Episode 4 Animal Park

These beautiful fellows are rainbow lorikeets.

Unlike many birds, they don't eat seeds.

Instead, they sip the nectar from flowers incredibly quickly.

Um, but luckily for us,

we've got some specialist camera equipment set up

that can slow the action down,

and allow us to see how it works.

And you can see those brush-like tongues lap up the nectar

incredibly quickly, many, many times a second.

-It's amazing to see it, isn't it?

-Absolutely extraordinary.

And today, we have challenged one of BBC Planet Earth's top cameramen

to try and capture one of the planet's fastest animals.

But is HE fast enough to get the shot?

Also coming up on today's show:

a medical emergency...

Until we get there and assess it,

we really don't know what the situation is.

..forces keepers to take drastic action.

A world-class elephant expert helps Anne like never before.

When Christian comes in, he gets into the mind of Anne.

And Jean is on hand to help with the bongo's bedtime.

We have to be really quiet cos they're very, very nervous.

There are three different species of big cats living in the park -

lions,

tigers,

and the world's fastest, the cheetah.

Keepers work hard to ensure all three species are fed

in ways that suit how they'd hunt in the wild.

All the lions will come out, running out together,

trying to take something down.

The tigers, we might get them climbing up trees

and getting high up,

and trying to use their strength to get to their food.

And then with the cheetahs...

Go, go, go, go, go, go, go!

We do have a lure that we can get them sort of running after that.

Yes, we do feed them in a similar way,

but we've got different things we can do for each of them.

It's during the specific feed times that keepers get a glimpse of

what their cats are truly capable of.

The problem is, they're so fast,

their movements are virtually invisible to the naked eye.

So I really want to know how our cats use their special adaptations

to hunt in different ways.

Well, help is at hand.

Last series, keepers invited

world-class wildlife cameraman Louis Lebron

to capture some of the park's intriguing high-speed feeders

in super slow motion.

-Well done!

-CHUCKLING

-Amazing.

-Look at her go!

-Amazing.

Seeing the mantis in action got Amy thinking about her cats.

With the cheetahs, how do they reach those top speeds?

Well, today, Louis and his camera are back,

and he's making it his mission to film the cheetah.

So my aim is to give Amy and Caleb a really in-depth and close-up view

of how these animals hunt. Like with all wildlife filming,

it's very up in the air. I'm hoping today's going to go really well,

but it could go horribly wrong.

The only thing between Louis and the cats is this camera cage.

This is Simon to tiger team, ready when you are. Over.

Last year, photographer Simon King used it

to get close-ups of the tigers.

Here she comes.

And it got him closer than anyone expected.

-LAUGHING:

-Ooh!

That was a rev!

Straight at the car!

Louis has had the cage modified for this shoot.

So last year, Simon King was taking still photographs from down here

in this cat flap. But this time,

I'm going to be filming from up here in my little cat window.

It looks a little bit vulnerable.

Uh, a paw could definitely get through there, but luckily for me,

my lens will be there. And if my lens isn't there

and we're travelling, it's got a little hatch

that makes it perfectly safe.

The cage is set, so it's time to hit the road.

So I've filmed several big cats

since I started wildlife film-making.

I've had a few close calls with lions in the past.

Naturally, big cats are quite inquisitive,

especially when there's a big zebra-coloured Jeep.

Caleb is ready, too.

So we've got Wilma, Poppy and Winston out,

and we're going to try to get them running as fast as they can.

And just get Louis to come in with his high-speed camera,

so we can actually see how they achieve that speed,

and how they use that tail and that body

to sort of manoeuvre themselves at that speed,

and keep their balance.

I think even Louis might struggle,

cos the cheetahs are so fast,

it's going to be hard for him to focus on it

and actually capture them doing their top speed.

To get the cheetah really moving,

the big cat team is setting up a lure for them to chase.

On-site techie Nick invented the lure last year,

using a drill, a spool of twine,

and a rag.

But the cubs have never used the lure before.

Everyone's hoping they're quick learners.

We're just getting Caleb to pick up the rag

that's on the end of our lure, um, so he can then drag it out.

So it's straight down the road,

it's best if it's on the road, they can see it,

and hopefully they'll chase it.

So they use this explosive speed, explosive power,

to chase down their prey.

I'm just hoping they'll do it more than once,

because cheetahs, notoriously being fast,

means it's going to be really difficult to film.

-You all ready to go?

-Yeah, all good, Amy!

Perfect.

So you can just about see Louis in the cage, all set and ready.

I'm really wondering whether or not I'm going to actually get this shot,

because the cheetahs are going to be running so quickly between A to B.

We're all ready for the cheetah now.

Thank you very much.

So here they come.

Go, cheetah!

Mum's just bringing out the two cubs,

they're a little bit cautious to what's going on.

But they are magnificent, they're so sleek and slender,

but incredibly muscular.

And you can see those shoulders as they move, that lifting up,

they're really menacing.

It will be really good today if we can get the cubs chasing after it.

Wilma, we know she chases it, so it's getting the cubs into that.

And hopefully they'll learn from her, they'll see her doing it,

and they'll go as well.

Oh, here they come, here they come.

We'll be back later to see whether Louis captures these cats on camera

or not.

As the hot summer rolls on,

the moment new babies start to leave their parents grows ever closer.

In Monkey Temple,

this year's pair of black-tailed marmoset babies

are starting to gain their own independence.

And I've popped along to meet them.

Oh, look at them!

They look like they're doing really well, Nadia.

Yeah, they are! So our babies are now about seven weeks old.

-Yeah.

-And, uh, they're starting to wean.

So when they start to wean,

does that mean they'll spend less time on the adult's back?

Yeah, so most of the time, they're being carried around, um,

and not really doing much work for themselves.

But now that time's coming along a little bit,

they're getting quite excited.

And they will hop off and have a bit of an adventure.

Now, I would assume that they would always ride on their mother's back,

but that's not actually right, is it?

No. So, quite soon after they're born,

there's a bit too much for her having to feed them

and carry them around.

So Dad does much of the duty, and carries them...

..both on his back at the same time, if he can.

I want to say it's quite an armful, but it's sort of a backful,

it's like Daddy's carrying a really heavy backpack, isn't it?

Yeah, exactly, and they are really getting quite big now.

And if they were in the wild,

would they then stay within the troop,

even when they're weaned, or do they go off?

They would try to as much as possible,

most callitrichids stay within family groups,

-which is quite nice.

-HIGH-PITCHED CHITTERING

-Yeah.

-But they can be quite territorial animals, so they, uh,

they do have their arguments amongst them,

-and that's what you could just hear then.

-That, that lovely...

That little bit of, um, tweeting, that...

-Oh, look, look!

-Bit of squabbling.

-The babies have just got off the backs, there.

-Oh, look!

Come on, babies!

You must feel so proud at this moment.

We're very lucky, because these are our third lot of babies,

and we got the two older brothers in here.

And these babies are, you know, few and far between,

so this is very lucky for us.

These are the world's smallest primates, is that right?

Yeah, so callitrichids are some of the smallest primates in the world.

And for black-tails,

they're slightly larger than some of the smaller species...

-Right.

-Um, but they've got quite long tails.

Hi.

And voracious appetites!

Well, congratulations on a really wonderful job done.

And what a treat! Hello, poppet.

The story of Anne the elephant's abuse in a circus is

one that shocked the nation.

Nearly half of the £1.2 million it cost to build this enclosure

came from public funds,

people who just wanted to see her have a better life

in her latter years.

And since arriving,

with help from her dedicated team,

Anne's physical health has steadily improved.

She's now able to lift her trunk,

and use it properly.

And she has an increased range of movement in her limbs.

I think, in the time she's been here,

what we've achieved is massive.

But for the keepers,

Anne's physical wellbeing isn't the whole story.

We have many different enrichment ideas for

really exercising her physically.

So we need extra assistance from outside to help us

sort of stimulate her mentally.

To help the team come up with ways to keep her mind healthy

and active,

the park have enlisted the help of Christian Schiffman,

a world-renowned specialist in elephant behaviour.

Since a very small age, I was always into elephants.

I looked at them, I drew them, I tried to read about them.

I would wish to work for the rest of my life with elephants.

For weeks now, Christian has been observing Anne's behaviour.

Doing studies using external stimuli,

he's hoping to understand what makes her happy...

We hope to get some new insights,

which can be used for Anne.

..and whether the keepers can do anything

to make her life even better.

When Christian comes in, he does these experiments,

and he gets into the mind of Anne.

So it's always nice to see new things,

and always exciting when Christian comes.

MUTED TRUMPETING

Today, he wants to see how Anne reacts

to the sound of other elephants,

so he's playing the noises made by an unfamiliar herd.

DISTANT TRUMPETING AND HOOTING

Um, she was out like a shot, in terms of Anne's pace.

It was pretty nippy, um, so she really wants to see what's going on,

which is a really, really good reaction to see.

SCREECHING

She's listening, she's watching.

What's going on?

Um, I'm noting what I see in her, what reactions, the trumpets,

her posture, the ear-fluffing,

and how close she is to the speaker for us.

Ross and Kev spend every day with Anne,

but the work that Christian is doing is giving them new insights

into how her mind works.

I think we don't know enough about Anne's, sort of, past history,

how her, um, relationships with other elephants have been.

But listening and watching what's going on here,

she can definitely recognise the sound of the other elephants,

which is good. She's not stressed by it, which is...

is a real positive for us.

You know, we don't want to do these experiments or studies

and have her upset, so she's definitely not upset.

She's definitely listening to the sound, um,

and it's just nice to know that although, you know,

she's a very old elephant now, she still knows how to be an elephant.

It will take Christian several visits over many months

to complete his study of Anne, during which time

he'll spend every single moment trying to learn

all he can about her.

But to find out what she gets up to when no-one's around...

..Christian has turned to Anne's own CCTV cameras,

which cover every corner of the house.

I'm checking every five minutes what Anne is doing,

seeing which proportion of time she spends with which activity

during the daytime.

And after viewing five days of material,

he's picked up on a possible cause for concern.

What I've noticed is that Anne is always, each morning,

swaying before the keepers arrive.

It's an unnatural behaviour,

we know it doesn't occur in the wild,

in free-ranging elephants, we don't see that at all.

Christian suspects Anne adopted the swaying habit

as a coping mechanism while being chained up in the circus.

When she first came six years ago, she used to do it a lot.

With Christian coming in, hopefully we can learn a little bit,

with all these experiments that he's been conducting

over the time we've known him,

um, we can use different parts of that,

just try and get rid of that swaying.

Having pinpointed the problem,

Christian and the keepers now need to find a way

to help Anne to break the swaying habit.

Our plan now, really, is to, um,

come up with a decent toy enrichment, or,

uh, we know that she likes different sounds,

so we're going to try and use sounds, as well as the enrichment.

And hopefully put it all together and come up with something amazing,

so that when she wakes up in the morning,

she's got something really interesting to do.

It's a challenge, we're looking forward to it and, yeah,

hopefully Anne gets something out of it as well.

We'll find out later on what they come up with

and, more importantly, how Anne reacts.

In 2013, the park built Ray Bay...

..a specially designed aquarium

for the sole purpose of breeding a vulnerable species

known as the Thornback Ray

found in British waters.

Last series, Ben was on-hand to meet some of the rays' first offspring.

You may wonder what it is.

Well, I can tell you now it's called a mermaid's purse.

Well, it's been a couple of months since his visit,

and Jean's gone to meet the two babies that were hiding inside.

-Hi, Christopher!

-Hi, Jean.

They're looking great, how are they getting on?

They're getting on pretty well.

One of them is especially hungry. What if we try and feed one?

Yeah, I'd like to feed them.

This is a little bit of krill that we have here. Ooh, hello.

-There we go.

-It's important that they eat, isn't it?

Because the minute they're hatched,

-they kind of have to fend for themselves.

-Yeah, absolutely.

Also, when they first hatch,

they have a little bit of an egg yolk still attached to them

that they can feed on, um, which is quite important.

But relatively, uh, soon, they start eating by themselves.

They eat all kinds of little pieces of shrimps...

-Mm-hm.

-..little fish, anything they can get their hands on.

Why are you keeping them in this box, Christopher?

When they're out and about with the bigger guys,

they're a bit vulnerable.

We can also monitor them, make sure they're eating well.

And this one is not hungry, maybe it's a bit early in the morning.

-So it's a form of protection for them as well...

-Absolutely.

..because I can see they're kind of perfectly camouflaged to the sand.

Yeah, it's a form of defence,

so they'll cover themselves and disappear, effectively.

It's their only defence that they have.

When they grow up, they grow these little thorns and things like that,

hence the name Thornback.

But at this age, they're very, very vulnerable, it's a very easy prey.

How long will it be before these two are fully grown?

They're fully grown at eight years old, and...

That's a long time!

Yeah, it's a really long time.

And if you check underneath here,

we've got a few which are a tiny bit older, so those...

Ahh, they're really camouflaged, aren't they, on the sea bed?

Um, those are two weeks old,

these are about 16 months old.

So you can see how slow they actually grow.

Well, these two look as if they're coming along nicely.

And as their numbers are endangered in the wild,

it's great that we can do our bit to boost the numbers in captivity,

-as well.

-Yeah, absolutely.

-It's nice to catch up with them.

-Thank you.

It's time now to return to cheetah country...

..where wildlife cameraman Louis is on his big cat mission.

And it's a tough one -

to get a high-speed shot of the fastest animal to live on land.

Because they're so fast...

..it's all just a huge gamble.

But the team doesn't have long.

The park is due to open and visitors are on their way.

To succeed, Louis must bag the shot before the first car.

It's the cubs' first time with the lure.

Can't wait, it's going to be awesome.

Just seeing how they move in slow motion's going to be amazing.

They're probably going to reel it in any moment.

Here we...

go!

Wow, that was amazing!

The two cubs were on that, that was great!

The team is keen to reset,

but it seems the cubs have other ideas.

So Winston's come to see the rag, so we're actually just letting him...

Ooh, he got a bit scared of it!

Of the cubs, he's always been the most confident,

and he's always been doing everything first, before Poppy,

he'll do everything.

She's not far behind, and she's loving it as well.

But it's always Winston that sort of goes there first,

and just tries it out, tests it out.

I think Poppy's the clever one, she goes, "Yeah, Winston,

"you go and just test it out and see what it is,

"just in case it's something bad."

Um, and then she joins in.

No, it's great just to have them this close, and used to it,

and know what it is.

Um, it's really good, they know Nick's here,

um, they're happy with Nick, Nick being here as well.

So they'll keep chasing it, and hopefully they'll keep chasing it

as close as possible.

It's a great first run.

But Louis is struggling to keep up.

It's so difficult to judge where they're going to be,

sort of, to get the focus right,

but they're so quick as they went through frame.

They're only in the shot for a couple of seconds,

if that.

Until he watches the footage back on a full screen,

he won't know whether it's been successful.

While the lure is reset,

the cheetah family get some meaty treats to reward their hard work.

Good boy, good boy!

Have a chunk, good boy!

The first run was fast,

but the team think the cats can go faster.

Oh, here they come, here they come!

Here they come!

Yep, they're on it, they've got it!

-LAUGHING:

-That was great!

It's a little bit of guesswork, actually, because...

I can only sort of assume that the cheetah's going to be running in the

centre of the road, so I've got to frame up in the centre of the road,

and just hope that they run through my frame.

With just minutes to go before the first visitors' cars arrive,

Louis makes the bold decision to change his position,

and try and get a fresh angle.

Uh...

This is the perfect position.

Yeah, this should give us a great shot

as they're coming down towards us,

straight down the barrel of the lens along the road.

It's a perfect shot.

So we're going to try one more.

Nothing like a bit of rag on some string.

I'm hoping this will be the shot...

..but you never really can tell.

They're coming!

Oh, here we go!

It's just the cubs this time, then.

Oh, there's Mum, look!

I think Mum ambushed that one from the side, that was a bit unfair.

Definitely got that one, that one was great.

And it's a wrap.

The cheetahs did their bit, but did Louis?

Back now to Anne's Haven,

where experienced animal keeper Matt has recently joined the team.

It's an opportunity of a lifetime, um, yeah,

obviously elephants are incredible animals, anyway.

And obviously Anne's even more a special animal.

Obviously, yeah, I'm absolutely delighted to be a part of the team.

During analysis by elephant expert Christian,

keepers were alerted to a daily swaying session carried out by Anne.

It's important that she doesn't spend a long time swaying,

because it's... It's a very repetitive behaviour,

and it puts a lot of wear on her muscles, and things like that.

So the more that we can break the routine, um,

and just get her exercising more,

it's going to be more beneficial to her.

Christian's research showed Anne was responsive to sound.

This gives Matt a chance to use his specific skill set.

I'm academically trained as a sound engineer,

and in music production.

So this is a great opportunity for me to, sort of,

to nerd out a little bit and, yeah, to obviously help Anne as well.

Music is a great way to sort of stimulate our emotions,

it can move us, it can energise us, relax us.

We've tried various different genres.

A bit of jungle, drum and bass, rock, hip-hop.

But I think, yeah, classic...

classical music will be the nicest sort of way

to approach an early morning start.

Let's see what she does.

SLOW HARP ARPEGGIOS

The goats have clearly enjoyed it cos they've just lied down

in the middle of the paddock.

Hopefully she might find a favourite track

which she might just sort of, yeah, favour more than others.

But only time will tell with that one.

Matt will set a timer for the music to come on at 6:00am,

when the swaying normally begins.

As well as this musical interlude,

the guys are putting together a new enrichment device,

to be activated at precisely the same time.

We've called this Annabelle,

because the action that Anne has to use is like a bell.

So, yeah, hang up there.

This hangs down, Anne'll hopefully hold on to this.

And when she pulls it, food'll come out of the hole.

We made the hole fairly small for the food to come out

so she really has to really work on it.

It just breaks her mind-set of what she normally does

first thing in the morning.

With Annabelle the toy ready to swing into action,

it's time to fill her up with some of Anne's favourite treats.

Chunks of apple, we got some carrot.

The goats are being goats. They want to eat everything,

they're curious as to what's going on.

It's going to be interesting to see if we can break Anne's behaviour.

We want to give her a little bit more excitement in her life so

she can... Instead of just waiting for us to turn up for work,

she can actually be doing elephant behaviours and natural things.

Even if it's interacting with the goats, or playing with this,

it's just really making Anne's life that much more happier for her.

The toy is hoisted up out of Anne's reach.

A timer will lower it down in the morning.

The cameras are set to record...

..but will it be enough to break the habit of a lifetime?

Over in the Bat Cave, breakfast is nearly finished.

Time then to give them their regular health check.

There are many animal training and monitoring techniques

that have advanced in the park here over the years,

but here in the Bat Cave,

they still do it the old-fashioned way,

by hand.

Now, Perry, we've got a bat here.

-We do.

-And we're about to give him a health check.

-We are indeed.

-So what do I need to do?

So you need to check his wings for any little holes

-that they may have sustained...

-OK.

And check his teeth, eyes, ears, general health check.

Well, I can tell you what, I can already see that his claws are...

-Claws are lovely.

-..pretty good. They're sticking into the gloves,

making everything else a little bit fiddly.

So here's one of the wings.

-So we look for that.

-Yep, that's lovely, healthy.

So this skin is very thin, isn't it, between the wings?

Yep. It's a very thin membrane,

and their wings are actually really special.

They're actually giant hands, really.

So this'll be like a kind of wrist area.

This is his little thumb, just here.

-Oh, yes.

-And then you can see there's actually...

-I'll just hold the wing there.

-Yep.

There's actually four digits that make up the wing

with membrane in-between,

and those digits are actually really long fingers.

So, it helps them with flying,

they're really good at flying that way.

They can manoeuvre really well.

OK. Look at the eyes, yep,

the teeth are definitely looking quite good

as he bites into the glove there.

A little bit blunt as well, do you think, on here?

-A little bit blunt, yeah.

-But that's from all the fruit?

They eat a lot of fruit, so their teeth do naturally wear down

-over time.

-You do realise this is the first time I've ever had

-a bat in my hands.

-What do you think of him?

-He's beautiful!

-Isn't he just?!

-So what's next?

-Right,

now we're going to check for a microchip. There we go.

BEEP-BEEP Oh, there we go.

There we go. So that's 9915.

-OK.

-And now we're going to weigh him...

-OK.

..just to make sure he's a good weight.

So, we just want to try and get him into the bat weigh tub.

Yes.

-There we go.

-There we go.

-Put the lid on, yep, a little bit.

-OK, so that weight there.

-And we've got 188.

-That's a really good weight for them.

-Right. Ready for his release?

Yep, let's do it. Pop the lid off and then...

There we go, and he's off.

-There we go.

-How do you rate my bat handling skills out of ten?

-I'll give you a nine.

-A nine!

I'll come back and I'll get that ten.

-You will.

-Thank you very much, Perry.

No worries, thank you very much for helping.

There's an emergency at the park.

Team manager Ryan has just received an urgent call.

We've just had a report of one of our roan antelope.

Initial report is that he's got something wrapped around

one of his horns,

but of course until we get there and assess it,

we really don't know what the situation is.

Roan antelope have massive, heavily ringed horns

that can grow a metre in length.

A four-year-old male called Moe has been isolated in a stable.

Vet Emily is concerned that if he was left out in the park,

the baling twine could cause more problems.

The risk of that getting caught round his neck

or caught on a fence or getting himself tangled up somewhere else

could've caused an injury.

So, I think just stepping in now

rather than getting him into any more difficulty.

She asks Ryan to dart him with a sedative.

-Hey, fella.

-He's not tame, he's not used to being handled.

You know, if it was a cow we'd be able to walk up to him

or put him in a crush and take that off,

but for everyone's safety and for his safety,

that didn't give us much option but to sedate him to get it off.

DART GUN POPS

Good boy.

The team wait for the sedative to take effect.

You know, obviously, there's a few hurdles when you sedate any animal.

You want to see him go down nicely,

and then of course you need to check that they're breathing regularly.

Moe seems to be going under without any issues.

But Ryan must check it's safe for the vet to enter the stall.

I'm fairly confident with that, so I'm going to blindfold him

-and then...

-Yep, I'm happy.

It's important to limit the time Moe's sedated for,

so they must work as quickly as possible.

Might be a bit too far under.

Excellent, well done.

-Just check we've got all of it. I'm happy.

-Good to me, yeah.

-OK.

-Emily injects him with a drug to wake him up...

..and makes sure he comes round calmly.

That went really well.

Next steps for Moe, really, is just to spend the rest of the day inside,

nice and quiet and calm,

and then hopefully by tomorrow morning he will be right as rain,

and ready to go out.

It's been four weeks since Moe's emergency procedure.

Let's see if we can spot Moe.

Now he's back with the herd, and Jean is out on patrol with Ryan.

So, Ryan, this is Moe, he looks well!

Yeah, yeah. Really well.

As you can see, he's moving nice and freely.

So obviously when we anaesthetize an animal,

when you knock them down, sometimes, you know,

there's a chance of them damaging themselves on the way down...

-Yeah.

-..and of course then when they recover on the way up.

So it's not just about, you know,

whatever it is the reason you're knocking them down for,

-there's also...

-Yes.

-..you know, dangers to that procedure anyway.

But I'm glad to say that he's as fit as a fiddle,

he seems to be enjoying himself out here as always.

He's constantly moving around.

That's probably why he ended up with a string round his horns

-in the first place.

-Yeah.

-Cos he's quite a confident character...

-OK.

-So therefore he's always exploring, checking things out.

Sometimes the others are just quite happy to stand around

looking pretty, but he always wants to get involved in stuff.

So, I think that's probably part of the reason he ended up like that.

He's a show off, yeah.

I do like these antelope,

they're not the classic antelope shape,

-they've got big shoulders and big necks to them.

-Yeah,

and that funny mane going down their back as well.

I always think they're kind of an antelope equivalent of a hyena.

-Yeah.

-And I'm a big fan of hyenas,

I think they're really fascinating animals.

And I just love the ears, I think they're just fantastic on their own.

Well, they are a beautiful herd.

It's lovely to see all eight of them together,

and see Moe back to full health, running around with no string.

-CHUCKLING:

-Thank you!

I'm out with the Canadian timberwolves.

Now, these guys are endurance hunters.

In the wild, they will chase down a herd of elk or deer,

sometimes for days,

trying to identify the weakest animal.

And then, when the time is right, they'll move in,

split that animal away from the herd, and go in for the kill.

Cheetah, as we've seen, use a different tactic.

They use speed.

But is Louis the cameraman fast enough to catch them in action?

Wildlife cameraman Louis Lebron has been filming the cheetahs

for keeper Amy with his high-speed camera.

So it looked good from where I was stood,

but did you manage to get anything from where you were?

Well, we were in a really good position,

I just hope that the footage pays off.

If we go through from the start,

there's the lure just gone past.

And then I think...

this is... Is that Mum?

-That's Mum.

-So we've got Mum.

And let's see if we got the cubs.

-Oh, look.

-Wow, they look huge!

So those are the two cubs as well.

The filming has paid off magnificently.

Wilma and her cubs have been caught in action.

HE LAUGHS

Louis' camera records at 200 frames per second,

which means the footage can be replayed

eight times slower than normal speed.

So for what's just a blur to the naked eye,

now every detail of their physique in motion is revealed.

So, actually, if we freeze frame it there...

There, there. Yeah, look at that.

So you can see her bum is a lot higher than her head.

Raising of the rump just gives her more force

to bring it back down again. So as she throws it up,

throws her legs back as she brings her leg forwards,

-it comes down again.

-Yep.

So it's this constant compression and release, just like a spring.

As she pulls herself together, she can explode out.

But as she explodes out, she sort of over-stretches

to get that extra reach, which is what cheetahs are so famous for.

They sort of cover a huge distance of ground...

-Yes.

-..with what seems like very short paces,

but they actually stretch out to, you know...

Their stride can be metres at a time. It's incredible. I mean,

you'll see here if we just skip forward a couple of frames,

she's covering a lot of ground per stride.

And she's got all four legs off the floor for...

Bringing everything together there, yeah.

..a good metre, metre and a half. It's incredible.

And then who's this, as we come forward?

Possibly Winston. He's completely off the ground,

and quite high off the ground as well, isn't he?

A good foot, two feet off the ground.

You couldn't see that from where we were at all.

It didn't look like they were particularly doing much...

-Well, it's all...

-They weren't full speed.

-..happening so fast.

That's great. It's incredible how flexible that spine actually is,

-isn't it?

-Yeah, as all four feet are off of the floor

-it's almost U-shaped.

-Yeah.

That shot's great, cos Mum comes through

and then the cub comes behind in exactly the same...

-Exactly the same pose.

-Exactly the same motion.

She's obviously taught them well.

With their flexible spines, slender torsos

and long, muscular legs,

the cheetah's physique is built for sprinting.

Once they spot their prey, they don't hesitate,

and can accelerate from 0 to 70mph in just three seconds.

But changing direction at such high speeds is a challenge.

-Out comes Mum out of nowhere.

-Here comes Mum.

Tries to swipe it in that amazing, sort of, almost a turn on the spot.

Her feet were in complete different, sort of, directions in that shot.

-But she's so well balanced.

-Yeah.

What Louis' footage clearly shows

is how their tail plays a vital role.

They use it like a rudder of a boat to steer into and out of corners.

Cos as she's turning,

she's shifting right,

and her tail is on her right side.

And then as soon as she then makes that proper right turn,

-it then switches over to the left.

-Then switches it over.

I could not have hoped for any better, really.

-Oh! Thank God.

-So, thank you so much.

-LAUGHTER

-No, it was a pleasure.

Louis will be back later in the series.

It's day one of Anne's new regime,

and keepers Kev and Matt are about to find out

if all their hard work has paid off.

Just hit 6:00am, so the music will be playing now.

They hope that by playing classical music

and introducing a new toy at precisely the same time,

it will keep Anne entertained,

and halt her early morning swaying behaviour.

She's awake.

And I think she must be listening to the music,

and just having a bit of a lie-in.

We're glad that it hasn't startled her when she woke up,

like an alarm clock would.

It's just something very gentle for her to wake up to and hear.

So there she's getting herself into a better position to get up.

Using the slope of the sand round there to help her get up.

Most elephants when they get up,

they'll swing their back leg to get the momentum.

But with Anne, it's literally,

she's using all of her stomach muscles

which is pretty impressive for an old lady like her.

Crunching the tummy muscles.

There she goes.

It's actually quite elegant, the way she gets up, as well.

She's up. But does she want to play or sway?

Anne's gone straight up to the normal corner where she stands

waiting for us to come in to give her breakfast.

And she's started her swaying routine straightaway.

Annabelle didn't seem to do...have any effect on her this morning.

So at the moment it looks like

we haven't actually broken her routine this time.

The keepers aren't giving up just yet.

Day two, and again the guys check the footage.

The music's due to start in just a few minutes,

but it looks like Anne's decided to wake up

a little bit earlier than that today.

-What will she do?

-What will she do?

The question is, does she go to Annabelle?

So it looks like this time she's ignored Annabelle again,

and heading off to the usual place.

It seems Anne's swaying routine is a tough one for her to shake.

The music and toy are not having the effect they were hoping for.

Day three.

She's on her feet, and what is she going to do?

Making a beeline for the door.

Going outside at this time is a first.

It's not her normal routine.

She's pretty much free to do what she wants,

when she wants to do it.

And this morning, she's had a scratch and gone outside.

Then she comes back in,

but doesn't head for her usual swaying spot.

Seven o'clock this morning, so the music's already playing.

The Annabelle has dropped as well.

So she's... ignored it at the moment.

And then suddenly it's caught her attention.

Will she, won't she?

It looks like she's ready for it.

That's it, heads-up.

-There she goes.

-Go on.

-There it is!

-That's the one!

Yeah. So, yeah...

She's got it, she's giving it a good old ring.

It's the breakthrough they've been hoping for.

Anne's found the enrichment, and she's given it a shake,

so now it's nice to see that she's spending a few minutes

just picking up the treats on the floor, and not swaying at the gate.

So we have broken her routine.

We're just reducing time that she actually does sway.

Good. Good girl!

Good.

Anne kept us waiting for three days

before she actually played with the device first thing in the morning.

The fact that she broke from her routine of swaying at the gate

to then go and play with it, yeah, that's a win for us.

Very happy.

Anne's keepers will carry on coming up with

new ways to reduce her swaying,

in the hope that one day it may stop altogether.

Anne's haven is designed to let her come and go

throughout the night but all across the park,

animals are being brought in for a well-earned rest.

It's time to put to the bongos to bed,

and I have to be quiet,

because they're a little bit on the nervous side.

Now, Tara, so what's the first part of their bedtime routine?

So after a long day of exploring they do come back over,

ready to go in for bed. But today is a bit of a special cause,

and we're going to give them some medication,

but we only do it every so often.

Yeah, and I can see their beautiful bodies, distinctive patterns.

Yeah, each one's different. As you can see, Hero's on the left here,

he's a lot darker than Alf on the right.

-Yeah.

-So each one does have their individual colours

and the stripes are for camouflage in the wild.

They're really beautiful. And massive ears!

Every time we, sort of, make a noise, I can see the ears move.

Yeah, it's really important for them because in the wild, obviously,

they have quite a lot of predators.

So they need to be able to listen out for those loud noises,

and the big ears just draw in the sound a lot easier.

So that's why we're a little bit more quiet

so we don't stress them out before we give them the medication.

So how are we going to give them the treatment?

OK, so I've got some carrots here.

-OK.

-And I'm going to try and lure them over this way,

and then you're going to pop the spot on from their shoulders

-and down their spine.

-So what's in here?

That's just a treatment, it helps to control ticks and flies

in the summer. So we do it every six weeks in the summer.

-This acts like a repellent?

-Yes, definitely, yeah.

And there's a lot of ticks about so it just helps them

-not catch onto the bongo.

-Here, come get your treatment.

That's a good boy.

-WHISPERING:

-That's a good boy.

-VERY QUIETLY:

-We have to be really quiet

cos they're very, very nervous.

Just over the shoulders.

That's it, perfect.

Come here.

And with one final movement,

Jean's work is done.

The bongos can head to bed.

-Perfect.

-Come on, Hero.

Bedtime.

Good lad.

Move up.

Move up. Good boy.

Can you pull the door for us, please?

So, bongo bedtime done. Tara!

Well done, thank you.

It's almost the end of the show,

but before we go we just wanted to check up on the lovely Anne,

and to catch up with our old friend, Daren Beasley.

-Hi.

-So the work that's been done with Anne,

absolutely fascinating stuff. Has it been useful for you?

Oh, it's not only useful now, it's ongoingly useful.

You know, we've had world experts here

and we've commissioned researchers and reviews all the time

just to find out what she needs,

and what makes her tick, and how we plan for the future as well.

Because it is a very different care package, isn't it,

for an animal that's had a life like Anne's,

that worked in a circus,

and also had the level of abuse that she suffered.

Do you know what? Coming up here today,

dragging out of my office for this beautiful day,

-seeing her down here, moving around...

-Yeah.

..she's got people over there looking at her,

she's choosing to not see them, she gets to see us, you know...

That might be because we've got a bucket full of apples.

Could be. This is what it's about,

the work that the team put into this really special elephant.

This is the reward and this is the ongoing plan, you know...

-Yeah.

-..is that we're sifting through data now that says

that the guys have got to adjust what they do with her in the day

to fill up little slots where she wants to do something.

-Yep.

-They're going to fill up that slot.

We're finding that out now, and it's a wonderful time.

It's a wonderful time to be with such a special animal.

Daren, people talk about job satisfaction,

-this must be what it's all about.

-This is it, you get no better.

I couldn't work anywhere else and do anything else

other than coming to see her occasionally,

and it's just a great reward seeing her a healthy animal,

and a content animal.

-Fantastic.

-You've all done a really magnificent job.

Well done, Daren, thank you.

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

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

The keepers take a plunge amongst the penguins

for a new feeding device.

Loading one in.

Come on, penguins.

The park has its very first pregnant male.

He looks like he's going through contractions,

so they can actually be in labour for around 12 hours.

He's going to be in a bit of pain.

And it's hijinks as the keepers attempt to round up the hyrax.

He's coming round...

LAUGHTER