Episode 4 Animal Park

Lions are one of the most magnificent

and powerful animals here at Longleat.

Today, in a unique experiment,

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

Join us for that, later in the show.

Coming up on today's Animal Park:

They call them the King of the Beasts,

but just how strong are these majestic animals?

We put the lions to the test.

All the keepers are on tenterhooks, as Jessie the tapir is expecting.

And the new vet faces a major problem...

he can't find his patients!

If they've decided they don't want to be seen, then it can be quite difficult to find them.

Of all the animals at Longleat, the most famous have got to be lions.

Thousands of people come to the park

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

Head of section, Brian Kent,

and deputy head, Bob Trollop, have over 55 years of experience between them

of working with big cats, and in that time

have been constantly reminded of their strength and power.

THEY SNARL AND ROAR

The lions are incredible animals.

They are immensely strong.

It always amazes me what power there is there.

When you feed them big chunks of meat,

they'll pull it apart as if it's not there. It's like tearing paper!

You're looking at, let's say someone like Charlie who must be

in the region of 500 pounds in weight,

all the way down to the youngsters...

100, 150 pounds in weight.

But they're incredibly strong!

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

as kings of the jungle.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They eventually find a way around it and break it or lose it.

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

They've brought on board Dr James Brighton from Cranfield University,

one of the country's top engineers.

He carries out safety and performance tests on everything

from aircraft tyres to military vehicles.

The hi-tech equipment he uses shows just how much

power these vehicles have, so he's adapted it to use on the lions.

Theoretically, we attach something on the end of this load cell

which an animal would like to try and pull against.

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

just how powerful these creatures really are,

but that relies on them cooperating.

We've never worked with wild animals

in this context ever before, but if you play with your cat in your house,

it certainly enjoys playing with a piece of string. Presumably,

the lion will be the same, although I'm no expert on lions!

I'm really looking forward to it.

You often wonder, how powerful are they?

Well, Bob doesn't have to wait any longer.

After weeks of preparation, today's the day to put

the lions to the test, but first, Dr Brighton's got to meet them.

So have they been well-fed...

or well-starved? THEY ALL LAUGH

It all depends! This will be fresh meat for them!

Roughly how old are they?

We've got four small ones,

that are coming up to a year old, then the two slightly bigger ones,

they're 18 months...

and then you've got Dad.

So how much would the various ages weigh, though?

Well, I imagine you're looking at

about 100 pounds for these little ones in weight, and then with Dad,

-he can be anything up to about 500 pounds in weight.

-Is he? OK.

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

If he does...

I'd imagine that the little ones are gonna be the inquisitive ones.

The more they see us doing outside

setting up, the more inquisitive...

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

-Hopefully!

If it works all right in this pride, we can go to our other pride and see who's strongest.

Certainly, yeah! Tug of war between the prides, almost!

With the lions safely in their house,

Dr Brighton explains his kit to Bob and Brian.

-So, first and foremost, we've got a selection of ropes.

-Yep.

And it's up to you guys which one

you think is most appropriate for the lions.

Well, if you break down, we can always tow you home, can't we!

What do you reckon, Brian?

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

The idea is that the lions will pull on the ropes, so Dr Brighton

can monitor their strength.

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

then he would grab that, no problems.

OK. So we'll go for the long rope

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

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

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

We won't break it, will we?

OK. Go for it, guys! So as they pull the rope, you can see the indicator

coming up here, and you can also see the display here, so as they pull

on the rope and act like lions, you can see

this is the force that they're exerting,

and you can feel the vehicle moving back and forth, so they're obviously quite strong.

Having worked with the lions for so long, Bob and Brian are no pushover.

But we'll see later on how their strength compares to the lions.

We're relying on the lions biting it.

-D'you think they'll go for it?

-I think they will.

People have handled this rope,

so they've got a scent on there already.

-I see! They'll go for that?

-I should imagine so!

-Oh, splendid.

The idea is that

the lions pull on the rope, so Dr Brighton can monitor their strength.

With everything ready to go, Brian and Dr Brighton move

the pullometer into position, and Bob releases the lions.

But will they be willing participants,

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

I'm at Pets Corner with keeper Alexa Fairburn, and of course, these

very wriggly ferrets. There was a problem with them earlier

with some of them being a bit underweight?

A few of them did lose a bit of weight.

They are slowly gaining it, but we've got a few more ideas,

so we're gonna have another go at one.

OK. So what are you gonna do for them today? Let's put you down.

Basically, a ferret milkshake-y type thing that we're gonna try for them,

so we've got some nice tuna here.

-What, tuna to go in a milkshake?

-Yeah!

-Nice!

-And designed for ferrets.

Shall I bring up any of this other stuff?

-Yeah, yeah, bring it all up.

-OK.

We've got cream, peanut butter...

Crikey, this is high cal, Alexa!

I mean, it doesn't seem, on the face of it, fantastically healthy.

Is this a good recipe for them?

It's good for them as an occasional treat.

It can't be given every day, it's not a suitable diet.

Our ferrets here, they get fed biscuits throughout the day,

specially designed for ferrets.

This is a lovely treat for them.

It just gives them a little bit of go in them.

So how do we go about mixing this?

Right. If we put some tuna in first.

Now, ferrets are not wild animals.

You would never find a ferret in the wild, is that right?

You shouldn't, no. You do get obviously some escapees.

They're very good at escaping.

Ferrets were bred down from polecats, so you get

naturally the European wild polecat, and then ferrets.

OK. So, what next?

-Try this.

-Some nice...

-Double cream.

-Double cream!

My goodness! I tell you! No wonder they're...

It is very fattening, so they can't have too much.

OK. So how much cream shall I pour in, do you think?

Let's have a go.

-Tell me when.

-Yeah. About that much. That should do nicely, yeah.

OK. And is this is a recipe that you've come up with, or...

It's the various different things we found that ferrets like over the years.

Lots of things aren't very good for them, we do try and minimise those,

but obviously, like the peanut butter here as well.

That's a big favourite of theirs, so a couple of spoonfuls.

-A couple of spoonfuls.

-It's a big favourite. It has to be smooth.

-They don't like the crunchy stuff?

-Yes, but it can cause blockages,

-so it has to be the smooth.

-And then milk as well?

Soya milk's a little bit better for them. Too much milk can cause

lactose intolerance, anything like that.

-So, soya milk is a better thing to use?

-Yes, it's more natural.

-There we go. That should do nicely.

-So is it now just a question of...

Oh, look at you armed with your whisk!

-Go on, girl, you go and whisk it.

-Oh, goodness! We can try it.

-That looks absolutely disgusting!

-It's a rather chunky milkshake.

It is a bit chunky, but if you look down here, look!

These ferrets are going completely mad.

I know this is very naughty, but this is what I used to do.

Who wants to lick the spoon?

Who wants to lick the spoon? Shall we see? Yummy!

-Oh, you're right! The peanut butter is going down a treat!

-It is a big favourite.

-There we go! It's all nicely whipped up.

-Scooped up, OK.

We've got a bowl here that Bill is residing in.

Come on, Bill! Out the way!

-And bring it all nicely...

-Tip it all into the bowl.

-Yeah, definitely!

So, where is the best place to put it

so we don't have a major fight on our hands?

We pop it down here in the straw. They'll come and find it.

OK. Here you are! Nice high fat treat for you! Stick it down there?

Yep. That's fine.

There we go. Who's in first?

-That's Sunny.

-Well, Alexa, I hope that this works, and the ferrets

all get back up to their fighting weight.

It's great to see them. They certainly look extremely happy,

and extremely healthy, so thank you. Enjoy it, boys.

I've sent Ben up to the giraffery in search of a treat for the otters.

That's the home of 48 guinea fowl.

The guinea hens produce so many eggs

that even though the keepers incubate some of them, there's always a lot left over,

which is great news for the otters as it's their favourite food.

Where are we gonna begin?

-We'll actually begin in that corner over there.

-After you.

Since the hens lay their eggs everywhere, finding them

is a little more challenging, as Ben discovers with keeper, Dan Grey.

So do they tend to lay in nettles and things like this?

I'm afraid so, anywhere well hidden.

So presumably just a little look with feet?

Three at the same time!

Presumably they lay their eggs anywhere,

-including in the tortoise enclosure here?

-Yeah, in the shelter is a possibility.

Presumably guinea fowl are pretty prolific out in Africa?

Yeah, yeah. They are. They actually keep them like we do

chickens over here, use their eggs for eating and stuff.

Dan, thank you very much. That's a nice collection of eggs there.

Now I know that Kate is down at Pets Corner, eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Ever wondered how powerful a lion is?

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

for the first time ever on Animal Park,

they, and you, are about to find out.

Top engineer, Dr James Brighton, has brought the latest technology

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

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

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

will be recorded on a computer, rigged inside the vehicle.

Bob watches the action from a second vehicle.

OK, Adam, if you can go and let them out

and then drive straight out of the way, please.

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

You were right.

-They look interested!

-They are very interested!

Oh, there we go, there we go!

-How many!

-We've got one on it at the moment.

One's got it firmly in his mouth.

He sort of spun it around a bit.

I think he's trying to detach it from the vehicle at the moment.

I think they're gonna try and tie us up with it!

It certainly looks that way!

Aah! Now we've got some competition happening!

They're actually pulling against each other.

As you can see, you have two youngsters right on the end,

and you've got Malaika halfway along pulling it sideways,

and then all she's doing is tugging them along,

so that shows you the sort of power.

There's three of them on there now, look!

It's a tug of war as such.

If that was a carcass, obviously the stronger one would get the bigger bit

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

But this little one is showing more strength

than Bob and Brian imagined.

Go on, then. Go on, heave.

Oh, that's Malaika again.

You know, she's really digging in. She's giving it her all.

You know, she's not the biggest of lions, even in this pride,

so it will be interesting to see what sort of reading she will get.

Now we're getting the true pull of one, there we go...

We've got about 1.5 kilomewtons.

Even though Malaika's only a cub, at just 18 months old,

she's near to matching Bob and Brian's combined effort.

It's almost like taking your lions for a walk, isn't it?

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

She's hardly been away from it.

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

I think they're really enjoying it, especially the youngsters.

It's a learning curve for them,

so it's nice to actually see them kind of work something out.

They're squabbling over it now.

There's competition.

It's healthy within the pride to have that competition

and neither one of them is gonna give up straightaway.

There you go! That's the highest reading so far

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

We've just got up to nearly 2 kilonewtons there.

Have you noticed one thing, though?

Kabir hasn't taken the blindest bit of notice of it!

He's just sat over there, quite happy, letting them test it,

which is quite typical of him, because he's quite a laid-back sort of male,

compared to the other ones.

It will be interesting to see, as well,

when we go into Charlie's pride, what sort of a role he will take,

because he's a bit more switched on...

he's a bit more streetwise as lions go, so whether he will participate,

you know, it would be nice to see.

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

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

They really don't wanna let that go, do they!

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

She still wants that rope!

HORN BEEPS

Go on!

Hey!

She's off!

The cubs did well, but Brian's keen to test the other, more powerful pride,

headed by the full-grown street-fighter of a lion, Charlie.

I think if we move into the next section, there's six lions in there and a lot bigger anyway,

we're gonna get the difference between them and the younger ones.

Yes, certainly.

We'll be back in lion country shortly, to see if Charlie's pride

can out-pull the youngers, and will the pullometer stay intact?

'Earlier on, I collected some guinea fowl eggs,

'and the lucky recipients are the otters down at Pets Corner.'

I'm here with head of section, Darren Beasley.

What do you make of these? Good work?

-Quality eggs, aren't they?

-They are!

-Lovely!

-Quality eggs!

-Otters really like guinea fowl eggs?

-They adore them!

They'll eat any egg they can get their little paws on,

but seems we have a nice supply of these coming in...

you can hear, they're excited... they've seen the box!

They really are excited, they know food's coming their way.

Before we feed them, sorry, it feels like we're teasing you, but we're not.

Run us through this fantastic family,

which seems to be ever-expanding.

Doesn't it look good! Romeo at the bottom, just backing off now,

and his wife, Rosie, there, who's really the leader.

He's the male, but she is the boss of this little group,

then we've got Aroon and Amico, which are the two older children, two brothers,

and then we've got the next litter after that,

and that's Masala and Korma and all sorts of things!

The names are never-ending!

One thing for sure, they're a beautiful social group

and they will do anything to get their teeth into these.

So feed them before there's a riot.

So now. shall I just throw it in. Is that the best thing to do?

They'll actually catch them. I don't know if we can...

Oh, look at that! Oh, wow!

That's fantastic! Now Romeo, look at you,

you're looking desperate at the bottom. There you go, mate.

Oh, really good catch!

These are raw, yeah, and that's really quite important

because sometimes we offer eggs boiled.

Raw, in-shell is great, they've got special teeth to grind through.

They'll eat the shell as well.

Will the shell be good for them, that calcium intake?

To a certain degree. A big part of their diet in the wild is shellfish.

Obviously they'll spit some of the shell out, but they take some in.

-They have special teeth.

-Look at him!

-He wants another one!

This is Rosie here!

No, no you can't steal his egg! That's rotten behaviour!

Here you are, Romeo, be a little bit more butch!

Oh, there he goes! Caught it.

That's fantastic, and this would be the way, when they take prey in the wild,

that they would carry prey off and eat it like that?

Very much so. A lot of what they eat, the shellfish, has big pincers,

it'll bite them back, so a lot of it

is this blind feeling in shallow mud and when you've got it,

roll it around, quick, cos it'll bite you,

so you have to confuse your prey.

Hopefully the eggs won't bite them back,

but what they're doing now, he's grabbing.

He's taking it for the youngsters.

They've all disappeared in. Look, they've all gone in!

Oh, yeah! Here you are, feed your babies.

He's been a hero there, I wonder if he's gonna take that one in as well.

Let's see what he's doing. Oh, no! He wants another one! Romeo!

I'm loitering in the background.

-Do you want to have a go?

-I can't resist! I have to...

I do have to just give one!

Here we go! See if we can...

-are you gonna catch it over there?

-Come on, Romeo! Ooh!

He's got that! That's good!

Well, done, Ben, and Romeo, here's the last one.

Take it to your babies. There you go, mate.

Thanks, Darren. Oops! Go on!

Yummy!

Tapirs have lived in the rainforests of South America

for the last 20 million years but, as their habitat disappears,

they're facing the danger of extinction.

That's why the park's breeding programme is so important,

and so far, it's been a success.

Supermum Jessie has already given birth to five babies,

and there's fabulous news, as once again she's expecting,

so keeper, Bev Evans, is giving her a little extra TLC.

Jessie, here, she's quite heavily pregnant at the moment,

getting very hormonal, bless her.

Gomez was her fifth, so yeah, her sixth is due very, very, very soon.

Apart from Gomez, Jessie's previous offspring have been sent to zoos and

parks across Europe to help the international breeding programme,

and Bev hopes Jessie keeps up the good work.

I think six babies at her time in life, she's just turned 10, is pretty good.

She could carry on till she's 15, maybe even 20 years old, it depends.

But you know, the pairing Jethro and Jessie have is a perfect pairing.

They get on really well. He's very quiet, she's quite bolshy,

and it kind of works really, to be honest.

The gestation period for a baby tapir is 13 months,

which is one of the longest in the animal kingdom.

At the moment, we're just really waiting for her to give birth.

The only things we tend to do prior to the birth

is just keep an eye on her, what food she takes...

we don't want her to take on too much food and put on too much weight

with herself or the baby,

but also we're gonna start setting up a birthing pen

where we'll separate her from the two boys at night,

so when she does give birth,

there's just her and the baby, and there's no outside influences.

She tends to tell us when she's going into labour...

she's incredibly vocal,

she just runs around the paddock and won't settle.

You let her into the house, get her into her birthing pen, she won't settle,

she'll pace in and out and you know she's going to do it.

You just wait, then you'll come in in the morning and there it is...

the baby's safe and running around. She's a bit of a natural. She just pops them out.

With the birthing pen set up,

Jessie is let indoors for some peace and quiet.

Since she could give birth any moment now,

dad, Jethro, and her son, Gomez, are left waiting nervously outside.

But can Jessie manage another problem-free birth?

We'll be back later, to find out.

Without around 900 animals in the park,

there's always something being born, something sick,

or something needing urgent medical attention,

so one of the most important roles at Longleat is that of the vet.

Duncan Williams has been the Longleat vet for the past ten years,

visiting the park at least once a week

to carry out everything from routine checks to life-saving operations.

But this year, there's a new vet to share the workload.

Percy, please.

Paul Higgs came to work at Duncan's local practice

less than a year ago, after graduating from vet school.

So Percy's just in for having his nails cut, is he?

Come on, Percy.

'The small animal work is great... it's very rewarding.'

One minute I might be vaccinating a dog,

the next we might be operating, trying to save a dog that's been hit by a car,

so from my point of view, that's fantastic.

You never know what you'll be doing from one minute to the next.

Joining this practice so close to Longleat means that his work isn't just about cuddly cats,

but fortunately, Paul already has some experience with some slightly larger animals.

When I was a veterinary student, I worked at Longleat as a keeper

during my holidays, for a couple of years,

so it was actually quite nice for me to be able to come into the practice

and find that there was a space available for somebody to help Duncan with the Longleat work.

So, once a week, Paul leaves the surgery behind

and heads off to Longleat.

It's great to be able to go from doing your basic small animal and farm animal work

to be able to come here and work with exotic species, such as giraffe and lions...

it's fantastic!

When I come here on my weekly routine visits,

then we're never quite sure exactly what we're going to see.

We could find we've got something we need to knock out,

like a rhino and see what's going on if they're ill,

or something as small as a ferret.

Waiting for Paul today are a tiger with tangled fur, a lethargic eland,

a weeping wallaby and an infected iguana.

But first, it's a bongo with a bowed back.

We're just off to go and see the new bongo,

who was a bit lame on his back legs about two weeks ago,

so we're just coming to see how he's getting on, give him a check over.

But finding a bongo in over 60 acres is not an easy task.

If they've decided they don't want to be seen,

it can be quite difficult to find them.

And, in fact, the bongos might be outside of this area, potentially.

They might be...

What's up there?

Oh, there they are!

We can't actually get near to a lot of the species here,

so when they're sick, we prefer not to have to knock them out

to get close enough to examine them,

so a lot of what we do is sort of over the fence kind of diagnosis,

which in one sense is quite daunting,

but it does make you rely much more on your instincts

and their behaviour to help you diagnose what's going on.

He's still standing, I think, with a bit of a bowed back,

more than I would expect,

so I think he's probably still got some element of back pain there,

so I think for the moment we're still just gonna have to monitor and see what happens.

That's different to the situations which we have in the rest of our work in that

most of the time we can step in before a problem gets too bad,

but unfortunately here, we almost have to wait for the problems

to get to a certain stage of severity before we can step in and do anything about it.

It certainly does add an extra element of pressure

and perhaps a bit of anxiety around your treatments.

We'll catch up with Paul on his rounds later in the programme.

There's one species of bird in the park who,

despite their rather normal life, once had quite a reputation.

Back in ancient Egyptian times, these elegant creatures were once

worshipped as gods, so obviously I'm keen to meet them.

I'm in the flamingo aviary with keeper, Michelle Stevens,

but we're not here to see the flamingos...

we're here to see the sacred ibis.

Michelle, there they are over there.

Why are they called "sacred" ibis?

They were deemed sacred by the ancient Egyptians

-and they were actually mummified and buried with them.

-Really?

-Yeah.

Now I know they eat meat occasionally,

and some people compare them to vultures, for example.

Are there many similarities?

Not really, no. I mean they have the bald head, they will go to dead animals,

but not necessarily to eat the meat

but they'll eat the insects that go to the meat as well.

-Yeah.

-How fascinating! Michele, thank you very much.

We've got plenty more coming up on today's programme, including...

We've seen how tough the baby cubs are,

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

An iguana loses its tail in an emergency op,

but can Paul, the new vet, keep his nerve?

You scream, I scream, but will the monkeys scream for ice cream?

Back in lion country, Bob and Brian and Dr Brighton

head to Charlie's pride, dragging the pullometer to measure to strength of the lions.

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

who emerged as the strongest and most tenacious,

while Kabir himself took little interest.

But how will the older, bigger

and more street-wise lions in Charlie's pride react?

Come on!

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

RADIO: All right.

These are much more...

well they're bigger lions, a bit wiser than the cubs, obviously.

They've got the same principle, though.

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

and these others are playing with it.

So we're up to over 2 kilonewtons already,

which basically just reflects the added mass of these animals, compared to the other ones.

The lioness has already outdone Bob and Brian's effort,

but king of the pride, Charlie, is about to show them how it's done.

Hello! There he is! There's Charlie on it now. He's pulling.

Watch the Landrover rocking!

You can see all the muscle-tone,

the muscles actually working,

how much effort he's putting into it.

That is a fit and healthy lion.

I'd imagine you'd get a really good reading from that.

So now we're up to about 2 and a half, nearly 3 kilonewtons.

You can feel this whole truck moving!

At least you can see now that he's got his claws dug into the rope

and he's biting it at the same time.

You imagine if that was an animal's hide, how they would use their claws

to cling onto it and actually hold the animal why they were biting it,

to try and kill it. It's incredible!

Clearly Charlie has achieved a much higher pull

than any of the other lions!

Primarily because of obviously his added mass,

and when he tries to accelerate that mass backwards and actually tug on the rope,

then we're seeing much, much larger pulls,

and I'm afraid you and Bob have now been beaten in the pullometer stakes!

Not content with demonstrating his strength on the pullometer,

just for good measure, Charlie also helps himself to a piece of the vehicle.

Oi! Oi! Oi! Get off!

Look what you've done, Bob!

Oh, dear!

It looks like he was as interested in yours as well as our rope!

Shall we go and look at the rope

and see what the results were like?

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

was about 3 kilonewtons.

Now that's approximately equivalent to about 305 kg, over 600 pounds,

so it's a huge pull on the end of that rope.

3 kilonewtons sounds a lot and it is.

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

So he actually beat our effort then, Paul?

I'm afraid he did, he did, yeah.

I wouldn't take him on in a tug of war!

So you're quite pleased, because he's obviously in fine health and fully fit, effectively.

To see the fact that he's quite fit and those others,

Malaika was us pulling three youngsters around,

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

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

He's in there with the girls, he hasn't got to do anything,

so this has given him something to do.

So you can get a good feel of how fit he is, in fact?

It's been an absolutely fascinating day,

looking at how different animals have reacted.

The results have been very interesting

and also for the keepers, so it's really been a glorious day.

At the tapir house, there's been some good news.

Supermum, Jessie, has given birth to a baby boy.

She instinctively gave birth in the night,

as that's the safest time for young to be born in the wild,

so head of section, Andy Hayton,

was delighted to discover the baby when he checked on her, first thing.

Obviously we don't know what time it was born,

it was there at 8.30 this morning.

She's such an old hand, Jess.

She just kind of fires them on out now.

And the baby, yes, it's a little bit wobbly, obviously, it's newborn,

but it's moving around, it's standing up.

They're like a little watermelon on legs, aren't they?

With their little stripes, yeah, a nice little animal.

The watermelon-like spots and stripes

are an essential camouflage for babies in the wild.

It helps them blend into the rainforest undergrowth

and protects them from natural predators such as jaguars and pumas.

She's just such a great mum, you know.

She just gets on, does it, and away you go.

Because the baby has wobbly legs,

Andy calls in Paul, the new vet, to give him a thorough checkover.

Very cute, Bev.

He's not bad, is he?

He's still obviously a little bit nervous, a little bit jumpy,

and he was a bit wobbly on his back legs to begin with,

but generally, we haven't had any problems with him at all.

Is she protective at all of him?

In the sense that she'll stand over him,

but she's not showing any aggression to us or anyone else.

I'm just gonna have a quick look at him, listen to his heart.

He panics sometimes if you have to restrain him, that's all.

Great. Well, I've never listened to a tapir's heart before,

but it sounds nice and healthy.

-Brilliant!

-And he looks great!

After looking after Jessie throughout this pregnancy,

the arrival of the baby is an exciting time for Bev.

I've been here for three births now,

but it doesn't really lose its edge, to be honest.

It's always incredibly exciting to pop in in the morning

and find him already up and about, wandering around.

Jessie and her new baby will have some quality time together

for the first few days, but we'll be back later

when Ben gets a chance to meet

possibly the cutest animal at the safari park for the first time.

Over the past few months, Longleat House has been undergoing

huge renovations to restore this fine building to its former glory.

Whilst working on the roof, some hidden treasures have been unearthed,

so Kate headed up there to find out what's going on.

I'm up on the roof of Longleat House with foreman, James Knott.

There's a huge restoration project going on here, and James,

-I gather something quite exciting happened a few days ago?

-Yes.

Our carpenter, was busy working away on this mansard area

and made a bit of an unusual discovery!

Wow! I gather Dean's down here...

I can just see the top of his head. Dean.

Pop up and come and see us, cos I'm dying to hear what happened.

Gosh, it's a tight squeeze down there! You get everywhere, don't you!

So, what actually happened? What did you find?

I found some paintings actually in the roof space, against the chimney.

Were they just sort of stacked up or were they covered up?

What did they look like?

They were in a box and we thought that it was a roof hatch,

and I noticed there was a loose part on it,

so we opened it up and found some paintings.

Wow! I bet you felt like you were on Antiques Roadshow, didn't you?

Did you think you'd found a treasure trove?

I thought I'd found something special,

but I noticed there were copies of the same paintings,

but there were two different kinds.

There were like little ones and big ones.

Almost like a kind of work in progress, maybe?

Someone sort of doing the initial sketches for the finished painting?

-Yeah.

-And when you found them, what did you do?

Did you come up and tell James...?

I was working on a Saturday,

and I just popped up and saw the foreman

and we radioed through to Longleat,

and they came up and they took it on, basically.

Fantastic! Well, of course, it was a great surprise for Longleat

to uncover these long unseen paintings,

and Kate Harris is the archivist here,

and I'm off to see her now to get the other side of the story.

We'll be back later to find out the true value

of this exciting discovery.

Paul, the new vet, has just had a call

from a very concerned deputy head of section, Bev Allen,

who he's racing to meet in Pets Corner.

A few weeks ago, Paul operated on a wallaby with a sore below its eye,

but Bev's worried the problem is flaring up again.

Is there any swelling come back up?

I think there's a small bit of swelling, but not a lot.

-He's got a little bit of a swelling there, hasn't he?

-Yeah.

-I'd really like you to grab him, if you could, Bev.

-Right. OK.

Got him?

All right, matey!

OK. Let him go.

I think he's all right to be honest, yeah.

-Loose?

-Yep.

I think, Bev, that there's no swelling there.

-The wound looks great.

-Right, OK.

There's no conjunctivis either... there's no reddening.

He's probably just got a bit of dust in there.

We'll just see how he goes.

Not a problem. All right. Thanks for that.

Paul's next job is to check out the newest edition to the park...

the baby tapir.

TAPIR SQUEALS

What we're doing today is just micro-chipping.

With mammals apart from dogs and cats, we try and put the chip in

behind the left ear, so we've got a way of generalising

everybody across the country so it's all in the same place.

All right, just let him relax, and in we go.

Oh, dear!

That went pretty well, really.

Although he squealed quite a lot,

he was actually squealing because he didn't want to be held.

He didn't actually squeal much more when we put the needle in.

Once the needle was in, it's very quick to pull the trigger on the gun

and it fires the microchip in, and it's definitely in place.

We've scanned it, it's gone well.

With the tapir tagged, Paul moves on to his next patient,

but this turns out to be another emergency.

Royce, the iguana, has a serious problem

which needs urgent attention.

She's got necrosis of the tail,

and it's stopped the bloodflow to the end part of her tail,

and a couple of days ago

she actually knocked the end off, so it's getting worse.

It's vital they operate immediately,

so it's straight back to the emergency clinic

as Paul makes the decision to amputate.

This area looks nice and live...

you can see all the stripes on it and nice colour,

and also the spines on the back of the tail as well...

obviously this is looking fairly normal, and then very suddenly we

get this sort of dried out, hard, inflexible area

and this is what's known as dry gangrene,

so what we're going to do first is just x-ray the tail,

check and see that the bones are in good shape and then from that point,

decide where we're going to amputate the tail from.

This is the dead part of the tail, as you can see,

there's a kink there.

so I'm actually gonna aim to go in above that.

But for Paul, this is no routine procedure.

He's never operated on an iguana before.

We do lots of firsts in this practice,

especially with the Longleat work,

and that's what makes the job more interesting than any other, I think.

Like all reptiles, iguanas are cold-blooded

and can't regulate their own body temperature,

so Paul prepares a makeshift hot water bottle

for Royce to rest on during the operation.

As you can see, it's not a straight line,

but that's because you've got to go around the scales.

They don't go in a straight line.

The plan now is to try and find our joint between the vertebrae.

Having removed the tail, all that remains is to stitch up the wound,

but even this is no formality.

I'm trying to put the needle between the scales, rather than through them.

It's not as flexible as, say, a cat or dog's skin,

So you've got a lot less leeway to play with,

but I'm pretty happy with how things have gone at the moment.

OK. Last stitch done. I'm happy with it.

I think there's always things which in any operation

with hindsight you would have done it a bit more like that,

but no, it's gone very well...

I mean the tail's come off fine, very little bleeding,

and the skin's come together fine as well,

so it's as good as expected, really.

It's been a long day for Paul, but it's not over quite yet.

After the exotic iguana, it's back to more familiar territory.

Ready to go?

We're just trying to find out whether or not she's pregnant.

It does take experience and a number of times of doing it

to make sure you know what you're feeling for.

So although it is a dirty and smelly part of the job, it's not that bad.

Longleat House is full of priceless treasures,

and it's possible that some more gems have just been uncovered,

so I'm racing over to the house to find out.

Earlier, I was up on the roof and I met the carpenter

who found a mysterious box of paintings.

Well, I've come to the house to see curator, Kate Harris,

and to find out what exactly was in the box, and this presumably is it.

This is the box, yes. This is the box that's been found.

And how did you feel when you heard about this discovery?

Ooh, I couldn't get my hands on it quick enough,

and get the lid open to see what it was,

having been told it was paintings!

Well, this is the big question. What was it?

Well, it wasn't paintings! It was very sad and disappointing.

It was only engravings of paintings.

They're both engravings of portraits of the second Marquis of Bath...

that's the one who died in 1837.

So, you've seen the originals?

I've seen paintings by this artist... it's Joseph Slater.

His work is quite well-known,

and the other one is much more familiar to us,

we own the original oil painting for it.

The original for this is a massive, full-length oil

that was done for the Town Hall in Warminster,

which is a building which the second marquis gave in 1832,

and it was painted for that new building for the town in Warminster, by subscription,

and as a sort of return, the second marquis gave the subscribers copies of this engraving.

You can see which of the engravings was at the bottom of the box. This one has got real damp damage.

It was all mouldy and very, very damp.

And how would an engraving like this be done?

I mean it almost looks like a photograph?

It's exceedingly good, isn't it?

It really is! It's amazing!

-Yes.

-What would they do?

I mean is it literally someone copying the portrait?

-Yes, yes.

-It's astonishing!

I love that idea that all the subscribers, all the people

who paid for the original that's now sitting in the house all got their

copies as a sort of souvenir, so, I mean, not a great valuable find,

but do you think that there still could be things lurking in corners

-that you haven't discovered yet?

-I think there are probably still

things lurking, the significance of which we haven't discovered yet.

I wouldn't expect many more boxes full of things to be lurking

in the roof, but still, you never know what's gonna come up next.

Fantastic, Kate. Thank you very much.

This adorable little thing is the latest addition

to Longleat Safari Park. He's the newest tapir.

Now I'm here with Senior Warden Bev Evans and a very proud mum.

-Yeah. This is Jessie.

-This is Jessie.

So how many tapirs has she had now over the years?

-This is going to be her sixth baby.

-This is her sixth baby!

And he is, look, I assume it's a he?

It is. It's our fifth boy, in fact. We've only had the one girl,

so she's quite good at giving us a lot of males at the moment.

Bev, you are just grinning with pride, cos as keeper, you must

just be so excited whenever any new animal comes along, especially one

-quite as sweet as this?

-Yeah, definitely.

Obviously I've seen quite a few of them, now but they don't really

lose their specialness when they come out.

-Can we go a little bit closer to him?

-He's not too nervous.

He's quite friendly. He likes a bit of a tickle.

Now obviously, he's still got all

these fantastic stripes that mum over there doesn't have.

-They're all born with stripes like this, aren't they?

-Yep.

And how long... oh, look!

Look at this! And how long will he keep these stripes for?

They'll start to fade over the next few months, but by about six months,

definitely eight months, he'll be all brown, all over.

Now I have to say, having seen other tapirs over the years,

I've never seen one quite so chilled out as this!

Yeah, he's actually... he's born the right time of year.

We've been able to play with him quite a lot and get him friendly.

Sometimes in the winter, when we're very, very busy, we haven't had

the chance with some of the babies but this one, he's been born at the right time of year, really!

Wow! This is just amazing! I don't want to leave!

I want to stay here all night long

and just play with him, so how long will he keep suckling from mum for?

Again, that's probably about six to eight months as well.

-How long till he gets to that size, cos she's big?

-She's very big...

females generally are larger than males, but probably two...

two and a half years... he'll get quite big.

And we keep talking about "it", him. Is there a name yet?

-Not yet.

-So how do you go about coming up with a name?

Well, up at the giraffery, we go from letters.

Jess wants to get in on the act as well! So you go through letters?

2000 was A, so we're on 2007, so it's H this year, so all of our...

And of course last year you had Gomez, who in fact we can just see out there with dad, is that?

That's right, with Jethro. Gomez is 18 months, and as you can see,

he's getting really big already.

If H is the letter, how do you come up with one name?

Well, basically it's the whole pick a name out of a hat kind of thing.

All the keepers come up with their best ideas for H.

Obviously it having to be a male as well, we need to choose one of those names, really.

Is that what this is here, that Jess is trying to find it.

Basically we've got all the names on the pieces of paper.

-Can I draw the name?

-Go for it, yeah.

-OK. So whatever name I pick out, this will be his new name?

-Yeah.

-Right. Let's go for this one. Are you ready?

-Yeah. Go on.

-This is very exciting.

The new name...

for the new little tapir is...

Hugo!

-What d'you think of that?

-That is good!

In fact, it's one of mine!

-That was one of your suggestions, was it?

-Yeah.

-I think Hugo...

-I'm quite pleased with that.

I think he looks like a Hugo! Don't you think he looks like a Hugo?

Oh, I think that's gonna suit him very well.

Well, Bev, thank you very much and what an honour to be able to pick the name out,

and of course we'll keep you posted on the progress of Hugo throughout the series. Thanks, Bev.

I'm out in monkey jungle with brand new keeper, Raychelle Chadwick.

-Welcome to Longleat!

-Thank you.

-You've come from Australia?

-That's right.

And were you working with animals over there?

Yeah, yeah, I was working in a zoo in Australia.

-OK. So this is familiar territory, just a little bit colder?

-Yeah, definitely a lot colder!

So you've come up with a great plan for the rhesus macaques.

-Tell us a little bit about it.

-This is just enrichment for them,

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

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

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

and anything new, they're very interested in stuff, monkeys, so.

We've got a lovely sort of group here...

males, females... what are we looking at?

There's a mixture of all of them there. You've obviously got some mums with babies as well as a few males.

Do you want to do a fruit one, and I do a kind of peanut butter

and banana one, and see which ones they go for first?

Ready? One, two, three. Go!

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

This one's grabbed both of them!

Very greedy! Here you are, guys!

Now this is really interesting, the whole group coming in.

You hear the sort of chuntering and chattering noises.

Do they communicate a lot between them as a group?

Yeah, they do, they're quite vocal.

Lots of different vocalisations and that.

This is cold food, something that they're not used to at all.

I mean will it... It won't have any adverse effects on them?

No, no, not at all.

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

different behaviours for them, so it stimulates their brain.

And obviously these are on little sticks. This isn't

going to hurt the monkeys? They'll just leave these in the grass?

Yeah. They'll leave them, and we'll pick them up later.

Here we are. I think your experiment

is working rather well. They're looking very happy.

Here you are, here you are, look there you go.

Try that one and see what you're thinking! It's lovely to see.

Monkeys are pretty closely related to us. Do you see...

Is there anything particular in

their behaviour that makes you think yep, that's a pretty close cousin?

The facial expressions. They've got so many.

You can tell what mood they're in.

-Really? They're that expressive?

-Yeah, yeah.

Well, I think they are loving

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

I think peanuts or fruit they seem to be going for, don't you?

Raychelle, thank you very much.

Monkeys, enjoy your treat!

It's been two months since Royce, the iguana, had emergency surgery,

but today I've come to check up how she's doing.

Inside is vet, Paul Higgs, and keeper, Sarah Clayson.

-Hi,

-guys.

-Hi, Ben!

Aah, this is Royce. So what are you here to do today, Paul?

I'm just here checking up on Royce after she had her tail amputated

a few weeks ago, so we're just basically checking to see that

everything's healed up nicely and is looking healthy, really.

-What is your kind of prognosis then, so far?

-Well, I mean,

it's all looking pretty good. These are still the stitches in there.

Obviously there's some dead tissue here, but hopefully

that will eventually slough off to reveal nice, healthy

tissue underneath, so it was quite a while ago that we did the op now,

there's no infection there, so I'm quite happy with how that's going.

Cos Paul, this was a first for you...

the amputation of a reptile's tail.

-You'd never done that before?

-No, absolutely not, no.

So, it certainly was a big

step into the dark for me at times,

but it went really, really very well and for me, it looks great.

And how have you found Royce since the operation?

Has she returned to normal?

Yeah. She's back to her normal feisty self now, so...

You've got a bit of a grip there, and you're just holding onto her while Paul checks up on the tail.

How will her life be affected without the same tail length she had before?

I think in this protected environment, it won't be too different.

In the wild perhaps they wouldn't get on all that well without their

length of tail to help them

balance and climb trees and things, but here, they're so protected that

I don't think there's gonna be any problem, any change for her at all.

And Sarah, how has Royce got on with the other iguanas?

I can see one up here lazing under

the heat lamp there.

How has she been kind of welcomed back into the group here?

Absolutely fine. She's come in with no problems whatsoever.

I mean she was always quite a strong one of the group

and she's just basically slipped back into how she always has been.

-Full appetite and all that?

-Yeah. She's eating really well.

Can we see her on the ground now?

-Are you happy that you've had a look, Paul?

-Yes.

-I'm happy with how she's doing.

-We can let her...

She recognises you, Paul!

She's like I don't want you coming anywhere near me!

-She always was a grumpy one!

-Well, Paul, Sarah, thank you very much.

What fantastic news that Royce has made such a good recovery.

Earlier, we saw how powerful the lions are,

but there's another creature who may be able to give the ultimate predator a run for its money.

It's the parrots, as we're about to discover.

It's nearly the end of the programme, but before we go,

Kate and I have come down to Pets Corner with keeper, John Ovens,

and some of the magnificently coloured parrots they've got here.

Now this is Jake, the blue and gold macaw, and John,

you're gonna tell us a bit about their fantastic beaks?

Yes, Ben. One of the most famous things a parrot is famous for is

that big, powerful beak, and it's one of their main tools.

They use it for breaking into tough nuts and fruits,

and also they do a lot of climbing out in the Amazon,

so they'll use their beak like a foot.

They'll use it to climb onto trees and help them climb,

as well as those big powerful feet.

And it looks like, looking at Jake's beak here,

that it grows constantly down.

It does, very much like our fingernails.

Like our fingernails. it's always growing,

so one important thing we have to do is give them these logs.

That helps them file down their beaks.

They take care of themselves.

They are quite good animals for grooming,

so they'll rub their beak up against the logs and the trees,

and that files it down.

The same as the claws, which acts like a nail file.

So is there a way that we can see how powerful the beak is?

-There is, indeed.

-Do you want me to take...?

-Yeah.

-Here we are, Gunner.

There we go. One of the parrots' favourite foods is one of these.

-Oh, wow!

-You might get a bit of jealousy from the other birds,

but their favourite food is a walnut,

-and we're having a little game here!

-Everyone wants one!

You'll see how powerful his beak is. Jake's gonna break into that nut.

-Break into it, mate.

-Go on, Jake! Show us how clever you are.

He's gone a bit shy! Go on, let's have a look!

This is amazing! You can see just how ambidextrous they are!

See! No problems at all!

-That's incredible.

-Very, very powerful.

-That's so powerful!

Really good coordination, as well, between claws and beak.

-Definitely, definitely.

-And, I mean, it must be quite frightening for you

to know that you're looking after birds that are highly intelligent,

do exactly what they want to do,

-and they're very well armed.

-Very, very well-armed!

A parrot's never gonna bite you for no reason.

There's a reason behind everything they do,

so you respect them, they're not gonna bite you,

but you come in when they're a bit grumpy,

you've gotta watch them sometimes.

They're just like us, they get out the wrong side of the bed.

Do they have a soft side?

Very, very soppy, which I think,

hopefully, Gunner's going to demonstrate.

We just saw just how powerful Jake's big beak can be.

It's also very gentle. Would you like a little kiss from Gunner?

I'm never one to turn down a kiss from a bird!

So he's gonna give you a little kiss, just on the cheek, there.

-That's it, Gunner. Oh!

-That was more like a punch!

That was a bit of a punch!

Gunner, little kiss on the cheek, little kiss on the cheek?

-There you go! She's a very soppy bird!

-She's a very sensible girl,

she knows which man is gonna feed her!

She knows who's got the peanuts!

John, thank you very much indeed. No problem at all, guys.

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. Well done!

Darcy the bongo has escaped.

One false move, and he could break a leg.

A demonstration of what not to wear? No!

It's a demonstration of Lord Bath's favourite fashion!

And dramatic developments on Gorilla Island.

In fact, it's the end of an era.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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