Episode 7 Animal Park

Hello and welcome to Animal Park. I'm Kate Humble.

And I'm Ben Fogle and this is Longleat Safari Park,

which opened its doors in 1966 - the very first of its kind in the country.

And this year it celebrates its 40th anniversary.

We've been following life at the safari park

for the last seven years and every year brings new exciting stories. Here's what's coming up today.

We're off to Kenya with the staff from Longleat...

These brave men and their faithful hounds

risk their lives to protect endangered species.

HE SHOUTS

We go out on patrol with the anti-poaching unit.

After a boisterous dust bath, it's time for baby's bottle.

And one of Longleat's largest lions

comes a little too close for comfort...

I think we've got someone biting the tyre!

Bit of panic in the back there, I think!

When Longleat first opened its gates as a safari park 40 years ago,

the lions were the main attraction.

Now they share the limelight with over 50 species.

But they're still a favourite with the visitors.

Today I'm going down to lion country

to set up a brand new challenge for Charlie's pride.

This is the way to start the day, halfway up a ladder

in the lion enclosure putting out chunks of meat.

I'm here with Bob Trollope, keeper of the lions.

Why are we putting meat up trees, Bob?

It's basically a bit of enrichment for the lions.

OK, so... Cos usually they're fed from the back of a feed truck.

Yeah. We normally stimulate them by having them chase the feed wagon, simulating a hunt.

We thought we'd do a different angle on it.

See how good they are at finding the food.

Cos they're gonna have to use their senses to pick it out

and climb up the trees and all sorts of things.

-OK. Do you want to...

-Just get some more?

-..get me another bit and I'll put some out here.

So, Brian, you're also putting meat out here.

Do you think that they'll find it fairly easily or do you think that it'll take them a while?

-Are they quite a clever lot?

-I think they'll find it straight away, to be honest.

They're gonna smell it.

Obviously, we're gonna have a few pieces dotted on the floor

just in case one of them gets hold of a piece and they all run after it and cause a rumpus.

So we need to have a few pieces around, which they can find easily.

Now, it's... I was standing here.

That's quite high. That one's really high.

I know that leopards are good climbers, but what about lions?

Lions do climb trees pretty well,

so I imagine they should stretch to get it or go up the tree and get it.

And we've also put a piece on the top of the scratching post up there.

I mean, Bob, I can't see how they're possibly gonna get to that.

The rope runs out halfway down.

This is quite slippery plastic.

Well, hopefully, they'll use their initiative and pounce on it

-and then that would...

-Oh, really? So you think that they'll actually push against it?

As soon as they know it's up there, they will be determined to get it,

whether they climb up and pull it or...

It's well within their reach.

That's nine or ten feet.

-They can stretch...

-Found a better place. >

-..10 or 11 feet.

-Don't you dare, Brian!

-This is a good place

-to hide some.

-Can we hide it in the tree here?

That'll make it more exciting for everyone.

I'll just leave that there. No-one's gonna notice.

I think it's a very bad idea! I think we'll put some over here.

Keep an eye on you now. Shall I put one in here?

-Do you think...

-Put them right in.

-Do you think...

I mean, obviously, this is great for us to see this sort of unusual behaviour.

This isn't taunting the lions in any way, is it?

No. No, of course not.

It's gonna be good for them. It's totally different.

As we come through with the feed, just drop it on the floor. They pick it up.

This way, they've gotta work for it a bit,

try and find it, and, you know, hopefully, it's gonna be good.

OK, well, we will be back a little bit later on

to see how the lions cope and whether they can find their meal or not.

I'm going to go and just check the Land Rover and make sure there isn't any in there.

Now we're off to Kenya, to visit the Tusk Trust.

Tusk is a charity dedicated to conserving

the wildlife and habitats of Africa.

They run 25 conservation projects in 15 countries.

As a donor, Longleat Safari Park has enjoyed a close working relationship

with the trust in recent years.

This collaboration means Tusk has invited Safari Park staff to develop

their professional expertise by visiting the conservancies it supports in Kenya.

This year, deputy head warden, Ian Turner, is taking

four lucky staff on a work trip they've all been looking forward to.

I mean, this is a... You know, a lifetime opportunity to go out to Africa.

OK, we're working, but you're getting to do stuff you want to do.

It's a job, but you're going to Africa to see wildlife as it should be.

Their first stop is the Lewa conservancy.

5,000 acres of land on the slopes of Mount Kenya.

In the 1970s and early '80s,

Kenya's elephant and rhino were almost wiped out by poaching.

At that time, Lewa was a farm.

But when he saw what was happening to the animals,

owner Ian Craig became convinced he had to do something to help them.

Probably the single incident that made the biggest impression

on me was watching...

eight armed guys killing elephants one evening.

A herd of 100-odd elephant. We were sitting on a hill.

We saw these guys open fire on them.

They killed eight elephant whilst we were there. Then it got dark.

We continued to watch them throughout the night

and brought the government in in the morning.

Ian made the decision to convert his farm to a conservancy in 1983.

Today, Lewa is a safe haven for wildlife,

including more than 75 endangered rhino.

But despite a world-wide ban, trade in elephant tusks and rhino horn

can still be a lucrative business.

Desperate poachers still pose a constant threat.

So, to protect the animals, Lewa has 74 rangers,

and an anti-poaching unit of 17 armed guards.

The unit's commander is Michael Tosho.

He and his team must be constantly vigilant.

Last year, they were called out 65 times to protect the animals.

In the northern part, this is the only place you can get rhinos.

Yeah? Black and white.

They are still in high demand.

When a poacher thinks of poaching in this particular region,

he should first think about Lewa.

"Lewa has rhinos. How can I get in there?"

Two years ago, the unit got a new weapon

in the fight to track down poachers -

a pair of bloodhounds.

These dogs' sense of smell is thousands of times more sensitive

than our own, and they can follow a trail where no human could.

Before we get these dogs, this job was quite difficult.

Sometimes we lost foot marks.

Sometimes something is just there and we take a long time to get that particular thing.

And nowadays, we save time.

It surprises me because sometimes when we are following those poachers,

we got...rain

and at the same time we still followed them.

At the end, you see, "These are the right people we've been following."

But if it was just us without dogs, once it rains, that's the end

of tracking these people.

The anti-poaching unit's job is to track down and arrest illegal poachers.

But many poachers are armed and dangerous.

If necessary, the unit will fight.

Even the bloodhounds can become targets.

When you meet with these armed people,

you know, their target is to destroy whatever they can,

either the dogs or the guides.

So, what we do is we have to ensure that these dogs are well protected.

We assign some people just for the protection of the dogs

and others to attack the poachers.

We have in our minds that the dogs may be targeted at any time.

Today, the anti-poaching unit is preparing for a training exercise.

To gain insight into the work being done at Lewa,

Longleat keepers Bev Evans and Andy Hayton will be taking part.

They'll pretend to be poachers, and will be tracked by the dogs.

It's not a task for the faint-hearted.

For me, personally, the stuff I can see,

the elephants, giraffes, rhino - that doesn't concern me at all.

I'm a big animal person. That's what I've always done.

It's the little things that you can't see that bite you and do you a real mischief.

Snakes and stuff - I'll be a total girl on top of an Acacia tree, I tell you!

I cannot stand snakes!

On foot, they set off as fast as they can

across the wide open bush of Lewa.

With them are two rangers disguised as poachers and an armed guard, just in case.

I've heard stories already about people walking across lions,

through elephants, that kind of thing.

So, it's a little bit... You know, your heart's racing a little bit.

The whole thing of being chased, when someone's after you.

A little bit nerve-racking!

The poachers will have 30 minutes head start before the bloodhounds are put on their scent.

We'll be keeping track of their progress.

-Back in Wiltshire...

-Din-dins!

-..the lions have been let loose.

Charlie!

Good girl.

I'm out in the lion enclosure with Charlie's pride

and head of section Brian and keeper Bob.

The lions have just been let out for the morning.

Earlier we hid meat around here, there's some up the tree.

There's some on top of the scratching post.

We've got a camera up that tree,

which is hopefully going to capture shots of the lions

actually climbing up the tree to get the meat that we hid up there.

Now, this isn't something that you do every day, Brian?

No, we wouldn't do this every day.

But this is, you think, very good for them.

It's very good for them cos they've got to try and find it.

Hopefully, stretch even up to the tree,

which would be good for them and their claws as well.

If we look at Charlie here, he's obviously smelt the meat...

Oh, look at that. Straight in.

Oh, look. Look at that.

-Brilliant.

-So that was a combination of eyesight and smell then.

She knew it was there, but couldn't spot it.

It's amazing getting this really close view of them eating.

It's actually quite a delicate process.

I mean, given the size of their jaw, and the size of their teeth,

you'd think they'd just smash into the meat.

But it actually looks like they're almost fastidious about it.

They are, aren't they?

They're pulling pieces off and chewing pieces.

What they'll do is, when they get down to the bone,

they'll use their tongues to lick off the meat

and lick off the sinews because the tongue is course.

-Oh, oh!

-No, she's going to smell something.

LIONS GROWL

That looked very aggressive,

but actually neither of them touched each other.

It was all mouth and no trousers.

Noise mainly. Just get off that bit of meat. I want it.

This is what would happen in the wild.

They would fight over best places on the kill.

You can't step in too soon and split them up.

It's better to let them sort it out.

Ooh, I think we've got someone biting the tyre.

Oi, Charlie!

-Charlie!

-I can hear hissing.

I think the spare tyre has been punctured by Charlie.

A bit of a panic in the back there, I think.

This is our director and researcher

and sound man all looking a little nervous.

Charlie's now come round here and he's sniffing round

the bottom of the post.

I didn't think anything was going to happen, but...

Is he going to the tree or is he...?

He has spotted the tree.

Right, let's see what he does.

He's just figuring out...

Yeah, where do I go? What do I do?

The males are lazier anyway.

He'd rather the females knocked them down

and just pinch them off the females.

One of the females has spotted it.

This is Satellite, having a look.

She's one of the older females, isn't she? Look at that! Wow!

One bound and she's there.

That's amazing.

When you see the size of her forepaw holding on to that branch,

you suddenly realise what a big cat you're dealing with.

She's having a go at the tree.

-Wow, yes!

-She's going after the camera, isn't she?

No, she's getting a bit. Oh, brilliant. That was brilliant.

She put her head right back to grab the meat.

All the other lionesses are going, "We'll have a bit of that now."

Does this mean there's going to be a scrap? Yeah, she's off.

She's paying for her ingenuity now, isn't she?

Well, the lions are now in retreat.

So how do you think that went?

Extremely well. I'm pleased with that.

They all showed a lot of interest. It was great.

Thank you both very, very much indeed.

We'll let the lions go off and rest

after that exhausting use of their brains.

Back at the Lewa Conservancy in Kenya,

Longleat keepers Andy Hayton and Bev Evans are on the run.

They are pretending to be poachers, as part of a training exercise for Lewa's armed anti-poaching unit.

They've had a 30-minute head start.

Now they must try to avoid being found by one of Lewa's canine constabulary.

Being chased, across the bush in tropical heat.

Yes, it's gonna be exciting.

At the base, the anti-poaching team is ready to go.

One of Lewa's two bloodhounds is harnessed

and put on the tracks of Andy and Bev.

Their colleagues Ian Turner, Darren Beasley and Jo Hawthorne join the hunt.

A bloodhound's nose can detect even minute traces of scent left on the grass and earth.

One sniff of the pretend poachers' tracks, and it's off!

The poacher team's trail leads deep into the bush,

right into the path of some of the reserve's wild residents.

It's mid-summer and over 40 degrees.

The heat and dust are oppressive.

But that's not the only problem.

One of the poachers' team thinks he sees lions in the distance.

Now they are in danger of being hunted by more deadly foes than the anti-poaching unit.

He says that they saw two lions on top

of this hill.

There. The green tree on top of the hill.

They are lying down. They are two.

I think when they saw us, they are trying to cover themselves -

not to be seen.

And also, that's a good place for them to look for their food.

Julius isn't worried, so I'm not worried. I'll just stick next to Julius.

But, yeah, the thought of lions sat up there looking at us and watching us...

It's such an alien environment for us cos we're always sat in a vehicle or they're behind bars or whatever...

But, yeah, it's cool. Really good.

The lions are far enough away for the poachers' team to press on,

but they must be constantly on guard.

Julius has just pointed out there's a lion's pugmark there.

-Just in here.

-I think they are the ones who climb up the hill.

But we are not going to climb up.

We are just going behind these trees and hide ourselves

and look back where we came from.

Behind them, the gap is closing.

Even at a trot, the bloodhound never loses their scent in the long grass.

Meanwhile, with lions above and trackers closing in below,

the poachers have found a hiding place.

From here, we're actually keeping an eye out.

We can spot them coming down, but before that,

we actually saw a single giraffe run really fast across the plain.

Zebras flying everywhere, so they spotted the dogs

and the men just before we did. Then they spotted the guys

and they're actually going at quite a pace and then squatting down and then carrying on.

So it's like... It makes your heart race a bit.

When the bloodhounds start sniffing at the air rather than the ground,

the trackers know they're close to their target.

They are just behind these bushes. Of course, their dogs have started to look ahead, no longer smelling

at the foot marks. Now we have to be very tactical here.

Cos walking very fast, you might just get into a place that you did not want to get.

The anti-poaching unit carefully encircles the poachers,

adopting a flanking formation before closing in.

It's time for the Longleat keepers to take a breather.

That was horrendous.

I felt like the little weak zebra at the back waiting to be picked off...

further up the field.

I'm too old for this!

I tell you now, we wouldn't beat

the poachers on the other end if this was...

Good God! Such a pace!

They wouldn't get away.

These guys are athletes and they've got all their kit on.

Yeah. All the gear on and not one of them's broke into a sweat.

No! They haven't.

- It's about 110. - A tad warm here.

-We'll get 'em, though. Look out.

-Definitely. We're coming.

If there were real armed poachers ahead, this would be dangerous.

The dog is withdrawn for its own safety,

while the assault team moves up to attack.

Stop! HE SHOUTS

SHOUTING

HE SPEAKS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE

It's all over in seconds.

This was just practice and the rifles were empty,

but in real life they would be loaded.

-Really scary.

-Michael comes bursting round the corner pointing the gun at you. You kind of want to quit.

-I mean, that's it.

-He really made me jump. Oh, God!

Lions one side of you, guys with seriously big guns the other side of you. It's...

It's fantastic. Really good.

Yeah, the noise of them coming in and shouting, you know, guns just pointing at you...

If there was gunfire as well... I mean, it's just...

This is what they do to protect wildlife.

They could get killed doing it.

I think probably the best thing for me was the guy acting...

He's still there acting dead.

We've got a dead guy here.

I think we'll leave him here all day, probably.

Last year, Michael's anti-poaching team made 22 arrests using bloodhounds.

They recovered two machine guns and nearly 40 stolen livestock.

Lewa has still not lost a single animal to poachers.

The poachers themselves, you know, they are just in the communities or in the towns.

They hear that we have the dogs.

So I'm sure some of them have changed their minds and do something else apart from poaching.

Respect animals instead.

Back at Longleat, there was recently a crisis at pets' corner.

Gladys the green iguana became ill and stopped eating her food.

Her keepers were worried that she might starve to death.

-This bit on her tail is quite prominent.

-That's her pelvic bones.

She's certainly losing quite a bit of weight.

An X-ray revealed that she was carrying a clutch of eggs,

but she was too weak to lay them.

She was rushed into the operating theatre before her condition became fatal.

The vet successfully removed the eggs from her belly.

But then there was a problem.

Gladys wouldn't come round from the anaesthetic.

Come on, I need you to breathe.

I haven't done all that work for nothing, mate.

It was touch and go, but finally Gladys started to breathe normally.

It was a huge relief for everyone involved.

Today, Ben's going down to see how she's getting on.

I've come down to the hothouse with keeper Sarah Clayson

and Gladys the iguana who's being reintroduced

-after a bit of an absence.

-It's quite major surgery.

-And how many eggs were removed?

-There was roughly 53.

-53?!

-When we counted them, yeah.

And have you any idea why she was retaining them?

Um, there are several factors that can cause it.

It could be the levels of calcium,

but we did do a blood test and they were fine.

So the other explanation is probably down to age,

cos she is one of the older ones.

-She is getting on a bit now.

-How old is she?

She's about nine, ten years old now.

Which in iguana years...?

-What do they live to in captivity?

-They can get to 14, 15 years old.

-OK, so she's a ripe old age.

-She is, yeah.

You mention calcium. How would an iguana like Gladys get her calcium?

We give it in supplements on their food, but also we've

actually got these special lights for them

and that encourages them to bask and they absorb all the UV rays

and it helps with the absorption of calcium,

so it's good for their bones.

Now, Sarah, I can't help but notice we're surrounded by iguanas.

There's one just up by the window there

and I've noticed there's a couple on the top.

-How many are in here in total?

-We've got seven altogether.

-One male, and the rest are females.

-With an absence of two months,

-how are the others going to take her return?

-They should be OK.

It might seem a bit strange to her, but once she's settled she should be all right

-and we will keep a close eye on her.

-Cos is there a hierarchy?

There is, and she was quite high up.

-She's been here a long time.

-Is that an age factor?

Yeah, probably, and also the fact

that she was one of the original females in here.

So she should click back in with everyone.

She should do, yeah. She'll let them know that she's the boss, I think.

Sarah, thank you very much.

Welcome back, Gladys.

Here's what's still to come on today's programme.

This baby black rhino is one of the rarest animals in Africa,

so he needs extra special care.

I'l be making sure

I don't get between the eland and their evening meal.

Is it true that they're as aggressive as people say.

If they want to be they can certainly be very aggressive.

It would be foolish to try and put food down with these animals in.

And we'll me meeting some of Kenya's most persecuted porkers.

Why do you think they're this shy?

Cos they're ugly.

But first...

Back at the Lewa Conservancy, breeding programmes

form a vital part of their conservation strategy.

No programme is more important than breeding the critically endangered Black Rhino.

David Parkinson is Lewa's Deputy Director.

Very important to understand that the Black Rhino as a species is very, very rare.

In Kenya, there's only about 460 animals.

But I must admit, that number is going up, from a low about ten years ago of no more than 250.

So the breeding programme is doing quite well.

These two young Black Rhino are Lewa's latest success story.

Two year old Tula, and six month old baby Jack are sister and brother.

To ensure their survival,

they had to be separated from their mother at an early age.

They're born to the same mother who's partially blind.

This mother's had four children.

The first one we had to take away because she lost it, literally.

She couldn't find the baby and then we couldn't either.

The second child was actually... she lost it again.

And it was taken by a leopard, killed, and of course we found it up a tree.

And therefore at that point, we made the decision

that the mother was unable to look after her children.

Now the keepers at Lewa are rearing the two young rhino by hand.

Longleat's Deputy Head Warden, Ian Turner, has helped rear several baby White Rhino himself.

But today he will get his first chance to give a baby Black Rhino a bottle-feed.

I'd like you to take the milk and he's definitely hungry.

Adult Black Rhino would browse on trees and bushes, but young Jack is still on milk.

He has quite an appetite.

Two pints, five times a day.

He's got a massive suck on him.

-He knows what's in there.

-Yeah.

When he was born, we hoped the mother would be able to look after him, but after two days,

the mother lost Jack, and in fact, we lost Jack as well.

We had almost the entire staff of Lewa

out looking for Jack in the bush.

Now he's pretty much fine and, like Tula, will be released into the wild as soon as he's able to cope.

That's it. Breakfast over.

-Have a play.

-Now I'll go and beat up my half sister.

Thank you very much.

You can see how boisterous they can get.

And when they want food and it's finished, that's when it starts getting a bit out of hand.

But absolutely gorgeous.

As adults, female Black Rhino live happily side by side,

but males will battle each other for dominance.

Jack will have to learn to look after himself,

so this play-fighting is vital for his survival.

Tula won't hopefully have to be fighting

for territory, whereas young Jack, that's going to be his life. He's going to have to fight for his turf.

After dinner, it's bath time,

and a chance for Ian to compare notes with David.

It's really good to be able to see them wallowing like this, isn't it?

One of the problems we've got is they're fine in the summer,

but when it comes to winter, they don't like to do this cos it's cold.

We've got to do mud baths on them,

and that's when their skin starts to look a bit cracked and not nice.

It's really great here because we've got a temperature

which is similar all year round on the equator.

-They don't have any trepidation about getting into a cold pool.

-That's right.

After their mud bath, the young rhinos are straight back into the dust like naughty children.

It may look dirty, but actually this is how they keep clean.

The mud traps dead skin and parasites,

then rolling around rubs it all off.

They look in marvellous condition. Marvellous.

When we saw them rolling, that was great with all the mud.

They look in brilliant condition.

The pair are inseparable now, but Tula and Jack won't be together

for much longer as they will have to be reintroduced

to the wild separately.

Tula, as a girl, we can reintroduce back into Lewa.

That's not a great problem, because she's not fighting for territory.

However, young Jack, when he's able to be re-released,

he can't come onto Lewa because there's competition for space.

Already we're having to trans-locate out some of our males, because the space is tight.

Therefore Jack will probably go to another conservancy,

probably to El Pejador, which is a new conservancy

and there's plenty of space for him to be able to find his turf and defend it.

But for now, Tula and Jack can play on.

Even for an animal keeper as experienced as Ian,

seeing them is a valuable experience.

That was amazing.

I learned a lot, you know.

It was such a treat.

So it's all good stuff, man. Amazing.

Back in Wiltshire, there are changes afoot for the herd of Cape eland -

an antelope species from South Africa.

Ten females live here and earlier this year

the keepers brought in an eland bull to breed with them.

Now everyone's looking forward to some new eland calves.

I'm out in the Safari Park with Tim Yeo, and we're being very quiet

because we've come to find the rather skittish eland.

Tim, what are we actually out looking for today?

Well, Ben, what we're hoping to see is any signs of pregnancy.

We're very hopeful at the moment that we've got a few pregnancies.

And this is the first time in quite a long period.

It is, Ben, yes.

It's been ten years that we've not seen a little calf running around.

What sort of signs are you looking for? The obvious distended stomachs, is that the main thing?

Yeah. Abdominally, the size of the animal is one indicator.

When an animal calves, it's a bit like

the calf has to travel through a bottle neck, if you like, through the pelvic girdle,

and so everything has to slacken up, we're looking for that.

And potentially how many of these eland could be pregnant?

At the moment we're thinking in terms of about four of them.

-Which, presumably, makes it all the more important to keep an eye on them.

-As much as possible.

The mums-to-be need to be given just the right nutrition

and it's almost dinner time, so I'm going to give Tim a hand

over at the eland house.

Tim, what are we doing now?

Well, Ben, we've got this rather heavy bag consisting of high-fibre

cubes and sugar beet pulp, which we're going to give to the eland now.

We've got four troughs here.

If you start with this trough.

Obviously, the eland are still out now, aren't they?

They're out in the...

That's right. I mean, they're eager to come in.

-Is that enough?

-You want a bit more.

-How's that?

-That's good.

-That's good.

-Shall we move on to the next one?

So obviously we've got the eland all hanging on outside there.

Do you bring them in year round?

Not year-round. They come in during the winter months,

so they come in so that we can give them the food

that we need to.

And is it true that they're as aggressive as people say?

Well, yes, they can certainly be very aggressive if they want to be.

I'm assuming it's their horns that are the danger.

Very much so. Very much so.

That's fine. Just keep watching them as you do that.

Hello, Kev.

Then if we retreat.

So we all step back.

Is the plan that once we're safely outside of the area,

Kevin will pull the car back and they can come in?

Eland are the largest species of antelope,

and despite their innocent appearance,

Tim has learned that it's best not

to get between them and their dinner.

It would be very foolish to put food down

with these animals there. They'll come straight over.

So is there any particular animal that's going to come in first?

Is there one particular eland that is dominant?

It depends who is coming first

as to whether it's one of the animals that needs to be kept out.

We've got two animals here that we would keep out,

or Kev will keep out, and that is due to fighting.

There's a pecking order and...

from time to time,

some of these females get picked on by the others.

So Kevin knows which ones to try and keep out now

-and that's why he's moving...?

-Exactly.

You can see he's going to stop this one here, she's walking away,

and the other animal behind her can come in.

It's very clever, the way you do this.

And the two that have to be separated,

they'll be fed later on, will they?

Well, they'll be fed very shortly, actually.

There's a hut up in the distance there.

That's where they'll be fed and where they're housed during the night.

Great. Tim, thank you very much.

Another successful feed. I think we should leave them to it.

Back in Kenya, head of the East Africa Reserve,

Andy Hayton is on a fact-finding mission.

Longleat is about to become host to a new species,

Phacochoerus africanus, otherwise known as warthogs.

In the wild, warthogs live happily alongside the animals

that make up the East Africa Reserve at Longleat.

The keepers are keen to complement their Africa collection

and bring these eccentric creatures to Wiltshire.

Andy's never looked after warthogs before, so Guide Peter Kiyaa

is going to share some of his extensive experience.

I've always liked warthogs.

I think they're just a real good character animal

to have around, a bit like our ostrich.

But when we came here last year to Kenya,

that really kind of, yeah, I really wanted to push.

I've pushed really hard.

We're getting them now, so that's going to be really good fun.

It's important that Andy learns as much as he can about their behaviour

and habitat before they turn up in Wiltshire.

Our intention, back at Longleat, at our safari park,

is we are going to bring in three male warthogs - three brothers.

And we will have those living together and exhibit them

and they'll be with the giraffe.

Hopefully, there will be no problem. Do you see any problems

with having the three males together?

I mean, there will be no females, so...

They will probably live together.

I think as long as there are no females,

there is not going to be much competition.

They prefer this kind of open savanna and the woodland,

especially around the sun.

Is that so they can hide away from predators or see predators coming?

Yeah, they can see predators coming and they also feed

on this short grass, so this is basically a good habitat for them.

Despite their formidable appearance, warthogs are very wary of humans.

There they go. Running.

Oh, yes, they're shy.

Why do you actually think they are this shy? Is it predators, or...?

Uh, because they're ugly.

But when threatened by other animals,

they can look after themselves.

I think if you find it in an enclosed place

and it has to protect itself, they are very strong.

Even lions are very careful when they want to attack warthogs

because they are really strong and they can be aggressive.

They use their tusks and they can even bite

and they're quite powerful, so they can be aggressive

if you corner them.

We have had incidences of somebody walking

in front of their burrow and the warthog has to get out and run away.

It can come out and break your leg,

so you usually have to be very careful.

Despite the risk,

Andy's keen to see what these warthog burrows look like up close.

This is just the right time for them to come to their burrows,

so it's important to walk from behind.

Is that because the...

Yeah, they usually get out and run away, but if you look at this,

I think it's OK. You can actually see.

You don't see any tracks,

so I don't think they have used this hole for a number of days.

-Would these interconnect?

-Yeah. It's actually a tunnel system.

It's huge, isn't it? There must be about ten different entrances.

It's quite scary seeing all this. I mean, we've got lovely green grass.

We'll end up with huge holes everywhere.

The warthogs' arrival will have a huge impact on staff,

animals and the ground itself.

Where we're putting them, the giraffe and zebra

and all our other stock will be able to see them through a fence,

so the warthogs can get used to our animals

and vice versa. It's going to be good.

We're going to have some problems, as you always do with a new species,

but it's going to be fun learning.

Guide Peter Kiyaa has given Andy valuable insights

into warthog behaviour in the wild, which he will use when he gets home.

Peter's explained their behaviour - if we see that being replicated

back at Longleat, then we're doing the right thing.

You want to see animals acting naturally and most of our animals do.

So if we can see them here

and they're doing the same thing, then we're doing good stuff.

It's the end of the day at the lion house

and Kate and I have come up with head of section,

Brian Kent, and keeper Bob Trollope to wish them good night, basically.

You've got Kabir, the male in here, two females, two cubs.

Isn't that a problem?

Don't you get pillow fights?

Not really. They can be a little bit rough with each other,

but it's not a problem.

There's a couple of months between the two youngsters.

There's about four weeks difference, I think.

They seem to be getting on fantastically, as do the two mums.

Both mums get on well as well, so there's no problem.

And how about Dad? Is it a problem?

He's a big animal.

He's sort of running around.

You do hear about male lions sometimes being quite aggressive...

-LION GROWLS

-..with their own cubs.

-Thanks, Kabir, for making my point so beautifully.

-Not in here.

But there isn't any problems with that?

Not normally, no. He's pretty good with the cubs,

so there's no problems whatsoever really.

It's probably the other way round. The cubs giving him hassle.

Do the cubs swing off his tail and grab on to the mane.

They do. They pull tufts of hair out and tug on his tail.

Presumably the teeth on the cubs

are getting pretty sharp already, are they?

I wouldn't want to be bitten by them, that's for sure.

They look like they're beginning to settle down now.

The mums are growling at us in a "leave us in peace" way,

so I think probably we ought to leave them in peace.

Bob, Brian, thank you very much indeed.

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

but here's what's coming up on the next Animal Park.

We're going back to Kenya,

where conservationists are battling to inoculate

these endangered Grevy zebra against an outbreak of deadly anthrax.

At Longleat, I'm going bananas with the boisterous Bactrian camels.

No, don't, it's not for you.

Just wait.

And male lions Makui and Kabir are neighbours

but if they met, it would be murder. We'll see how the staff keep the peace.

Calm down!

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

Subtitles by BBC Broadcast 2006

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