he goes in amongst them.

Particularly as he takes off into the middle of those cattle.

All that one's got to do is

give a sharp hook with a horn.

We've actually had it happen before when the baby took them into trouble.

The mother tried to...

protect the baby.

One of the bull Ankole, as the mother went by, flicked his horn, and he disembowelled her literally.

She did survive I have to say miraculously.

But it was nasty.

Suddenly young Elvis heads straight towards the Ankole herd, forcing his mum to follow.

Tim jumps into action.

It's a nightmare.

You don't know where he's going to go next.

To manoeuvre a vehicle, you often don't get it right the first time and you're praying that nothing happens.

The scare is over.

It has been a bumpy first week for Elvis, but now he is safely out in

the enclosure with the herd, Tim can look forward to watching him grow up.

It's just a joy to see them out on a day like this. The weather makes everything, the time of year.

All in all, it's absolutely fine.

It's a good picture at the moment.

We will catch up with Elvis later in the series.

We're down in Pets Corner with head of section Darren Beasley and one of

the enormous African couch rats that we're trying to take for a walk.

But he wants to walk me rather than the other way round.

They're amazing-looking animals.

This is fairly new for them, this walking.

We've only done this a few times before.

We will start bringing them out and get the visitors walking them around as well. That's the plan.

And this one, is this the one that seems to be responding better?

Or are they both equally good?

We've got one who is very feisty, this fella.

It's all very new coming out. They're not exactly particularly friendly at the moment.

-They've got massive teeth.

-They could give you a nasty bite.

I've got a special gloves.

-We need to keep our feet and legs clear of him.

-Totally.

Darren, thank you very much.

-Kate, shall I have a go?

-There you go.

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

Here's what's coming up next time.

Come on, ratty, this way.

The time has come for Seanna the sea lion pup to leave mum, and start her further education..

I'll be getting friendly but one of the biggest creepy-crawlies I've ever seen.

I'm supposed to hold this!

And when we try to help a lima with her spring makeover,

I'll discover why Bactrian camels are famous for their bad manners.

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

Subtitles by Red Bee Media 2007

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