Episode 10 Animal Park

Behind us, as sure you'll recognise, is the magnificent Anne.

She arrived here in 2011 after a lifetime in the circus

and some terrible mistreatment.

Since then, a small group of keepers have ensured she is thriving.

Sadly, though, one of the keepers

who's been instrumental in her recovery is leaving the park.

And today, we're going to be celebrating their relationship

and finding out how on Earth you say goodbye to an animal

that never forgets.

Also on today's show...

The vet's been called for Jesse, the much-loved tapir.

When they are poorly, it is hard to see them like that.

You just want them to get better.

-Everybody ready?

-ALL:

-Yeah

It's a big day for the binturongs.

The new couple are together at last, but will Hamish, the annoying otter,

ever leave them alone?

He is a little menace, isn't he?

And arriving just in time for our final episode of the series,

could this be our cutest ever baby on Animal Park?

You can see it's a perfect miniature of mum.

Moving animals from one collection to another is all part

of the management process.

But it can be extremely hard for the keepers who care for them,

which is partly why they are taught not to have favourites.

Hey, babe.

But there are occasions where the relationship itself

makes all the difference to an animal's rehabilitation.

How you doing? Yes.

One such relationship is one between Anne the elephant

and her keeper, Ross.

There is nothing I don't like doing with Anne.

OK, maybe, like, you know, mucking out and raking up hay is

the boringest part. But, do you know what? Whilst you're doing it,

Anne's nearby, and you can quite easily just chat to her and

spend a moment or two just cooing over her.

So, even the boring jobs are fun.

Everything we do with Anne is fantastic.

It is a privilege to be around an animal like Anne.

It is hard work, but, because I love it so much,

it doesn't feel like work.

I'd never thought that I'd be in the position I'm in.

I mean, to me, working with an elephant is the top.

It's amazing.

But, due to a change in circumstances,

Ross is having to leave the job he loves.

Today is his last day.

It's unfortunate I've got to go, but family life is changing and I've had

to do the thing that I thought I would never do.

Ross has always had a passion for animals.

He has worked at the park since he was just 18.

I have been here for 13 years now.

When I started working here, I just wanted to work with animals

in any shape or form. So, like, back in 2004, I worked on the boats,

which wasn't working with animals hands-on,

but was being around the animals, and I absolutely loved that.

Ross was soon promoted to the hoofstock team,

and working with the rhinos.

He proved to be a natural.

That'll see her off to sleep.

We'll see her in the morning.

Isn't that right, Ebun?

Night-night.

See you later, Ebun.

So, in 2011, when Anne arrived at the Park,

he was one of the team of keepers hand-picked to look after her.

I met Anne the day she turned up.

It's not one of those things I thought I want to do, elephants.

But when the opportunity was handed to me and I started doing it,

I realised, you know what? This is the best thing since sliced bread.

Anne was in bad shape, mentally and physically.

When she first came, she was very, like, in herself,

she wouldn't look you in the eye, and she mistrusted people,

which is fair enough, given her history.

Ross and the team began a long and tough programme of rehabilitation.

It was hard, because we had to gain her trust and stuff like this.

The first early period of it was just learning each other,

as it were.

Difficult and a challenge, but, you know, I loved every minute of it.

With Anne, it is just a pleasure to be with her every day.

Getting to work with her and, you know, watch her outside,

playing and, like, rolling in the sand, things like this.

It is really, really impressive.

Sometimes you can have a job where you don't want to get up and you

just want to stay at home, but with Anne, when you work with elephants,

you're up an hour early. You know?

Ross' work with Anne was a labour of love.

So when her condition began to improve, it meant everything to him.

My favourite memory of Anne was a day when she had, like,

a mind-set change.

We were out in the yard and there was a log that was sort of propped

up against another log and she started pushing on it,

and every time she pushed it, she'd always look at us,

waiting for her to get told off, I guess.

And we were all laughing, saying,

"Don't worry about that, you carry on."

And then the moment when she snapped it and then looked at us and we were

all laughing and all happy about it,

she changed that day.

She really came out of her shell and she sort of was just, like,

showing her character to us.

I used to get upset when I had to go and do something somewhere else,

because I wasn't with Anne.

With most jobs, you like to get home and relax for a bit,

but I was getting home and I was a bit disappointed -

no disrespect to my family life - but I was a bit disappointed.

I just wanted to get back to work.

Good girl, Anne.

Lovely stuff.

Ross's deep connection with Anne has been instrumental to her recovery.

Leaving her is not going to be easy,

as Head of Animal Operations Darren is all too aware.

It's really, really difficult.

You get attached, you bond with your animals. Of course you do.

In you go.

Good girl. This way.

Having to part with an animal or move,

it's a huge wrench on the old heartstrings.

Nice.

We've been on a big journey since she's been here.

I was growing up and she was being rehabilitated.

We kind of, like, looked at each other for support sometimes.

Life's not always easy and, you know, she's been there through

my struggles, I was there for hers, and, you know,

I like to think we became best mates. We're good, good friends.

But Ross has one last treat for Anne.

We'll be back later to find out what it is.

One corner of the park is home to the giant anteaters.

They're native to South America, but are classified as vulnerable,

due to widespread habitat loss and hunting.

So, this is Maroni, she is one of our two giant anteaters.

She is currently separate from our male, Bonito,

for reasons that we suspect she might be pregnant.

Apart from her size alone, she is very, very hungry.

She is sleeping a little bit more, which is normally a telltale sign

that there might be something going on there.

But it is mainly size.

She's definitely, definitely got larger.

A keeper's secret weapon to finding out is often

monitoring their weight.

We weighed her about a month ago and she was a little bit higher than

the kind of weight she normally sits at, so it would be really exciting

today if we can weigh her and see if she's actually increased

a little bit more.

Then that would indicate there is a high chance that she is pregnant.

We haven't increased her food, so it's not as though she's getting

that extra weight from elsewhere.

Kim wants to know for certain, so she needs to get Maroni

on the scales.

46 kilos.

That's really good news. She was 45.5 about a month ago,

so, we've got 46 kilos today, so that is a weight increase,

which is very exciting.

A giant anteater's pregnancy lasts up to 185 days.

Multiple births are rare, so Maroni's probably expecting

a single cub, but it's not her first.

She has had two successful cubs in the past

and reared them really nicely.

They are a very endangered species, so to potentially have another cub

on the way is really exciting for us as keepers, but the park as a whole.

We'll be following Maroni's progress and we'll introduce you to the baby

as soon as he or she arrives.

There are over 100 keepers here, but more than 1,000 animals to keep

an eye on. With those kind of odds,

the keepers have to use every bit of specialist knowledge they have

to spot a problem and then try to work out how to solve it.

Team Manager Ryan has noticed Lorraine, one of the Ankole cattle,

is limping.

Lorraine is, actually, quite easy to spot.

Lorraine is a lot paler than the others,

so that makes my job nice and easy.

Ankole cattle originate from East Africa and are believed to be close

relations to some of the earliest domesticated livestock.

They have a fiery temperament and horns up to two metres wide.

They're cleverly adapted to quickly lose excess body heat,

so that, in their native climate, they can stay cool.

Limping Lorraine has been brought into the cattle shed and is being

encouraged into position.

Duncan, the vet, needs to examine her...

..but handling half a tonne of anxious cow is not straightforward.

The problem is that she's got massive horns

and she's also not used to being handled.

Steady.

So, we have got a restraint, which is designed specifically for

the long, wide horns, but even when she's in that,

she can still be quite dangerous and we have to, you know,

take plenty of precautions.

Go on, darling! Hey! Hey!

She's got a sand crack on her front left on the inside claw,

and I think it's nipping her at the moment and causing a bit of pain.

She might kick off a little bit.

A sand crack is where there's a split in the hoof wall.

If left untreated, it can lead to lameness.

Duncan needs to secure her foreleg in order to clean out the area.

To help keep her calm, he's given Lorraine a small sedative,

but he has another trick up his sleeve.

If you just do that, you can put your other hand on her.

That'll just stop her creating a bit of a front.

She's not going to kick. The bar is there.

Believe it or not, lifting their tails can have a calming effect.

Jenna has the dubious honour of taking care of this end

of the operation.

With Lorraine secure, Duncan can get to work.

What I'm trying to do, really, is just open it up so it doesn't pinch.

I think that's where the pain comes from for the animal.

The only other alternative to being able to do work

like this would be to

anaesthetise her out in the field.

But the issue is, like, it's a safety issue doing that,

because when we drop one of the Ankole herd out in the field,

historically what we've found is that the rest of the herd want to

come over and check out what we're doing,

sometimes get quite aggressive about the whole thing.

Get it about and you can see there, that's all pretty good.

I might just trim a bit of her nail.

All right, darling.

One last cut and then...

..all right, undo it, undo it, Luke. Pull that out.

Hoof-clipping over, it's time to release a rather grumpy Lorraine

and relieve Jenna at the business end.

All right, Jen, you can let go now.

Well done, Jenna.

OK, everyone out of the way?

Lorraine can now rejoin the rest of the herd.

A week later, and Jean is out on patrol to find out

how she's been getting on.

So we're really pleased with her movement.

-She's actually managing to keep up with the group.

-Good.

We don't see her getting left behind when the others come running up

maybe for a little bit of food in the afternoon

or first thing in the morning, Which is brilliant, a really good sign.

Excellent, yeah. And it's good to hear that she is keeping up with the

rest of the group. Why is that so important?

Well, you know, obviously, here in a safari park,

our animals are kind of semi-wild, so they really still rely on a lot

of those instincts that they have naturally, and one of their main

instincts for an Ankole is keep with the herd.

You know, they're a complete herd animal.

In the wild, if she started lagging behind, the predators would notice

that straightaway, and I think she'd be in trouble by the end of the day.

-Yeah. So, safety in numbers, isn't there?

-Absolutely, yeah.

You know, it's great to see her out and about.

She's moving around and she's back with the rest of the herd.

-Yeah, we're really pleased for her.

-Yeah.

The park holds animals which are managed across 32 endangered species

breeding programmes across Europe, including the scimitar-horned oryx.

In 2000, this species was declared extinct in the wild.

But, thanks to captive breeding, the species has another chance.

But now, another species is in dire need of help.

Meet Tylo, the binturong,

one of the park's more peculiar-looking creatures.

He has a face like a cat, a body like a bear, and, trust me,

he smells of hot buttered popcorn.

He's cared for by keeper Tim.

Binturong are arboreal, so they kind of live in the tree-tops.

So, they are very, very good at climbing.

They also have this amazing tail.

It's normally about the size of their body and it's prehensile,

so that means it can grab things. It's a bit like a fifth limb.

Sadly, the wild binturong population is believed to have declined by 30%

in the last 30 years, due to deforestation in southeast Asia.

So, binturong are classed as vulnerable,

which means they do face a high risk of extinction in the wild,

so it's very important to breed them in captivity.

To help prevent them from going extinct, parks like Longleat are

working together as part of an international breeding programme.

At Easter, we saw Tylo's brother, Namtok,

leaving to be paired up with a female in Amsterdam.

And Arabella arrived from France as a mate for Tylo.

Since then, they've been kept separate in neighbouring cages

while they get to know each other.

Keepers have monitored them closely,

trying to find out how they react to one another.

So far, they've showed some signs of interest.

So, matchmaker Tim has decided that they're ready for the next stage

of their relationship.

Today, we are letting the female binturong out into the

enclosure for the first time.

So, this is quite a milestone in the process of introducing

the two binturong.

There have been binturong here for six years,

and Tim's taking no chances when he introduces Arabella

to the outdoor enclosure.

The whole team is on stand by.

So, not entirely sure what to expect, but just kind of look out

for any climbing behaviour that's kind of towards the edges

of the enclosure, anything like that, anything which might indicate

she might be trying to leave.

Let's get going.

-Everybody ready?

-ALL:

-Yeah.

In such unfamiliar surroundings,

no-one knows how Arabella might react.

As such a good climber,

she could even potentially escape her enclosure.

What we're hoping for is that she'll explore the enclosure,

nice and relaxed, and get to know her new home.

This is completely brand-new to her,

so she will be exploring every sort of single bit.

So, if she stands up, especially near the back wall,

that's always going be a little tense.

That's why we have so many people here, just to watch her,

and make sure nothing goes wrong.

Despite Tim's fears,

Arabella seems perfectly confident exploring her new surroundings.

This is exactly what we wanted, really.

She seems pretty content,

pretty relaxed. So far, so good.

As Arabella explores her new home,

the moment of introduction has arrived.

Tylo takes his first tentative steps out into his enclosure with her.

This is where he's spent his entire life, and so he knows the enclosure

really well, he has his spots that he prefers.

It'll be interesting to see whether she decides to claim

some of Tylo's spots.

With binturongs, it's the females who are the dominant sex.

They can be 20% bigger than the males.

Tylo is not the bravest binturong, really.

He seems to be a little bit intimidated by her.

But females are supposed to be dominant,

so hopefully she is doing her job and asserting that dominance.

GROWL

But Tylo is not accepting Arabella as the boss just yet.

That may have just been a kind of "get away" type of snarl.

Could this be their first lovers' tiff?

With any new step, it could go badly or it could go really well.

And today it has gone really well, which has been fantastic.

It's been really nice to see her outside, feeling very happy,

comfortable, and just chill out, which is what we want.

We'll be back later to find out if Mr Binturong becomes Mr Binturight.

We're heading back now to Anne's haven, where, after 13 years,

it's Ross' last day working at the park.

Hey, Anne!

I knew that, one day, there would come a day

where I will have to move on.

And, unfortunately, it has come to that time now where I've got to go

to another chapter of my life.

Of course, it's not just Anne he'll be saying goodbye to.

She's watching, she's watching me.

Ross has worked alongside fellow keeper Kev for years.

Ross is going to be very missed, not just by Anne and all the animals,

but by all the staff, purely because he's been a complete joy to work

with all this time, for many, many years.

So, yeah, he's going to be hugely missed.

Ross has devised a final gift for Anne with her favourite -

stinging nettles.

She loves this bit, cos it's the first time of the year she's getting

her nettles and she's a little bit partial to a nettle.

It may look easy, but this simple action of lifting her trunk is what

Ross and the team have been working towards since Anne was rescued.

Six years ago, it appeared to be an impossible goal.

She loves it. It keeps her occupied. It keeps her going for a bit.

It's not a two-second job, she's got to think a little bit.

Always a nice one, that.

It can do so much, and just looking at her now, you can see how much

stronger she is and how happy she is doing it, as well.

That's the big win.

ANNE GRUNTS

A new member of staff will take Ross' place,

so Anne continues to have three dedicated keepers.

But now, it's the end of his final day and time to say goodbye.

You do get attached and, you know,

they say try not to get attached to them because one day -

one day - that will happen.

But with Anne, especially, impossible.

Absolutely impossible.

The way she is and, like, the aura she's got around her,

you fall in love with it.

It's been a pleasure.

Really has.

-KEV:

-I think she'll miss you, Rossy.

-Yeah.

Let's hope so.

You are her favourite, mate.

It's been good.

And I'll visit.

Promise.

We'll give you a minute.

See you later, babe.

Love you, chick.

HE SNIFFS

There is absolutely no way we're going to be able to keep him away.

I love the fact that he's got that bond and, whatever happens,

he's going to have some involvement.

And that's what makes a keeper.

Once a keeper, you're always a keeper.

See you soon.

ANNE GROANS

It's the start of another busy day over at Jungle Kingdom.

But, in the anteater enclosure,

there's still no sign of the new arrival.

Today, I'm meeting up with Kim to help out with the morning feed.

Is this their normal diet?

This is a treat. She's eating quark at the moment.

-Quark, a treat?!

-It's her favourite treat.

-Is this a pregnancy craving?

-Yes.

I can't help but notice this incredible tongue inside.

-So that's how she's getting all the food out, all the quark?

-Yep.

Now, back to the pregnancy itself.

What would it mean to you guys to have a baby anteater here?

It would be incredible. It would be amazing.

They are an endangered species, so to have an anteater cub,

for the park, would be a massive achievement.

So, how do you work out the due date?

You presumably go from the mating time?

Yeah. So, we make a note of when they mated and then we kind of

count six months from there to get a rough idea of when baby is due.

So, you've come up with an estimated date,

but why is the baby still not here?

So, we had a estimated date for the first mating we saw.

That due date has come and gone,

so we're now going by the second mating date.

-So, about two weeks' time.

-Yep.

And, obviously, we have been weighing her,

so we are very hopeful that she is pregnant.

She's definitely increased in size.

-Mm-hm. Can I hold that?

-Yeah, of course you can.

Now, just clear one thing up.

In the wild, she wouldn't be getting bottle-fed some quark.

And what's that? Honey?

-This is honey, yeah. This is another favourite.

-Her other favourite.

She wouldn't be getting these, so what would she be eating?

So, they mainly have a diet of bugs.

They will find anything on the floor.

As you can see, with these claws, they can crack open any bits

of fruit or anything they can find on the floor.

But predominantly you're looking at termites and bugs.

And ants, presumably, given the name.

And they use this long tongue, do they, to get into the nest?

Yeah. They use these long claws to break a hole in the termite mound,

then they'll use their tongue. It's got really sticky saliva,

so they can eat as quickly as possible to prevent

getting bitten by termites.

I think she's nearly polished off this quark. Can I try the honey?

-Yeah.

-Is this her favourite? Is this like the pudding?

-Yes.

This is the... Oh, look at that!

That tongue is just incre... Oh, wow, she's really going for it now.

And what are you doing differently now to manage this pregnancy?

So, we're monitoring what she's eating. We have upped her food a

little bit, just to allow for the extra weight that she's carrying,

and then, obviously, just monitoring the weight on regular basis,

monitoring her behaviour.

They do become more lethargic and sleepy towards the end of the

pregnancy, so that's something we're watching very closely.

Well, Maroni has polished off that honey.

I bet it must be like Christmas each morning.

You come down here expectant, hoping to see a baby anteater.

-You must be pretty excited.

-Very excited.

She is the first thing I check every day.

Aww! Well, listen, good luck.

The park has three Brazilian tapirs,

but one bright winter's day back in February, just two of them,

Eddie and Tallulah, are out in their field.

Ten-year-old Jessie is still indoors.

She hasn't been feeding properly and keepers are so worried

they've called James, the vet.

Keepers have seen, over the last seven days especially,

that Jessie has been dropping her food when she's been eating

and consequently not eating anywhere near as much as she was.

And she's also been losing weight over the last few weeks to a month.

Erm, but it's these last seven days of not eating at all, really,

and not able to swallow and chew that we're most worried about

and most concerned about.

Dropping food as she eats suggests she may have a problem

with her mouth or teeth.

Before she can be examined, Jessie must be sedated.

Tapirs are very tactile creatures.

They love contact and they like to be stroked,

and they're quite keen to take a treat off you, as well.

But checking her teeth is not something we'd do conscious.

It wouldn't be kind to her

and it would be potentially dangerous for us.

Every anaesthetic carries a risk,

but the odds of complications increase with age.

Polly knows Jesse extremely well.

I've worked with Jessie for eight years,

so you do get to know them really well.

So, when they are poorly, it is hard to see them like that.

You just want them to get better.

I'm worried, cos obviously she's old, but I'm hoping it's nothing

serious and something that we can treat.

But I don't know. You just don't know with older animals.

Best-case scenario for Jessie would be a nice simple tooth issue

which we could fix today and would explain all of the symptoms.

And worst-case scenario would be something more nasty going on

internally and could potentially be harder to treat.

Duncan the vet is the first to look inside Jessie's mouth.

They're worn and there are sharp edges,

but I don't see any major issues there.

Her teeth are showing their age,

but they aren't the cause of her problems.

Well, she has cracked that incisor and there is an exposed thing,

but there's no swelling down here that would stop her eating.

Now begins the difficult task of searching for a diagnosis.

For keepers like Dan who've seen Jessie become ill,

this is not good news.

We're very concerned about her health,

especially this time of year.

If she doesn't eat for too long, it could be quite serious.

So, we're just looking to see if we can find anything obvious.

Duncan's going to take blood now, to see if there's something more

internal, whereas we originally thought it's teeth,

but there's nothing obvious at the minute, other than they're worn.

As well as a full examination from head to toe, James wants to X-ray

her jaw to be certain nothing is hiding out of sight.

X-ray.

BEEP

There we go.

So, that's the top of the tooth there and that will come into

contact with these teeth up here.

And the tooth roots are down at the bottom here,

and they all look nice and normal.

There's nothing abnormal-looking there.

There's a bit of wear there, but there's nothing really that stands

out as a reason that she's gone off her food so drastically

in the last few days.

It will be several days until blood results are back.

Meanwhile, the keepers' anxiety over their beloved Jessie will remain.

It is hard to see an animal like this when they're losing condition

and you can't find what's wrong.

I think we were kind of hoping it was a tooth problem that we could

easily fix, cos obviously we don't want her welfare to suffer.

We've taken blood, so hopefully that'll show something,

and then maybe we'll be able to fix it somehow.

Jessie will take sort of 20-30 minutes to fully wake up.

And then, once we're happy that she's fully in control of chewing

and swallowing, we'll offer her food again.

I think a quiet day today, kept inside to recover.

Following an anaesthetic, they are often a bit colder.

And given that today's quite chilly,

we want to make sure she doesn't get any colder.

So we'll keep her in the house, make sure she's comfortable,

and keep a close eye on her.

We'll return to find out what happens to Jessie the tapir.

WHINE

As a prey animal, giraffes are understandably very easily spooked.

And because of that, the keepers feed them at the same time,

in the same way, every single day.

But not all animals are like that.

In fact, predators like it when the keepers mix it up...

..as Jean is about to find out over in the lions' enclosure.

Now, I know lions are great climbers,

but can they climb that high?

Yes, they can, yeah. They're really good up in trees.

But what about getting down? Because they are so strong and heavy.

If they're sort of on the trunk, they'll just turn and jump off.

So we've seen lions jumping from sort of 20 foot,

-just sort of flying out of the trees.

-Oh, I'd love to see that!

So, hopefully, we might get some flying lions today.

OK, it's flying lions. I like that, Caleb.

Let's get some enrichment up there for them.

Getting the cats to climb is a great way to help them keep fit.

We're all set, Hannah, so you can let the lions go when you're ready.

Here they come. So, that's Enzi on the left-hand side.

But will the treat be enough to get them up the trees?

You can hear some of the grumbling from the lionesses.

-What does that mean?

-That means, "Stay away."

Oh, wow! Did you see that? She just sprung right up!

Zoe just jumped up and grabbed a piece straight out of the tree.

Simba's going to want it, because he can't find his own food.

-Yeah. So, it's already starting some conflicts.

-Yeah.

GROWLING

So, that's Nyoti trying to stake her claim for it.

Sylvester's realised it's up in the trees, so I think he could be the

-first to go up the tree.

-Wow!

A really good look at how their joints and muscles work,

-and the power that goes into their paws, as well, gripping on.

-Yeah.

So it's not just a reaction which, you know... They can actually hold

their body weight up in the trees and then position

and plan their route, as well.

-I think Sylvester's giving it another go.

-Yeah, I think so.

So powerful and strong.

-Yeah. So, he's managed to get...

-Oh, that's great.

..get his jaws around it, and then he'll just happily drop down.

Pop back down, yeah.

Enzi's worked out there's one up the tree, and you can see her sort of

manoeuvring her weight around the branches.

-And she got up there super-fast, as well.

-Yeah.

Yeah, and they're really balanced in the trees, as well,

so they sort of have good balance while they're up there.

-And now she's got to plan her route down, which can be...

-Yes.

-That's pretty high, Caleb.

-Yeah!

Yeah, that's pretty high.

But she's absolutely fine up there.

I think she's more worried about Simba taking it from her

when she comes down. She's sort of planning.

She's in that pounce position.

Yep, she's planning. You can see her really thinking about it.

So, she'll try and run down the tree trunk for as long as she can,

and then she's just going to have to fly out.

So, once she's down, Simba's on it.

Straight on it.

Oh, thank you, Caleb. It's amazing to see what great climbers they are,

and it's also been amazing to see the hierarchy and all the

relationships played out and we now know that Simba

is most definitely the boss.

GROWLING

Captive breeding programmes can be essential to conservation and the

perfect partner can be looked for far and wide, but, as keepers know,

there's no guarantee that the couple will get along.

Earlier, we were with keepers as they released

their new female binturong, Arabella, into her enclosure

for the first time.

They then nervously waited to see how she'd respond

to her potential mate, Tylo.

These first steps could decide whether the breeding programme

they're part of is a success or not.

It's really exciting.

We have got Arabella and Tylo out.

They're really comfortable. We've left them out here for a while now.

But, having only just crossed that hurdle, Kat and her fellow keepers

are bracing themselves for her next big challenge.

It's time we introduced Arabella to our otters.

Meet the park's two Asian short-clawed otters.

They're notoriously inquisitive creatures and have shared

their enclosure with the binturong for years.

But it will be a first for Arabella.

It's always going to be nerve-racking introducing an animal

to another animal, especially if they've never met before.

They may look like harmless teddy bears, but binturong have powerful

front legs and sharp claws.

Arabella could full-on freak out and there could be fur everywhere.

With Tylo relaxing in the sun,

it's time for Arabella to meet the neighbours.

With an excellent sense of smell,

it doesn't take them long to sniff them out.

It's just so tense, but she's definitely seen them now.

Yes.

They just haven't quite met properly yet.

They've seen each other, but, luckily,

they're keeping their distance.

I mean, otters are very high-paced, curious, annoying,

whereas binturong are very relaxed and chilled out.

Tylo has seen it all before,

but this is new for Arabella and, true to form,

the naughty otters make the first move.

God, they're so cheeky.

One swipe from Arabella could give Hamish a nasty injury,

but he's not giving up.

-She's told him off.

-Put them in their place.

Arabella seems to be backing away,

but naughty Hamish simply won't leave her alone.

He's a little menace, isn't he?

Now her back's turned. See, now he's going to go for it.

Goading!

He is. That's exactly what it is. As soon as the back's turned.

But to the keepers' relief,

Arabella has got the measure of Hamish and is now

otterly ignoring him.

Job's done, basically.

The otters saw Arabella,

she told them off a little bit and that was it.

It's been an intensive introduction to the park for Arabella.

She's made the trip from France,

met her potential mate and shown the otters who's boss.

What an incredible, incredible way to end such a long journey.

Just went amazingly well.

Really good.

There's been some exciting news in the anteater enclosure.

Today Head of Animal Operations Darren is stepping in to help out.

We've got the joyous news of a baby anteater cub,

born the other day to Maroni

Anteater babies spend the first year of their lives

riding on their mother's back.

You can just spot it, if you look carefully.

In the wild, this helps camouflage them against predators.

The cub needs to be removed from mum for a quick health check.

But separating a newborn from its mother's back is

not without its risks.

It is a pretty dangerous thing to do.

Anteaters, giant anteaters, are incredibly dangerous animals.

With powerful forearms and razor sharp claws,

Maroni could easily cause a serious injury.

So, we don't really go in with them, ever.

This is special, and we have to go in to take the cub off of her back.

Darren has assembled a team to be on hand to help.

So, what we'll do is we're just going to distract her.

Maroni, look at this.

Oh, what's Tim got?

Delicious!

We're going to open the door.

Thanks, Charlie.

And they've got, very, very good, strong grip.

OK, door.

Darren takes the opportunity to sex the cub.

That's a boy.

So, I'm going to put him on here.

Although this cub looks cute and cuddly,

his claws are developing fast.

And you can see how sharp the claws are already.

-I mean, what's that - five, six days old?

-Yeah.

1.28 kilos, so that's a good weight already.

This is the first anteater baby we've ever featured on Animal Park

and, thankfully, he's in excellent health.

You can see it's a perfect miniature of Mum and Dad.

The camouflage stripes are there, the grippy claws,

the big tail they use for defence and for shielding, when it's hot.

It's already a big, flat tail.

But he's handsome, he's in good nick.

So, let's see if he'll climb back on mum. So, we'll pick him up.

Right.

Say goodbye to Kim.

Thank you, Charlie. All right, Tim?

With mother and son reunited, it's a job well done.

I give you that.

Nice and safe. Thank you, thank you.

Cheers, Kimmy.

Earlier, we were with Jessie the tapir, who'd stopped eating and

was steadily losing weight.

X-rays revealed no obvious problems with her jaw,

so vets carried out blood tests, because they were concerned

something far more serious could be going on.

But despite all the odds...

..quite miraculously, Jessie has bounced back.

Jessie!

And today, Jean is with keeper Beth to help give her tasty treats.

Come on, Jessie. Good girl.

I mean, you just didn't know what was wrong with her.

What could it have been?

We didn't find out what was wrong with her. So, it could have been

like a bug that she would have picked up.

But, yeah, she came out the other side perfectly healthy.

And slowly but surely, did that cheeky personality

-start coming back?

-It did indeed.

We came in one day and she came to greet us and that's when

-we knew she was going to start getting better.

-Ah, Jessie's back.

Yeah, Jessie's back, she's coming for a cuddle.

-So, it's really good to see her up and about.

-Yeah, definitely.

She's a lot more energetic, a lot more lively.

So much more interested in what she's eating.

As you can see, she's trying to get to the bucket.

Yeah, she certainly looks as if she's got her appetite back.

-So, shall we put some food out for her?

-Absolutely.

-If we go to the stick that we've got in the ground...

-OK.

..we're going to put some of her favourite stuff on

and some of her not so favourites.

So, why are we using this? I haven't seen this before.

It's basically our way to allow her to use her snout to reach up and

grab the food, so that she's not just getting it off the floor -

she's exercising her mouth, her muscles,

and just making sure that obviously she is working for her food.

-She's raring to go.

-Absolutely.

So let's put some fruit up here for her.

And what are you hoping to see?

We're hoping to see that she's using her teeth, she's chewing her food,

and that she is just generally taking on food

in the way that she should do.

And has her general health gotten better?

She's put on weight and she is now her healthy weight.

Yeah, well, it's a great sign to see her eating.

She is definitely enjoying her food again, so...

It's good to see you back to full health. Well done, Jessie.

We've been here to see the seasons change

and new life spring into action.

If you breed something that is really rare or endangered -

oh, there's nothing better. That's the icing on the animal cake.

But, as our last summer series draws to an end,

it's safe to say we've had a blast.

Listen to that!

Oh, they're following Jemima! Off she goes!

The zebras have just clocked where the giraffe are.

The sense of enjoyment for them is incredible.

We've helped keepers care for the next generation.

We will keep going with milk in the syringe.

We'll never give up.

And said goodbye to some old friends.

SNIFFS

See you soon.

Followed them across the world.

Amazing.

It is the wild, and to see animals living their lives,

that is why we're animal keepers.

We are trying to conserve that.

And explored new, exciting ways to show you

just how amazing these animals truly are.

Aren't they magnificent?!

It's been a great summer, but, sadly, we've reached the end

of the series, but before we go, we wanted to catch up with

two very important characters.

-Anne, the elephant, and Ross's replacement, new boy Matt.

-Hello.

Yes! Now, Matt, what shoes you have had to fill!

Have you ever worked with elephants before?

No, this is my first elephant I've had the opportunity

and the pleasure to work with.

-I'm very honoured, that's for sure.

-And how has she taken to you?

Because that is the most important thing, isn't it?

Creating that bond, having a relationship with her?

Yeah, it took a bit of time, a bit of work.

Nothing a bit of food won't fix.

But, yeah, the relationship seems to be building, and, yeah,

hopefully we will have a good career together.

And what is it about her personality?

Have you been discovering any little sort of quirks

that she has revealed to you?

She is a cheeky one. A little bit naughty.

Is she putting you to the test?

Seeing whether you are up to the job?

Yes. She has very much tested me.

We have an enrichment device, which we call Annabel

which she decided to pull it off the winch system

and, yeah, take for a walk and give it a stamp on.

Yeah. That was a challenge.

So, just to prove to you that there's life in the old girl yet.

Oh, absolutely. Yes, very much so.

I think she's going keep you on your toes.

Yeah, most definitely. Most definitely.

Well, listen, good luck, Matt.

-Yes, very good luck, Matt.

-Thank you.

Thank you very, very much indeed,

and thanks to all of you for watching.

We hope you've enjoyed this series at Longleat.

So it's goodbye from Ben, from Matt, from me,

and, of course, the magnificent Anne.

We'll see you again soon. Goodbye.