Episode 5 Animal Park


Episode 5

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Lions are one of the most magnificent

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and powerful animals here at Longleat.

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Today, in a unique experiment,

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we're going to be putting that power to the test.

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Join us for that later in the show.

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Coming up on today's Animal Park...

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they call them the king of beasts, but just how strong

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Of all the animals at Longleat,

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the most famous have got to be the lions.

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Thousands of people come to the park

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every year to see these iconic, not to mention powerful, beasts.

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Head of section Brian Kent and deputy head Bob Trollope

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have over 55 years experience between them

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of working with big cats

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and in that time,

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have been constantly reminded of their strength and power.

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The lions are incredible animals.

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They are immensely strong.

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But they're incredibly strong.

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In the wild, it's easy to see how lions have built up their reputation

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as the king of the beasts.

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They're formidable animals and being at the top of the food chain,

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nowhere is their power more evident than when they're hunting.

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But here at Longleat, the lions don't get the chance

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to harness their strength and hunt prey in quite the same way.

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So it's important the keepers think of ways to enrich their lives

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and challenge them as they would be in their natural habitat.

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In the past, we've always tried to put indestructible things in there

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for them but, you know, there's all sorts of toys that we've tried.

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They eventually find a way round it and break it, or lose it.

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So this time, they're giving them something serious to play with.

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on everything from aircraft tyres to military vehicles.

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The hi-tech equipment he uses

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shows just how much power these vehicles have.

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So he's adapted it to use on the lions.

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Theoretically,

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we can attach something on the end of this load cell

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which an animal would like to try and pull against.

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If the lions take the bait, Dr Brighton will be able

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to monitor just how powerful these creatures really are.

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But that relies on them co-operating.

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We've never worked with wild animals in this context ever before,

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but if you play with your cat in your living room,

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it enjoys playing with a piece of string.

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Presumably, the lion will be the same,

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although I'm no expert on lions.

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I'm looking forward to it cos you often wonder how powerful they are.

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So have they been well fed...

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or well starved?

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All depends. This'll be fresh meat for them.

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How old are they?

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You've got four small ones. They're coming up to about a year old.

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And then the two slightly bigger ones.

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They're about 18 months. OK. And then you've got Dad.

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So roughly how much would the various ages weigh, then?

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Well, I can imagine you're looking

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at about 100 pounds for these little ones in weight.

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Then with Dad, he could be anything up to

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500 pounds in weight. Is he? OK.

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So you're expecting him to develop a lot more pull than the others?

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I should imagine the little ones are going to be the inquisitive ones.

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OK. The more that they see us doing outside setting up,

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the more inquisitive they'll be.

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The more they'll want to come over and have a play. OK. Hopefully.

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If it works all right in this pride,

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And it's up to you guys which one you think

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is most appropriate, really, for the lions.

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If you break down, we can always tow you out.

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What do you reckon, Bri?

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I reckon the longer one, to be honest, don't you?

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The idea is that the lions will pull on the ropes

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so Dr Brighton can monitor their strength.

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If Kabir comes up, you know, the big male in there,

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then he would grab that,

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no problems. OK. So we'll go for the long rope

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that's the large diameter and then their jaws can get

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a good purchase on it, so that they can create a lot of force.

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While he sets up, Bob and Brian give the pullometer a trial run.

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We won't break it, will we? OK. Go for it, guys.

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So as they pull on the rope, you can see the indicator coming up here

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and you can also see the display here.

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Now we're just relying on the lions biting it.

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Do you think they'll go for it? I think so.

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People have been handling this rope so they've got a scent on there.

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I see and they'll go for that?

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Yeah. I should imagine so. Oh, splendid.

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With everything ready to do, Brian and Dr Brighton

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move the pullometer into position and Bob releases the lions.

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But will they be willing participants

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and will the technology survive against full-on lion power?

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The nine Bactrian camels at Longleat are a particularly special herd,

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because in the wild, they're critically endangered.

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Originally from Mongolia,

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northern China and Kazakhstan, these tough animals are used to

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who has a rather hairy task for me.

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What are we up to today?

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Well, we're collecting camel fur which you'll find lying about

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on the ground here in the new area.

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It comes off of them in great big clumps

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and not only looks untidy, it can get caught up in the hooves

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of the smaller stock that we have up here.

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Loads of it. It's unbelievable.

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Can I get out in the absence of the camels?

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We're fine at the moment.

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So, basically, this here

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is what we're collecting and they shed all of this

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in the summer? Yes. Late spring, early summer,

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actually starts coming off. It takes about six or eight weeks

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and they look very untidy, very moth eaten.

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It comes off in great big clumps from the neck

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and sometimes we can actually help

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and assist for those that have got the attitude to let us help.

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I have this image that all your camels are totally bald.

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They are at the moment.

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There's just a little bit left on top of the humps now. Right.

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How long will it take for all their hair to start growing back again?

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Well, it starts growing back more or less immediately.

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It is a very slow process, but by the winter,

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they're going to have a full, thick coat again.

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And what sort of uses does this have?

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Actually, in the Gobi desert,

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where these camels would originally populate,

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the shepherds would use them as coats..

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Camelhair coats. Camelhair coats.

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Do you think anyone ever uses it locally?

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We have had a local person who we used to sell it to,

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we used to collect it and sell it to.

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They used to turn it into yarn and make jumpers.

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Something tells me it would be a very smelly jumper.

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It's going to need to be washed.

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Adrian, thank you very much.

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Join us later in the programme when we'll find out

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his hands full trying to give health checks to his Egyptian fruit bats.

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The bats are free to fly around their cave

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and are only ever handled during these health checks.

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It's for this reason that Darren's keen to use

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this opportunity for a second purpose.

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We've had an issue with identifying individual animals.

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There's so many bats over there and they all look the same.

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But with 24 bats in the colony, Darren wants to know which is which

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in case any of them have any special requirements.

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Today, he's conducting an experiment

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to find out the best way to tell them apart.

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The recognised way of marking bats, actually,

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is a bit like an ear tag.

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You put a band on their wing or through their wing.

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We don't really want to do that

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so we've tried various things like coloured markers on their feet

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which they just lick off and clean, so that's a complete failure.

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to use an aluminium split ring.

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There is a risk that the way the bats are designed,

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their feet and their toes go very straight.

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So these might, with a bit of help from the bats,

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just slide straight off.

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So we're hoping that's not going to happen,

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and if it does work, it's going to help us and the keepers

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say, "Red ring bat number one is the one that does such and such."

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As part of our data recording, it would be very helpful.

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Catching the bats to put the rings on is not an easy task.

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Egyptian fruit bats use both their eyesight and echo location

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to navigate, making them very tricky to catch.

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But keeper John Ovens believes he has just the tool.

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This is designed by, as you can probably tell, by us keepers.

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It's not the most technical piece of kit.

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It was just an old pole with, I think it was a pillowcase

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or something like that, but it does the job.

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It's a little bit of luck. You've got to be very quick.

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It is normally a bit of fun as well. Ready, John? When you're ready.

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No pressure. There's a whole gang up here.

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Have you got one? He's there. He's there.

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Well done.

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He used his bat abilities and he got away from it.

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Now he's got one. Fantastic.

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OK. So, here we are.

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Egyptian fruit bat. Beautiful animal.

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And what we're looking for is we're looking for any eye injuries.

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We're looking at teeth.

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They're very long, very strong teeth.

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And this is for puncturing the thick skin of the fruit that they eat.

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The other two things we're looking for -

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if John just gently holds the wings apart - we're looking for any tears.

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Having checked the bat is in good health,

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it's time to put on the tag.

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For the first one in the test, Darren is using a plastic ring.

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We've got to try and get a ring on that tiny little piece of foot.

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And what I do

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is I wrap it round the leg like that.

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And that's not pinching the skin. It's just turning round and round.

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This little fella is just about ready to go.

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And the best way to do it, just let him hold on to our fingers

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and away he goes.

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Up with his friends. So we'll record that. Red 36.

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Let's just catch another one.

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Now that's the easy way cos, obviously,

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they tire out a little bit. Hello, you.

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This says that this one

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has been wearing those teeth down for many years.

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Egyptian fruit bats can live for up to 20 years,

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but as most of these bats were not born here at Longleat, the only way

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of telling how old they are is by this method of observation.

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On this chap, we're going to put a split aluminium ring.

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So this is purple split aluminium 49. OK. You're in good nick, mate.

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I reckon that's the king bat we caught there.

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We'll just gently hold its feet. We'll release him.

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And away he goes. There we go.

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He's tired out cos he's puffed back and forward, but again,

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what we're trying to do is trying to get this done as quickly

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One metal and one plastic.

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That's orange on the right leg and that's

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a split aluminium ring on the left.

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Well done. Thank you very much.

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That actually went really successful. The guys were brilliant.

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We caught them as quickly as we possibly could

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and you can hear they've all settled down.

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They're just waiting for the bananas and start eating,

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so 48 hours, they'll be monitoring and if the rings are still on,

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then we've got the task of catching

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everybody up and giving them all different-coloured rings

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and then we've got every single bat in here identified.

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But will Darren's trial really work?

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We'll be back later to find out.

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The East Africa reserve is a great place to see

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If you were looking for herd animals in Africa, a good place to start

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is around a water hole like this one.

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It was while on a trip to Kenya that head of section Andy Hayton

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had the idea of bringing an extra slice of Africa to the West Country

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by building a water hole of his very own.

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Facing typical British weather, construction commenced.

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And it wasn't entirely straightforward.

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But the water hole did finally get completed.

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And now, with the sun shining, Kate has gone up to meet Andy

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and hopefully get a look at his animals.

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We've turned all their water drinkers off now and they actually use this

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as their watering hole, as we envisaged it would be.

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And this is about as natural

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an environment as you could give them, presumably. It's fantastic.

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Some lucky visitors, they don't spend all their time here,

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but some visitors are going to get a good show when the giraffe come up.

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The giraffe come up around midday. And you get giraffe here drinking.

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You get zebra in the background.

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It's just working exactly how

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we wanted it to work and it's such a good show when they're all here.

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Absolutely. And, I mean,

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that is the great draw of water holes in the wild.

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It is one of the great places to see wild animals. Absolutely.

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I mean, all the real classic lodges in Africa are by a water hole

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because that's where all the animals must come cos they've got to drink.

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That is just a fantastic sight.

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Absolutely wonderful. They've now abandoned the water hole.

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I wonder whether there is that instinct, cos of course,

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watering holes are great for predators.

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Everybody gravitates to them because the predators know

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that the other animals are going to come there.

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They were quite nervous when we first started using it.

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They were, "Is there a lion hiding behind that tree?" Yeah. Absolutely.

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It was good and it just looks so nice when you have giraffe here.

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Yes. Thanks, guys. It really makes it feel like

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a little slice of East Africa, doesn't it?

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It's nice. It really is good.

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Like I say, some lucky visitors are going to get

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a really really good photo of...

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It could be East Africa.

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Yeah. If they're really lucky.

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Absolutely. Well, congratulations, cos I know it's been a hard slog

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Ever wondered how powerful a lion is?

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Well, keepers Bob and Brian always have. And today,

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for the first time ever on Animal Park,

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they and you are about to find out.

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Top engineer Dr James Brighton has brought the latest technology to

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measure just how strong Longleat's famous lions truly are.

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Attached to a sensor at the back of this vehicle, is a length of rope

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Every time the rope is tugged, the strength of the pull will

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be recorded on a computer, rigged inside the vehicle.

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Bob watches the action from a second vehicle.

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OK, Adam, if you go and let them out and then drive straight out the way.

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The only question, is whether the lions are in a playful mood.

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They're going to try and tie us up with it.

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It looks that way.

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Ah, now we've got some competition happening.

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They're actually pulling against each other.

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You've got two youngsters right on the end.

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And you've got Malika halfway along...

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pulling it sideways and all she's doing is tugging them along.

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That shows you the power.

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There's three of them on there now.

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It's a tug of war, as such. If that was a carcass,

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then the stronger one would get the bigger bit

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and then the little ones would have to be happy with what was left over.

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But this little one is showing more strength than

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Bob and Brian imagined.

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Go on, then. Go on. Heave.

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That's Malika, again.

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She's really digging in.

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She's giving it her all. You know, she's not the biggest of lions,

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even in this pride...

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Almost like taking your lions for a walk, isn't it?

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Malika's been the most determined out of all of them.

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You know, she's hardly been away from it.

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That would show us that she's a potential leader.

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They're enjoying it, especially the youngsters.

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It's a learning curve for them, so it's

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nice to actually see them trying to work something out.

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They're squabbling over it.

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See, there's competition.

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It's healthy within the pride.

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Neither one of them is going to give up, straightaway.

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There's the highest reading so far,

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with the two really intent on not letting that rope go.

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We've just got up to nearly two there.

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Who knows one thing, though,

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Kabir doesn't take the blindest bit of notice of it.

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So whether he will participate, it will be nice to see.

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But moving into Charlie's pride is easier said than done,

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as the cubs just won't let go of the rope.

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They really don't want to let that go, do they?

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The more I go forward the more I'm going to drag them along.

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She still wants that rope.

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Go on.

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The cubs did well, but Brian's keen to move the test to the next level.

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I think if we move into the next section,

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This is a fantastic new addition to Pets Corner.

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I'm here with keeper Jo Hawthorne

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and this beautiful, beautiful snake.

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What is it, Jo?

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It's a corn snake.

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I'm amazed. I thought corn snakes

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are usually smaller than this.

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They're really colourful

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and they start off like little coloured pencils,

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but he's nine now and although they stay very long and thin,

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they can go up to five or six foot long. He's incredible.

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He's beautiful. And the colours are stunning, aren't they? They are.

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Absolutely stunning. Yep.

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He's a he, as you say. He is.

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Has he got a name? Yeah. MC.

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Which is short for something.

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OK. Come on. What is it? Mischievous corn snake.

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He's always trying to escape.

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Really? So, you know, we'll lock him away.

0:26:230:26:42

Get out of everything. Yeah.

0:26:420:26:44

I mean, he's incredibly strong, just holding him.

0:26:440:26:48

He's a constrictor like the pythons that you've got. Right.

0:26:480:26:51

He is, so he's really strong.

0:26:510:26:53

He's mostly muscle. Yeah.

0:26:530:26:55

You can feel round your arm now. Yeah.

0:26:550:26:57

Although you're the tree, they really do catch on. Yeah.

0:26:570:27:00

He's absolutely gorgeous but to humans,

0:27:000:27:02

presumably, no danger at all?

0:27:020:27:05

They're not normally out in daytime.

0:27:050:27:07

They come out at night, anyway. If you were walking along

0:27:070:27:10

where these hung out, they'll get out of your way.

0:27:100:27:12

They're a very secretive kind of snake.

0:27:120:27:15

They're not harmful in any way to us.

0:27:150:27:17

He's absolutely gorgeous, even if you are mischievous.

0:27:170:27:21

Well, Jo, thank you very much for introducing me.

0:27:210:27:24

Will you stick around long enough to tell us

0:27:240:27:26

what's on the rest of the programme?

0:27:260:27:29

We've seen how tough the young lions are,

0:27:310:27:33

but what happens when the hardest lion of them all goes on the pull?

0:27:330:27:52

It's been a little while now since three of them were tagged

0:27:520:27:55

with plastic and metal ankle rings in an attempt to tell them apart.

0:27:550:27:59

And it hasn't taken them long to find out the answer.

0:27:590:28:02

We found the plastic rings a couple of hours after.

0:28:040:28:07

We came up to close up in the evening and they were down

0:28:070:28:10

on the floor exactly next to each other,

0:28:100:28:12

so they'd been roosting up throughout the day.

0:28:120:28:15

They must have come off quickly.

0:28:150:28:17

Head of Pets Corner, Darren, has come to get the news.

0:28:170:28:22

What happens, I think...

0:28:220:28:24

John, can I just use your finger?

0:28:240:28:26

There's John's back leg. This has gone round the finger.

0:28:260:28:30

They play with them in their mouth and draw them off that way,

0:28:300:28:33

so they've come off over the toes.

0:28:330:28:36

Thanks, John. So, in fact, the aluminium rings that we haven't found

0:28:360:28:40

on the floor, that we're now trying to see that are still on the bat,

0:28:400:28:44

obviously are not pliable enough.

0:28:440:29:02

We can have 30 different colours.

0:29:020:29:04

Then we'll have a ringing campaign

0:29:040:29:06

and we'll grab every single bat.

0:29:060:29:08

We'll ring every one with a different colour.

0:29:080:29:10

It's going to make life so much easier knowing that

0:29:100:29:13

red, green left leg bat is eating all the banana,

0:29:130:29:16

whereas blue ring right leg bat

0:29:160:29:19

is actually a bit of a kiwi fruit fan and that sort of thing.

0:29:190:29:23

And also, activities are a dominant bat and stuff,

0:29:230:29:26

so having these markings, having these rings on them,

0:29:260:29:29

will help us with our study and our information

0:29:290:29:32

and the more information we have,

0:29:320:29:34

the better we can make it for them.

0:29:340:29:37

So, with one bat successfully tagged, there's just the small

0:29:370:29:41

matter of catching the other 23.

0:29:410:29:45

While Darren and his team get to work,

0:29:450:29:48

Ben has arrived on the other side of Pets Corner.

0:29:480:29:51

Earlier on, I collected a whole bag of this fur

0:29:510:29:54

from the camels up in the new area.

0:29:540:30:13

One is, hopefully,

0:30:130:30:16

they might make little trinket mounds out of the camel hair.

0:30:160:30:19

What is a trinket mound?

0:30:190:30:21

It's what degus do to show their dominance in the group

0:30:210:30:24

and it's a pile of twigs, leaves, wood chippings.

0:30:240:30:27

They put in a big pile and they sit on top chirping

0:30:270:30:30

to show that they're the most dominant male in the group.

0:30:300:30:33

So is it almost a kind of, "look at my mound"?

0:30:330:30:36

And a trinket mound cos of the things they put in it. Yeah.

0:30:360:30:39

Any object they can find.

0:30:390:30:41

So, why don't we put some down. OK.

0:30:410:30:43

You never know, they might use it.

0:30:430:30:45

So, literally, are we just going to sprinkle this

0:30:450:30:47

down on the ground?

0:30:470:30:49

Would a degu ever come across camel hair in the wild? No, probably not.

0:30:490:30:54

Maybe different kinds of hair, but any object they

0:30:540:30:57

would find in the wild, they would use as part of their trinket mound.

0:30:570:31:01

They're from South America?

0:31:010:31:02

South America, up in the mountains.

0:31:020:31:04

That's why we've got the rocks.

0:31:040:31:23

They're very vocal animals.

0:31:230:31:25

Judging by this one they love it up there.

0:31:250:31:27

They do. Usually, you'll see them climbing around on the logs.

0:31:270:31:32

They do like it, to be up high.

0:31:320:31:33

They've got large ears.

0:31:330:31:35

They've got good sense of hearing.

0:31:350:31:37

They sort of wag their tale when they know danger's coming.

0:31:370:31:41

Will they go to the top of this mound when they build it?

0:31:410:31:44

like they summated Mount Everest and go "I'm the best degu".

0:31:440:31:47

Usually, when they do their mounds in there,

0:31:470:31:50

they sit on top of their mounds and they make it

0:31:500:31:52

very vocal about it, to say "this is my mound, look at my mound".

0:31:520:31:56

But there's no females to attract? No.

0:31:560:31:59

But in the wild, this is something they would do to show that

0:31:590:32:02

"I'm the best male for breeding."

0:32:020:32:04

And then another male might knock their mound down,

0:32:040:32:07

so it's interesting to see them do it.

0:32:070:32:09

And important for their hierarchy.

0:32:090:32:11

It is very important, so they do it quite often.

0:32:110:32:13

You never know when they're going to do it.

0:32:130:32:35

Back in lion country Bob, Brian and Doctor Brighton

0:32:360:32:40

are heading into Charlie's pride, dragging the pullometer behind them.

0:32:400:32:44

Earlier, in Kabir's pride, it was the young female Malika

0:32:440:32:48

who emerged as the strongest,

0:32:480:32:50

while the big male Kabir took little interest.

0:32:500:32:53

But how will the older, bigger

0:32:530:32:55

and more streetwise lions in Charlie's pride, react?

0:32:550:32:59

Come on.

0:32:590:33:01

Brian, if you drove in there and head towards the scratching post.

0:33:010:33:06

All right.

0:33:060:33:07

These are bigger lions, a bit wiser than the cubs, obviously.

0:33:120:33:17

You've got the same principle.

0:33:190:33:20

You've got the one on the end killing it.

0:33:200:33:23

And these others are playing with it.

0:33:230:33:26

So we're up to over two already, which basically just

0:33:260:33:45

There he is. It's Charlie on it, now.

0:33:450:33:47

He's pulling. Watch the Land Rover rocking.

0:33:470:33:51

You can see all the muscle tone.

0:33:510:33:54

The muscle's actually working, how much effort he's putting into it.

0:33:540:33:58

That is a fit and healthy lion.

0:33:580:34:00

I imagine we'd be getting a good reading from that.

0:34:000:34:03

So now we're up to about two and a half, nearly three.

0:34:030:34:06

You can feel the whole truck moving. Yes.

0:34:060:34:09

You can see now that he's got

0:34:090:34:11

his claws dug into the rope and he's biting it at the same time.

0:34:110:34:14

You imagine if that was an animal's hide...

0:34:140:34:17

how they would use their claws to cling on to it

0:34:170:34:20

and hold the animal while they were biting it,

0:34:200:34:22

to try and kill it.

0:34:220:34:24

So, clearly, Charlie here has achieved a much higher

0:34:240:34:27

pull than any of the other lions.

0:34:270:34:29

Primarily, because of his added mass. Yeah.

0:34:290:34:32

And when he tries to accelerate that mass backwards and tug on

0:34:320:34:35

the rope, then we're seeing much much larger pulls and I'm afraid

0:34:350:34:55

himself to a piece of the vehicle.

0:34:550:34:57

Get off.

0:34:590:35:01

Oh, dear.

0:35:090:35:11

Look what you've done, Bob. Oh, dear.

0:35:110:35:14

It looks he was as interested in yours as well as our rope.

0:35:140:35:18

Shall we go and have a look at the rope

0:35:180:35:20

and see what the results were like?

0:35:200:35:22

So the maximum pull that he achieved when he really gave it some

0:35:240:35:28

was about three kilonewtons.

0:35:280:35:30

Now that's approximately equivalent

0:35:300:35:32

to about 305 kilograms, which is over 600 pounds.

0:35:320:35:36

So, it's a huge pull...

0:35:360:35:38

on the end of that rope.

0:35:380:35:40

Three kilonewtons sounds a lot and it is. It's equivalent

0:35:400:35:44

to the strength you'd need to lift two massive fridge freezers.

0:35:440:36:07

And to top it all, he's also had a bit of tyre, as well.

0:36:070:36:10

You don't always see him using his full strength, do we?

0:36:100:36:14

He's in there with girls. He ain't got to do anything...

0:36:140:36:17

so this'll give him something to do.

0:36:170:36:20

You can get a good feel of how fit he is, effectively. Yeah.

0:36:200:36:23

Fascinating. It's been a fascinating day, looking at how the

0:36:250:36:28

different animals have reacted and the results we've got

0:36:280:36:31

have been interesting also for the keepers,

0:36:310:36:34

so it's been a glorious day.

0:36:340:36:36

I'm out in monkey jungle

0:36:560:36:57

So you've come up with a great plan for the Rhesus macaques, here.

0:37:140:37:19

Tell us about it. This is just enrichment for them.

0:37:190:37:22

OK. So I've frozen some fruit and water and put them on some popsicles.

0:37:220:37:26

OK. And do you think that they will react like excited children?

0:37:260:37:30

I expect they will, cos there's quite sweet fruit in them.

0:37:300:37:34

And anything new, they're very interested in stuff.

0:37:340:37:37

We've got a lovely sort of group here.

0:37:370:37:41

Males, females, what are we looking at?

0:37:410:37:43

There's a mixture of all of them there.

0:37:430:37:45

You've got some mums with babies, as well as a few males.

0:37:450:37:48

You do a fruit one and I'll do peanut butter

0:37:480:37:51

and banana and see which ones they go for.

0:37:510:37:53

Ready. One two three. Go.

0:37:530:37:56

Oh, now, let's see how they react.

0:37:560:37:59

This one's grabbed both of them.

0:37:590:38:01

They're very greedy. Here you are, guys.

0:38:010:38:04

This is really interesting, the whole group coming in.

0:38:040:38:27

It's bringing different textures into them, so it brings in

0:38:270:38:30

different behaviours for them.

0:38:300:38:32

Stimulates their brain.

0:38:320:38:34

And obviously, these are on little sticks.

0:38:340:38:37

This won't hurt the monkeys. They'll leave these on the grass?

0:38:370:38:40

Yeah, and we'll pick them up.

0:38:400:38:42

OK. Here we are. I think your experiment is working well.

0:38:420:38:47

They're looking very happy. Here we are.

0:38:470:38:50

There you go. Try that one.

0:38:500:38:52

It's lovely to see. Monkeys are pretty closely related to us.

0:38:520:39:00

Yeah. Do you see, is there anything particular in their behaviour that

0:39:000:39:04

makes you think that's a pretty close cousin?

0:39:040:39:06

The facial expressions. They've got so many.

0:39:060:39:09

You can tell what mood they're in.

0:39:090:39:12

They're that expressive? Yeah. Yeah.

0:39:120:39:14

Well, I think they are loving

0:39:140:39:16

this experiment and I'm not sure they're that discerning, though.

0:39:160:39:36

Bob's vehicle took a bit of a bashing earlier,

0:39:360:39:38

when Charlie took a chunk out of it.

0:39:380:39:41

Get off.

0:39:420:39:44

But it's not just the lions who've been chewing the cars.

0:39:440:39:48

Earlier in the series, we met these

0:39:480:39:50

three new wild young tigers, who came to live at Longleat.

0:39:500:39:54

Svetli, Shouri and Soundari.

0:39:540:39:57

Oh, my God.

0:40:010:40:02

Soundari's a bit of a troublemaker

0:40:020:40:05

and has not only been going for cars, but buses, as well.

0:40:050:40:09

So, slightly nervously, Kate and I have joined Bob

0:40:090:40:13

for a drive in tiger territory.

0:40:130:40:15

Bob, they're looking fantastic out in the sunlight. Yes.

0:40:150:40:19

They look brilliant here. And, Bob, you're still learning

0:40:190:40:22

about their traits when they're out like this,

0:40:220:40:25

cos you've had some problems with them attacking cars.

0:40:250:40:47

It would be advisable to shut yours. OK.

0:40:470:40:49

Cos I'm quite slow with this window.

0:40:490:40:52

So what does she make of cars?

0:40:520:40:54

I think they are prey to her.

0:40:540:40:57

You know, this is something moving and it's quite often

0:40:570:41:01

the moving that gets a reaction.

0:41:010:41:04

She does actually chase parked cars.

0:41:040:41:07

She's magnificent.

0:41:090:41:11

It's wonderful to watch her kind of gait.

0:41:110:41:13

Isn't it? Yeah. She has enormous paws, enormous paws.

0:41:130:41:17

You just see there's such strength there.

0:41:170:41:20

It's like there's this pent up energy.

0:41:200:41:23

She looks like quite a relaxed cat and you know that in one moment

0:41:230:41:27

she could completely change.

0:41:270:41:29

And she's still got growing to do.

0:41:290:41:31

She's not fully grown?

0:41:310:41:32

She's not fully grown yet. She's only two years old.

0:41:320:41:36

Here she comes, running alongside.

0:41:360:41:56

Well, they've had to rethink, the local squirrels pheasants.

0:41:570:42:02

Oh, really?

0:42:020:42:03

I'm sure they just got so used to...

0:42:030:42:05

Ambling past and now Soundari,

0:42:050:42:08

she chases after them, lightening speed. Really?

0:42:080:42:11

She doesn't stop at the base of the tree,

0:42:110:42:13

she goes up the tree with them. There's no escape.

0:42:130:42:16

So the squirrels and pheasants are all packing their bags?

0:42:160:42:19

They are. Yes.

0:42:190:42:21

It's great to see that they're doing well out here.

0:42:210:42:24

I hope that they don't attack too many more cars.

0:42:240:42:28

We will be keeping you updated with the new tiger's progress.

0:42:280:42:31

That's the end of today's programme, but here's what's

0:42:310:42:35

coming up on the next Animal Park.

0:42:350:42:37

There's pillage and mayhem when otters get a garden makeover.

0:42:390:42:43

Lord Bath sets a course for disaster.

0:42:430:43:08

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0:43:200:43:24

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