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Today, we've got big plans for Monkey Jungle. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:08 | |
A way of keeping the monkeys happy, busy and off the cars. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:12 | |
It's a fun food source and a puzzle all wrapped up into one. | 0:00:12 | 0:00:16 | |
Join us to find out what the monkeys make of their new treat. | 0:00:16 | 0:00:20 | |
There's more than monkey business | 0:00:42 | 0:00:44 | |
going on on today's Animal Park. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:47 | |
I catch up with the giraffes | 0:00:47 | 0:00:49 | |
and discover it's not only their necks that are exceptionally long. | 0:00:49 | 0:00:53 | |
And I'll be calling on Nico the gorilla, | 0:00:56 | 0:00:59 | |
to see if there's life in the old dog yet. | 0:00:59 | 0:01:01 | |
Don't you even think about pinching my bum! | 0:01:01 | 0:01:04 | |
But first, we're going to Monkey Jungle. | 0:01:07 | 0:01:11 | |
A very perilous place for cars. | 0:01:11 | 0:01:14 | |
Of all the species in the park, the troop of over 70 | 0:01:15 | 0:01:20 | |
Rhesus Macaque monkeys must be the most inquisitive. | 0:01:20 | 0:01:23 | |
You could also call them cheeky, even mischievous, | 0:01:23 | 0:01:27 | |
or possibly something untransmittable. | 0:01:27 | 0:01:30 | |
While he's patrolling Monkey Jungle, | 0:01:32 | 0:01:34 | |
keeper Ross Ellis has to stay on his toes. | 0:01:34 | 0:01:36 | |
The monkeys are probably the most active animals in the safari park. | 0:01:36 | 0:01:41 | |
We've always got to look for ideas to keep them occupied. | 0:01:41 | 0:01:44 | |
Otherwise, they'll keep ripping cars apart. | 0:01:44 | 0:01:48 | |
Anything that can keep them occupied, stimulated, is a plus. | 0:01:48 | 0:01:51 | |
Windscreen wipers is a popular one. | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
We get them come off all the time. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:56 | |
There's a monkey on top of that one there, after an aerial. | 0:01:56 | 0:02:01 | |
One on a wing mirror here, | 0:02:01 | 0:02:03 | |
just checking it out. | 0:02:03 | 0:02:05 | |
The monkeys are always ripping stuff off. | 0:02:05 | 0:02:08 | |
We're forever picking bits up. | 0:02:08 | 0:02:10 | |
Ford Mondeo. | 0:02:21 | 0:02:23 | |
This lot has taken Ross only about a day to collect. | 0:02:23 | 0:02:26 | |
So you see, the monkeys really are right little vandals. | 0:02:26 | 0:02:30 | |
The only way to curb their wicked ways is to distract them. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:34 | |
Deputy head warden Ian Turner | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
is always trying to come up with new things to keep them busy. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:41 | |
We want to enrich the monkeys' lives. | 0:02:41 | 0:02:43 | |
There are 70 to 80 monkeys, plus babies. | 0:02:43 | 0:02:46 | |
They're always playing on trees. | 0:02:46 | 0:02:49 | |
I'm hoping if can I get a couple of good logs for them to play on, | 0:02:49 | 0:02:53 | |
it's gonna be good for them. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:54 | |
The other idea I've had is to drill some holes in them, | 0:02:54 | 0:02:57 | |
so we can put food inside. | 0:02:57 | 0:02:58 | |
We can put the mix in there, | 0:02:58 | 0:03:00 | |
which may stop the seagulls from pinching it. | 0:03:00 | 0:03:02 | |
Then in the afternoon, we can put fruit in there. | 0:03:02 | 0:03:05 | |
Once we've found the logs, it should be no trouble getting them in here - | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
dig a hole and putting two logs in. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:10 | |
It should be easy. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:12 | |
Should be easy, but are those famous last words? | 0:03:12 | 0:03:16 | |
Two gorillas used to live on the island in Half Mile Lake. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:28 | |
Nico, the silverback male, and Samba, his mate. | 0:03:28 | 0:03:32 | |
They were both 46 years old, which is a very great age for a gorilla. | 0:03:32 | 0:03:36 | |
They had spent almost their entire lives together. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:40 | |
But recently, Samba passed away. | 0:03:40 | 0:03:45 | |
The keepers were all pretty upset. | 0:03:47 | 0:03:49 | |
After all, she was a big part of their lives. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:53 | |
But perhaps the blow fell hardest on Nico. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:58 | |
Since Samba died, everyone's been putting a lot of effort | 0:03:58 | 0:04:02 | |
into getting him through this difficult time. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:06 | |
I've come up to Gorilla Island to meet head of section Mark Tighe | 0:04:06 | 0:04:11 | |
and to see how Nico is getting on. | 0:04:11 | 0:04:13 | |
-Morning, Mark. -Morning, Kate. -How are you? | 0:04:13 | 0:04:15 | |
I'm fine. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:17 | |
-Good. He's actually looking better than I thought. -He is. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:21 | |
He's, amazingly, doing really well. | 0:04:21 | 0:04:24 | |
I was so worried as to how he'd cope. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:27 | |
Initially, obviously, it was very distressing for him and us. | 0:04:27 | 0:04:32 | |
Slowly, but surely, he's really picked himself up and has | 0:04:32 | 0:04:37 | |
kind of changed into a much lighter individual, if you like. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:41 | |
-Really? So you've noticed changes in his character? -Definitely. | 0:04:41 | 0:04:45 | |
As you know, he had his stroppy tendencies every now and again. | 0:04:45 | 0:04:50 | |
He seems much calmer now. | 0:04:50 | 0:04:53 | |
Much more relaxed. He doesn't eat all his food in five seconds flat. | 0:04:53 | 0:04:57 | |
He takes time over it. | 0:04:57 | 0:04:59 | |
He uses the island a lot more, | 0:04:59 | 0:05:01 | |
spends a lot more time foraging, which he never used to do. | 0:05:01 | 0:05:06 | |
He used to leave that for Samba. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:08 | |
Let Samba do the work and he sat and ate. | 0:05:08 | 0:05:09 | |
He did go for all the easy pickings. | 0:05:09 | 0:05:12 | |
How about... You and Michelle have both worked with him | 0:05:12 | 0:05:16 | |
for a very long time. Particularly you. | 0:05:16 | 0:05:19 | |
Have you noticed his relationship, | 0:05:19 | 0:05:22 | |
for want of a better word, changing towards you two as well? | 0:05:22 | 0:05:26 | |
He went right off us initially. | 0:05:26 | 0:05:30 | |
-Really? -After she'd died, he was | 0:05:30 | 0:05:33 | |
very angry with us all. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:36 | |
Almost as if he thought we'd done something to her. | 0:05:36 | 0:05:39 | |
It took a long time, a good few months, for him to come back | 0:05:39 | 0:05:43 | |
and start being nice again, particularly with me. | 0:05:43 | 0:05:46 | |
He's become much more relaxed and much more vocal again. | 0:05:46 | 0:05:49 | |
So what's the plan for today? | 0:05:49 | 0:05:52 | |
The girls particularly have come up with a lot of new ideas | 0:05:52 | 0:05:56 | |
for keeping him occupied while he's outside. | 0:05:56 | 0:05:59 | |
Don't you even think about pinching my bum! | 0:05:59 | 0:06:02 | |
He still likes to have a cheeky go. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:05 | |
He hasn't lost his spirit completely. | 0:06:05 | 0:06:07 | |
The girls have come up with a lot ideas for giving him | 0:06:07 | 0:06:11 | |
more to do while he's outside, and also inside, in the house. | 0:06:11 | 0:06:14 | |
-One of them is this novel lump of wood with some holes in. -OK. | 0:06:14 | 0:06:19 | |
They've been filling the holes | 0:06:19 | 0:06:21 | |
with all sorts of different flavoured things. | 0:06:21 | 0:06:23 | |
Chocolate spread, peanut butter, honey. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:26 | |
Put them in the holes and he dips his finger in. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:28 | |
This is like the gorilla equivalent | 0:06:28 | 0:06:32 | |
of doing the crosswords. | 0:06:32 | 0:06:34 | |
-Keeping his brain active. -Yes. | 0:06:34 | 0:06:36 | |
Brilliant. Well, shall we start? | 0:06:36 | 0:06:38 | |
I'll give you the chocolate spread, cos I think that stuff's evil. | 0:06:38 | 0:06:42 | |
I'll try the honey. | 0:06:42 | 0:06:44 | |
This doesn't look like the most low-calorie of snacks. | 0:06:44 | 0:06:47 | |
This is not something we give him on a regular basis. | 0:06:47 | 0:06:50 | |
Right. So it's a kind of a treat. | 0:06:50 | 0:06:52 | |
A treat thing, yeah. | 0:06:52 | 0:06:54 | |
Some of the other ideas, we have a small cage feeder, | 0:06:54 | 0:06:58 | |
which we put all his fruit and vegetables in, | 0:06:58 | 0:07:02 | |
in oversized pieces that he has to push out with his fingers, | 0:07:02 | 0:07:07 | |
which takes a long time for him to do. | 0:07:07 | 0:07:10 | |
This is a bit of fun for him, and a nice flavour. | 0:07:10 | 0:07:13 | |
I quite like the chocolate myself. | 0:07:13 | 0:07:15 | |
Does this go into his cage? | 0:07:15 | 0:07:18 | |
We can put it in there if we want to, | 0:07:18 | 0:07:20 | |
but we've been putting it outside for him. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:23 | |
And hanging it from one of the trees. | 0:07:23 | 0:07:25 | |
-Shall we hang this up and see what he makes of it? -Absolutely. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:28 | |
All right, shall I grab it? | 0:07:28 | 0:07:30 | |
It's a bit hefty. | 0:07:30 | 0:07:32 | |
Weighs a tonne. Hold on, mate, we're gonna send you a treat out. | 0:07:32 | 0:07:36 | |
-OK. -Put it down a minute. Let's take these | 0:07:36 | 0:07:41 | |
shackles out. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:42 | |
There you go. | 0:07:44 | 0:07:46 | |
Well, I guess, what we need to do now | 0:07:48 | 0:07:51 | |
is let Nico out and see if he likes it. | 0:07:51 | 0:07:54 | |
Join us a little bit later to find out | 0:07:54 | 0:07:57 | |
whether Nico goes for peanut butter, honey or yucky chocolate spread. | 0:07:57 | 0:08:02 | |
-No way is he gonna go for the chocolate spread. -He will. | 0:08:02 | 0:08:05 | |
Keeper Ross Ellis and deputy head warden Ian Turner | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
have come up with a similar plan | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
to enrich feeding time for their troop of Rhesus Macaque monkeys. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:20 | |
The more time they spend eating, | 0:08:20 | 0:08:21 | |
the less time they'll have to vandalise the visitors' cars. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:26 | |
Dave found a couple of tree trunks in the forestry yard. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:29 | |
The idea is to turn them into a kind of climbing frame cafe. | 0:08:29 | 0:08:33 | |
But first, they have to be moved. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
So Ian's called in the professionals. | 0:08:38 | 0:08:41 | |
Here's Mike Wooley and his heavy mover. | 0:08:49 | 0:08:53 | |
It won't be that big a job, as long as we can lift them up. | 0:08:54 | 0:08:58 | |
But they shouldn't be that heavy, cos they're softwood. | 0:08:58 | 0:09:01 | |
Mike's machine clears the small logs out of the way like matchwood. | 0:09:04 | 0:09:08 | |
After all, this baby can shift up to 1½ tonnes, no problem. | 0:09:08 | 0:09:14 | |
Now for the main mission. | 0:09:14 | 0:09:16 | |
To pick up Ian's tree trunks, carry them up the yard | 0:09:16 | 0:09:19 | |
and then put them onto the back of a flat bed lorry. | 0:09:19 | 0:09:22 | |
I'm hoping it weighs about a tonne-and-a-half, | 0:09:24 | 0:09:26 | |
which is what he can lift. | 0:09:26 | 0:09:28 | |
If it weighs more than that, we'll need a different machine. | 0:09:28 | 0:09:32 | |
It's tricky to get a grip. | 0:09:40 | 0:09:42 | |
But when he does, there's a problem. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:45 | |
Mike's machine must admit defeat. | 0:09:45 | 0:09:48 | |
-Too heavy? -Too heavy. Yeah. | 0:09:48 | 0:09:51 | |
There's about three tonne there. | 0:09:53 | 0:09:55 | |
It's amazing, isn't it, what you think it is. | 0:09:55 | 0:09:57 | |
And that's the hollow one! | 0:09:57 | 0:09:59 | |
We're going to have to go to Plan B now. It was too big for the JCB. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:02 | |
We'll get a telly handler in now | 0:10:02 | 0:10:04 | |
and hopefully we don't have to go to Plan C. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:07 | |
This is the telehandler. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:14 | |
When it comes to heavy loads, it's a real monster. | 0:10:14 | 0:10:19 | |
Capable of lifting up to three tonnes. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:22 | |
But even the telehandler can't handle it. | 0:10:29 | 0:10:33 | |
So now the two machines are going to have a go together. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:36 | |
Come to keep an eye on his heavy metal | 0:10:44 | 0:10:46 | |
is plant hire supremo, John Miles. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:49 | |
And even the grounds and gardens manager is here, Tommy Parker. | 0:10:51 | 0:10:55 | |
But despite their combined efforts | 0:10:55 | 0:10:57 | |
and the fact that half the estate now seems to be involved, | 0:10:57 | 0:11:01 | |
the logs still aren't shifting. | 0:11:01 | 0:11:04 | |
Meanwhile back in Monkey Jungle, | 0:11:04 | 0:11:06 | |
the little delinquents are getting restless. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:09 | |
Bored with the cars, they've started on the buffalo. | 0:11:09 | 0:11:13 | |
Never easy, though. Plan C. | 0:11:13 | 0:11:16 | |
When we get to 26 in the alphabet, we're in trouble. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:22 | |
If the trunk's just too heavy, | 0:11:29 | 0:11:31 | |
the only thing to do is to chop a chunk off. | 0:11:31 | 0:11:33 | |
It's a bit of a disappointment that we're gonna lose a bit of the tree. | 0:11:33 | 0:11:37 | |
But we've still got another ten foot of it. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
It's funny, you look at a tree, you think, "I'll just pick it up, | 0:11:45 | 0:11:48 | |
"shove it in the Monkey Jungle, the monkeys will be happy." | 0:11:48 | 0:11:51 | |
It turns out it weighs 3.5 tonne. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:54 | |
Or it did. Now it's a little lighter. | 0:11:54 | 0:11:57 | |
So, much to Ian's relief, the truncated trunk can finally be lifted onto the lorry. | 0:12:00 | 0:12:05 | |
The hardest part, we thought, was gonna be the drilling the holes | 0:12:05 | 0:12:09 | |
so I'm hoping that's gonna be the easy part. | 0:12:09 | 0:12:12 | |
Right, we're 50% done. That's one on the lorry. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:15 | |
They'll finish off this one. I'll go and unload this one. | 0:12:15 | 0:12:18 | |
Then we'll come back for that one. | 0:12:18 | 0:12:19 | |
If Ian reckons his troubles are over, he could be in for a surprise. | 0:12:19 | 0:12:24 | |
We'll be back later to see if | 0:12:24 | 0:12:26 | |
the monkeys ever do get their fantastic new climbing frame cafe. | 0:12:26 | 0:12:30 | |
I'm out in the East Africa Reserve with head of section Andy Hayton, | 0:12:38 | 0:12:42 | |
who's come up with a rather interesting plan. | 0:12:42 | 0:12:45 | |
Andy, what are we up to today? | 0:12:45 | 0:12:47 | |
This is a bit of environment enrichment | 0:12:47 | 0:12:49 | |
that we've been playing around with. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:51 | |
We're gonna rig up a camera for you to see a giraffe's tongue. | 0:12:51 | 0:12:55 | |
How long it is and how it actually works. | 0:12:55 | 0:12:58 | |
That's what this unusual contraption is. Talk me through this. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:03 | |
All it is, obviously, is a water bottle. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:05 | |
We've drilled some holes in, put the food in the bottom | 0:13:05 | 0:13:08 | |
and the giraffe will stick its tongue in there. | 0:13:08 | 0:13:11 | |
So the tongue will be able to get...? | 0:13:11 | 0:13:13 | |
I can't even get my hand in there. | 0:13:13 | 0:13:15 | |
Absolutely. Their tongue is about 18 inches long. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:18 | |
-Wow! -And they'll use it | 0:13:18 | 0:13:20 | |
and they'll curl it around boughs and leaves to pull it off. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:25 | |
Pretty incredible. | 0:13:25 | 0:13:26 | |
-Where are we gonna put this? -We'll put it away up there. | 0:13:26 | 0:13:29 | |
Knowing your giraffes, I've brought my own little treat | 0:13:29 | 0:13:32 | |
to add to your cocktail, which I know are irresistible. | 0:13:32 | 0:13:35 | |
Spoiling them. | 0:13:35 | 0:13:37 | |
I'll put a few bananas in. That's probably enough. | 0:13:37 | 0:13:41 | |
How are we going to get this up? | 0:13:41 | 0:13:43 | |
I'll jump off the truck. | 0:13:43 | 0:13:44 | |
-I'll lower this hook down with this winch. -Right. | 0:13:44 | 0:13:48 | |
Then I can raise it right back up for you. | 0:13:48 | 0:13:50 | |
I'll wait here. I'll let you do the... | 0:13:50 | 0:13:52 | |
OK, so we're gonna put that on. Bev helping out there. | 0:13:52 | 0:13:56 | |
So how high are you going to take this water bottle now? | 0:13:56 | 0:13:59 | |
I'm not sure how tall this one is. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:02 | |
It must be about 12 foot off the ground. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:05 | |
It'll only be the bigger giraffe that can get this out, this bottle. | 0:14:05 | 0:14:10 | |
That must be high enough, surely. You're making it so hard for them. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:15 | |
We don't want to make life too easy. | 0:14:15 | 0:14:17 | |
That's really is only for the very tallest giraffes. | 0:14:17 | 0:14:21 | |
What we'll normally do is this will go inside the house | 0:14:21 | 0:14:25 | |
-at night to keep them occupied in the evenings. -Right. -And a camel... | 0:14:25 | 0:14:30 | |
The camels aren't going to reach it! | 0:14:30 | 0:14:32 | |
Absolutely not. Bev, do you wanna pull forward? | 0:14:32 | 0:14:34 | |
We're gonna move away a bit now and hopefully let the giraffes come in. | 0:14:34 | 0:14:38 | |
Are they quite sensitive about humans? | 0:14:38 | 0:14:40 | |
Not too bad. They're used to us. OK, Bev. Lovely. | 0:14:40 | 0:14:43 | |
They're used to us being around. | 0:14:43 | 0:14:45 | |
Hopefully we're actually going to see their tongues go in those holes | 0:14:45 | 0:14:49 | |
and hoik out various bits of carrot and... | 0:14:49 | 0:14:52 | |
Here we go. Look, look, here we go. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:54 | |
We've got a tongue going in. | 0:14:54 | 0:14:58 | |
-It was a piece of my banana that went in there. -Banana's winning. | 0:14:58 | 0:15:01 | |
That is fantastic. Their tongues, remind me how long they are? | 0:15:01 | 0:15:04 | |
About 18 inches long. They are huge. | 0:15:04 | 0:15:06 | |
They can actually grip with their tongues. | 0:15:06 | 0:15:09 | |
So they're using them almost like fingers? | 0:15:09 | 0:15:11 | |
Essentially, yes. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:14 | |
You'll also notice, if we get a good look at it, that the tongue's black, | 0:15:14 | 0:15:19 | |
so it avoids sunburn. | 0:15:19 | 0:15:20 | |
It spends so much time out of their mouth in hot African sun. | 0:15:20 | 0:15:25 | |
There you go, you can see it's like a bluey-black colour. | 0:15:25 | 0:15:27 | |
Isn't that amazing? There it goes. | 0:15:27 | 0:15:29 | |
-Is it sticky or almost like sandpaper, I imagine? -It's roughish. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:36 | |
A lot of saliva as well to help with digestion, | 0:15:36 | 0:15:39 | |
because the acacia that they'll eat in the wild are thorns, | 0:15:39 | 0:15:44 | |
probably three or four inches long. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:46 | |
They're able to get the tongues... Eat everything around it. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:50 | |
That's right, pull them off. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:52 | |
We give them hawthorn occasionally here, because that's got quite big spikes on. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:56 | |
That mimics the nearest you're gonna get to acacia. | 0:15:56 | 0:15:59 | |
They treat that with a lot of respect when they eat it. | 0:15:59 | 0:16:01 | |
-They eat that slowly. -That is incredible. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:04 | |
Did you think they'd go for it as well as they have? | 0:16:04 | 0:16:06 | |
I knew Imogen would. | 0:16:06 | 0:16:07 | |
Imogen is definitely led by her stomach more than her brain. | 0:16:07 | 0:16:12 | |
They're struggling for it. But that's the point. You don't want to make it easy. | 0:16:12 | 0:16:16 | |
That's the whole point. If we made life easy and put food out on a | 0:16:16 | 0:16:20 | |
plate for them and they never had to work to get it, they would be bored. | 0:16:20 | 0:16:24 | |
A bored animal is not a happy animal. | 0:16:24 | 0:16:26 | |
We have to keep them as motivated as we possibly can. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
Look at that. That is great. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
Andy, thank you very much for letting me help you out. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:36 | |
I think these giraffes are going to be occupied for quite some time. | 0:16:36 | 0:16:40 | |
Back up at the timber yard, Ian Turner and Ross Ellis | 0:16:44 | 0:16:47 | |
have finally managed to get their tree trunks moved. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:51 | |
But they've still got a lot to do | 0:16:51 | 0:16:53 | |
before the monkeys can get their mitts on them. | 0:16:53 | 0:16:57 | |
In the wild, Rhesus Macaque monkeys spend most of their days | 0:16:57 | 0:17:02 | |
foraging for fruit or hunting for bugs. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:05 | |
In order to make feeding more interesting here at Longleat, | 0:17:05 | 0:17:08 | |
the plan is to drill holes in the trunks and stuff their food inside. | 0:17:08 | 0:17:13 | |
Fishing it out should keep the monkeys busy for ages. | 0:17:13 | 0:17:17 | |
Right, Ross. What do you reckon? Is that deep enough? | 0:17:22 | 0:17:26 | |
She seems deep enough. | 0:17:26 | 0:17:28 | |
It's not the adults so much, it's the young ones. | 0:17:28 | 0:17:31 | |
We don't want it so deep that they can't get all the way in. | 0:17:31 | 0:17:35 | |
It's the young ones, really. The adults, it wouldn't matter so much. | 0:17:35 | 0:17:38 | |
-But the young ones. -That's about right. | 0:17:38 | 0:17:41 | |
Well, I can't feel the bottom. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:43 | |
-One down. -20-odd to go. | 0:17:43 | 0:17:47 | |
With so many holes to drill, | 0:17:49 | 0:17:51 | |
Ross and Ian are going to be here quite a while. | 0:17:51 | 0:17:55 | |
The next morning, everything's ready for the trunks to be put in place. | 0:18:03 | 0:18:08 | |
Ian's picked the spot. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:09 | |
The main reason why we're doing the holes here is we've done a lot of work on the other side. | 0:18:09 | 0:18:13 | |
We thought for a change we'd do something over this side. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:17 | |
We've done it in this position, so it's in the sun. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:19 | |
They've got plenty of sunshine. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:21 | |
We're doing it in two different places. | 0:18:21 | 0:18:23 | |
So it's not all in one place. | 0:18:23 | 0:18:25 | |
They've got a bit of interaction between the two logs. | 0:18:25 | 0:18:27 | |
I may even put a log on top of the two to do a bit in between. | 0:18:27 | 0:18:31 | |
It's going good, after yesterday's disaster. | 0:18:31 | 0:18:34 | |
Driving the digger is heavy metal supremo, John Miles. | 0:18:34 | 0:18:38 | |
He and Ian both have a good idea of how deep the hole should be. | 0:18:38 | 0:18:42 | |
Unfortunately, it's not the same idea. | 0:18:42 | 0:18:45 | |
How deep do you reckon that is? Four foot? | 0:18:45 | 0:18:47 | |
-It's twice as deep as halfway. -Yeah. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:52 | |
Trust me, I'm a digger driver. | 0:18:52 | 0:18:53 | |
That way, then that way. | 0:19:12 | 0:19:14 | |
So the trunk is finally upright, but Ian's still not happy. | 0:19:26 | 0:19:31 | |
What do you reckon? | 0:19:31 | 0:19:32 | |
In an ideal world, I'd like it a bit round that way. If possible. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:37 | |
-Just tweak it round that way? -Yeah, | 0:19:37 | 0:19:39 | |
so when the visitors come down, they can see this bit, | 0:19:39 | 0:19:42 | |
whereas here, there's quite a few of them dotted round there. | 0:19:42 | 0:19:46 | |
You just hold that side, Mike. | 0:19:46 | 0:19:48 | |
You push it that way and I'll pull it that way, yeah? | 0:19:48 | 0:19:51 | |
Just straighten up a bit. That's great. | 0:20:01 | 0:20:07 | |
I'm really pleased with how it's looking. | 0:20:07 | 0:20:10 | |
If we have the other one further down and maybe a big log in between, | 0:20:10 | 0:20:14 | |
it'll look really good. | 0:20:14 | 0:20:15 | |
Yes, this has worked out really well. Really pleased with it. | 0:20:15 | 0:20:19 | |
Ian may be delighted, | 0:20:19 | 0:20:20 | |
but it's up to the monkeys to pass the final verdict. | 0:20:20 | 0:20:24 | |
We'll be back in Monkey Jungle at feeding time | 0:20:24 | 0:20:27 | |
to see if they also think their new trunks are tree-mendous. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:33 | |
Earlier, I joined head of section Mark Tighe on Gorilla Island, | 0:20:37 | 0:20:41 | |
preparing a special treat for Nico. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:44 | |
So, Mark, it's hanging up, ready. So now's the big test time. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:48 | |
Is he gonna like it? Quite often, he comes bolting out of this door. | 0:20:48 | 0:20:52 | |
-Does he still do that? -Sometimes. Yeah. | 0:20:52 | 0:20:54 | |
Let's see how he behaves today. | 0:20:54 | 0:20:57 | |
-Here he is. -Ooh, here he is. | 0:20:57 | 0:20:59 | |
He's looking magnificent, Mark. | 0:20:59 | 0:21:02 | |
He's looking very healthy. | 0:21:02 | 0:21:04 | |
He had all of those health problems last year | 0:21:04 | 0:21:07 | |
and he did begin to look, well, really quite old-mannish. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:12 | |
But he's looking great. Look at him. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:14 | |
He is. He's in fantastic shape. He spotted that straight away. | 0:21:14 | 0:21:17 | |
He has spotted it straight away. | 0:21:17 | 0:21:19 | |
Not quite sure whether to go straight for it. | 0:21:19 | 0:21:22 | |
It's amazing, when you see him standing in that posture, | 0:21:22 | 0:21:25 | |
you see that classic bent-back forearms or the forward forearms | 0:21:25 | 0:21:30 | |
-and that power. -He has got immense power. | 0:21:30 | 0:21:34 | |
He's very strong. | 0:21:34 | 0:21:36 | |
Luckily for us, he's become quite... | 0:21:36 | 0:21:39 | |
-Look at that. -Chocolate! | 0:21:39 | 0:21:41 | |
He's gone straight... No, that looked like peanut butter to me. | 0:21:41 | 0:21:44 | |
I think he went for the peanut butter. | 0:21:44 | 0:21:46 | |
That's great. Oh, look at him. He looks so content. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:50 | |
That's brilliant. | 0:21:50 | 0:21:51 | |
That's quite good, cos that'll last quite a long time. | 0:21:51 | 0:21:54 | |
He'll spend a lot of time messing about with it. | 0:21:54 | 0:21:57 | |
Then he'll get bored, do something else and come back to it. | 0:21:57 | 0:22:00 | |
Then come back and play around with it. | 0:22:00 | 0:22:02 | |
-We know he's an old gorilla, he's mid 40s. -47. -47, wow! | 0:22:02 | 0:22:06 | |
He's always had quite a lot of grey hair. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:12 | |
-The grey hair isn't just age, is it? -No. | 0:22:12 | 0:22:15 | |
The majority of that is the silver, what's known as the silverback, | 0:22:15 | 0:22:19 | |
which is a mature adult male. | 0:22:19 | 0:22:21 | |
It's a sign of dominance. | 0:22:21 | 0:22:24 | |
Obviously, because there's no other males around, he's top dog. | 0:22:24 | 0:22:28 | |
He got the silverback. | 0:22:28 | 0:22:30 | |
But there is an awful lot, particularly if you notice his arms, | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
that is just old age grey hair. | 0:22:33 | 0:22:35 | |
-So the arms would normally be black? -A lot darker. | 0:22:35 | 0:22:40 | |
-They are incredibly powerful animals. -They're incredibly powerful, yeah. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:45 | |
Since Samba's gone, he's become much more relaxed. | 0:22:45 | 0:22:48 | |
Much more chilled out, much more of a gentleman. | 0:22:48 | 0:22:51 | |
Well, if that's a good thing | 0:22:51 | 0:22:54 | |
to come out of the departing of Samba, that's great. | 0:22:54 | 0:22:57 | |
He seems sort of content and happy | 0:22:57 | 0:23:01 | |
and, as you say, quite chilled out, quite relaxed with his lot. | 0:23:01 | 0:23:05 | |
He is. It's pleasing for us that's the way it's gone. | 0:23:05 | 0:23:09 | |
It could have been a lot worse. | 0:23:09 | 0:23:11 | |
He's taken to living on his own quite well. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:14 | |
We do our best to pamper him in every way we can. | 0:23:14 | 0:23:17 | |
Mark, thank you very much. Keep up the good work. | 0:23:17 | 0:23:22 | |
Keep him happy, cos he's very special. I know you think so too. | 0:23:22 | 0:23:26 | |
-He's still definitely going for the peanut butter over there. -Chocolate. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:30 | |
So, Nico went for his tasty treat, but will the monkeys go for theirs? | 0:23:30 | 0:23:36 | |
After 36 hours of hard work, Ian Turner and Ross Ellis's | 0:23:37 | 0:23:42 | |
new tree trunk climbing frame cafe is finally ready. | 0:23:42 | 0:23:46 | |
It's all finished now, all ready to try. | 0:23:46 | 0:23:50 | |
It's gonna take a little bit of a while to feed this morning, | 0:23:50 | 0:23:55 | |
but the longer we take, it means the more time the monkeys have to take to get it all out. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:59 | |
Normally, we just scatter this all over the floor. | 0:24:00 | 0:24:03 | |
A lot of it goes to birds. | 0:24:07 | 0:24:09 | |
Hopefully we'll cut that out a bit. | 0:24:09 | 0:24:12 | |
But they're very inquisitive. They're already looking. | 0:24:12 | 0:24:15 | |
As soon as we walk away, they'll be here. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:17 | |
In fact, they'll probably be here before we finish. | 0:24:17 | 0:24:21 | |
They're gonna wonder what it is. | 0:24:21 | 0:24:23 | |
As soon as we've gone, they'll be straight over here to check it out. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:26 | |
Hopefully, they will enjoy it. Finger crossed. | 0:24:26 | 0:24:29 | |
I'm looking forward to seeing it in action. | 0:24:32 | 0:24:35 | |
Obviously, we've put a lot of effort into this. | 0:24:35 | 0:24:38 | |
More than we thought we should have. | 0:24:38 | 0:24:40 | |
But it should keep them occupied for a little while at least. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:43 | |
Right, step back and see what happens. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:48 | |
I don't think they're gonna be very long. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:50 | |
No, they'll be there straight away. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:52 | |
Normally, it takes about five minutes to eat this. | 0:25:03 | 0:25:07 | |
Hopefully, with this new apparatus, it'll take a bit longer. | 0:25:07 | 0:25:10 | |
Normally that'd be finished. | 0:25:10 | 0:25:12 | |
He's sat there, perched on there, taking it a bit at a time. | 0:25:12 | 0:25:16 | |
Normally, when we do a scatter feed, | 0:25:16 | 0:25:18 | |
the buffalo will pinch a bit of the food. | 0:25:18 | 0:25:20 | |
This way, hopefully, the buffalo won't get so much. | 0:25:20 | 0:25:23 | |
The monkeys are just using them as springboards. | 0:25:23 | 0:25:27 | |
Once the food has gone, the young ones might use it as a play thing. | 0:25:31 | 0:25:36 | |
You might find this turns into the juvenile kids' corner. | 0:25:36 | 0:25:39 | |
They'll all hang around this side more. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:41 | |
So was all the effort worth it? | 0:25:41 | 0:25:43 | |
Considering how much effort it did take to get it all here | 0:25:43 | 0:25:48 | |
and get it working, I'm pleased. | 0:25:48 | 0:25:50 | |
Yeah. I'm more than pleased. Definitely. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:54 | |
Only time will tell if this is going to keep the monkeys | 0:25:54 | 0:25:57 | |
off the cars and curb their vandalistic tendencies. | 0:25:57 | 0:26:01 | |
But certainly monkey meal times will never be quite the same again. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:05 | |
They're up there with Romeo and Juliet, | 0:26:18 | 0:26:21 | |
or even Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler. | 0:26:21 | 0:26:23 | |
But unlike those star-crossed lovers, | 0:26:23 | 0:26:26 | |
Trevor and Honey are still living their happy-ever-after ending. | 0:26:26 | 0:26:31 | |
Because, after three years together, | 0:26:31 | 0:26:33 | |
it looks like she hasn't lost that loving feeling, | 0:26:33 | 0:26:36 | |
and, frankly, my dear, he DOES give a damn. | 0:26:36 | 0:26:39 | |
Kate and I are out in the East Africa Reserve | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
with head of section Andy Hayton and Honey, the ostrich. | 0:26:42 | 0:26:46 | |
-She's obviously sitting on a nest here, isn't she? -Yep. | 0:26:46 | 0:26:49 | |
How many eggs are under there? | 0:26:49 | 0:26:51 | |
-There's about 17-18 eggs under that at the last count. | 0:26:51 | 0:26:54 | |
Wow. That sounds like an amazing number. | 0:26:54 | 0:26:56 | |
We've done really well. It's all down to those two. | 0:26:56 | 0:27:00 | |
They're such dedicated parents. They're really good. | 0:27:00 | 0:27:03 | |
Just over here, Trevor has taken an even more active interest in us. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:08 | |
Is this something you want to be aware of? | 0:27:08 | 0:27:11 | |
We don't want to stress them out. | 0:27:11 | 0:27:12 | |
It's just that dedicated parent thing, Trev sees us over here, | 0:27:12 | 0:27:16 | |
she's vulnerable at the moment, laid there on the nest, | 0:27:17 | 0:27:19 | |
so Trev's here to protect her and his interests, which are his eggs. | 0:27:19 | 0:27:24 | |
It seems very strange that she's lying there with her head so flat. | 0:27:24 | 0:27:28 | |
You'd think she'd have her head up | 0:27:28 | 0:27:30 | |
and be looking around for potential predators. | 0:27:30 | 0:27:32 | |
That's an ostrich burying its head in the sand. | 0:27:32 | 0:27:35 | |
-That's where it came from. -Of course. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:37 | |
She makes a low profile. You see all the long grass. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:41 | |
I've cut some of the grass short. | 0:27:41 | 0:27:42 | |
But if she was in the longish grass | 0:27:42 | 0:27:44 | |
and she sits like that, nobody can see her. | 0:27:44 | 0:27:47 | |
So she's less vulnerable. | 0:27:47 | 0:27:49 | |
It does look like a pile of feathers. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:51 | |
A really good defence mechanism is stay still. | 0:27:51 | 0:27:53 | |
Thanks, Andy. I know you'll keep us to date with developments as they happen. | 0:27:53 | 0:27:58 | |
That's all we've got time for on today's programme. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:01 | |
Here's what it coming up on the next Animal Park. | 0:28:01 | 0:28:03 | |
Could the latest technology save the life of Winston, the OAP rhino? | 0:28:03 | 0:28:09 | |
We find out just how much food it takes to feed the 900 hungry mouths of the safari park. | 0:28:09 | 0:28:16 | |
And there's a whole lotta otter going down in pet's corner with some unexpected new arrivals. | 0:28:16 | 0:28:22 | |
So don't miss the next Animal Park. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:26 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:28:41 | 0:28:45 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:28:45 | 0:28:48 |