All language subtitles for Taronga s01e10 Giraffe-ic Park

Famous the world over, Sydney Harbour is
home to some of Australia's most iconic

landmarks and one of the world's most
celebrated zoos.

Throughout its 101 -year history,
there's never been a more exciting time

granted access to both of Taronga Zoo's
locations.

From caring for a single animal.

Just hang on to him and keep calm.

To saving an entire species.

She's a gorgeous little frog and one of
our most critically endangered.

We'll take you Inside Taronga.

On this episode, there's something about
Mary.

Our female sun bear, Mary. She's ready
to mate with our male, Mr Hobbs. But

the elderly Mr Hobbs feel the love?

Fingers crossed this time that we get a
little sun bear cub.

What not to do at a barbecue.

He was found with a metal skewer
sticking out of his abdomen.

Emergency surgery for a greedy goanna.

This is a lot of fluid in the abdomen
and we're not sure why.

And after a confident wink, a baby
koala's first ride with mum still needs

little work.

You're facing the wrong way, buddy.

He's having a good listen to his heart
and his mind.

It sounds really good.

Taronga Zoo Hospital is responsible for
the health and welfare of nearly 5 ,000

animals. 10 .8 kilos.

So he's lost a bit of weight.

From over 350 species.

All koalas copped a bit, unfortunately.

The hospital also plays a vital role in
the treatment and rehabilitation of over

1 ,400 injured wildlife brought in by
the public each year. Very obviously a

nasty wound there which is already a few
days old by the look of it.

And never has this been more obvious
than in the aftermath of the savage

bushfires that swept through Australia
this year killing and injuring more than

a billion animals.

Understandably, all this makes the
emergency room a very busy place.

So rather than bring every animal to the
hospital, sometimes...

They need to take the hospital to the
animal.

This morning I'm on outside rounds, so
I'm the veterinarian that's designated

go out in the zoo and look at any of the
animals that need veterinary

assistance. We'll take this bag of
goodies with all kinds of different

in it, so it's antibiotics,

stethoscope, needles and syringes. So if
we need something while we're out

there, we can treat some of the animals
on site.

So I have a list with all of our
different departments.

The reptiles are probably the most
important, so I'm going to start with

The first patient on today's round is a
freshwater crocodile with a respiratory

problem. Let's look at this freshwater
croc that we wrestled last week.

Found all over northern Australia, the
freshwater crocodile, unlike its much

larger saltwater cousin, isn't prone to
attack humans.

But it still packs one hell of a punch.

So that's her there. She's just cruising
around now.

Oh, the female freshwater crocodile.

She's been having some nasal discharge
and some ocular discharge and opening

mouth quite a bit and having trouble
seemingly breathing.

We're treating her for a respiratory
infection.

Hopefully it's not a fungal respiratory
disease, but we do have to keep in the

back of our mind it could be.

We've got to keep her on antibiotics.

Emma, I thought you could just inject
her. Yeah, we should be able to. If I

the pulse range for you. No, we'll do
that.

The keepers actually are able to do the
injection for us.

So it's probably a little bit better
because I'm not used to working with

They're used to working with Crocs, and
they'll be a lot more safe than me going

in there.

So we need to give her an injection. So
we're going to fill this up with

antibiotics.

He'll put a needle on the end, and then
he'll go in, and he can just jab her in

the muscle with the antibiotic.

So we need to do that about every three
days for her. Yep, sure. So that's the

antibiotic. Yep. And there's the sterile
water. You can keep all of that.

Since the crocodile isn't due to be fed
for a few more days, the injection will

have to wait.

So Kimberly's off to her next stop to
unravel the mystery of the lame meerkat.

All across Taronga Zoo, there are
countless examples of animals that are

the same family.

Kangaroos and patty melons.

gorillas and chimpanzees, turtles and
tortoises.

But there is actually only one species
of bear at Taronga, the

Malayan sun bear.

We're in our Malayan sun bear exhibit.

We have two bears here. So we have Mr
Hobbs, who's 24 years of age, and Mary,

who's eight years of age.

One of the amazing things about sun
bears is that they do have a beautiful

on their chest, which makes it look like
the sun is rising.

Each sun bear has a unique marking.

Mary has what looks like a necklace, so
it's a full crest.

And Mr Hobbs actually has a crest that
has a little break in it that makes it

look like it's a bow tie.

Sun bears are the smallest of all bear
species, but their looks and size can be

deceiving. We definitely should not be
fooled by the sun bear's cute and cuddly

looks. They have incredibly large canine
teeth as well as other teeth and they

also have those incredibly long claws as
well, so built for getting and ripping

into rocks and to logs.

The claws make them excellent climbers,
which these keepers take a novel

approach to stopping them from scaling
the wall.

So this wall is meant to be non
-climbable.

One of the reasons you'll notice we've
got Vaseline along here is to prevent...

her from physically climbing it.

And although Mary is at the moment about
90 kilos, she can still lift her entire

body weight just on those claws.

But despite how powerful they may be,
that doesn't mean they're not doing it

tough in the wild.

They are an endangered species.

They do live in the same area as larger
predators than themselves, things like

tigers.

One of their cool adaptations is they
have a lot of excess skin on the back of

their neck.

They'll use that if a bigger bear than
them or another predator like a tiger

comes up behind them. If they latch onto
their back, they can basically almost

turn around in their own skin to either
roar at them or to scare that species

off. And then they have such incredible
climbing ability, they're up their tree

in two seconds and that bear or that
tiger can't catch up with them, which is

pretty incredible.

Although sun bear numbers are low and
Taronga would love a cub, for most of

year... The sun bears do not mix.

Keeping the bears separate here at
Taronga is kind of a safety aspect.

Mary being bigger than Hobsy and Hobsy
being quite a bit older than her, those

things are great and bad in some ways.
So her being a bit boisterous, a bit

younger, means that she can overpower
him for food, so we just want him to be

able to get his nutritional value from
all of his foods as best as we possibly

can, and having them separate is one of
those ways.

But as Keeper Ellen is about to find
out, Mary is ready to mingle.

Anne. is making no secret of the fact
that she's keen to end her and Mr Hobbs'

segregation.

Ah, OK.

Wow.

Another sign that she's coming to
Eastriff.

She hasn't really dug anything this big
since April.

So we've got to fill that in. I might go
and grab a shovel, actually.

Today's a very exciting time at Taronga.
Our female sun bear, Mary, is coming to

Eastriff, which basically means she's
ready to mate with our male, Mr Hobbs.

So one of the signs he's coming into
Easter is he actually thinks that this

one of the walls that is to Mr Hobbs.
It's not quite. So we'll dig here or

she'll often even head up to the doors.

She has actually tried to climb them
before because she can sense that he is

near. So this digging is basically a
sign of that from overnight that she's

wanted to get to him.

There's another sign up here as well.

Shows how powerful she is.

Has pulled that away from the door.

Which is quite a feat, just weighing
just how strong they are.

Mary and Mr Hobbs have been separate
since her last Easter cycle back in

Because they are a dangerous animal,
bringing the two bears together for that

first introduction as she's coming into
Easter is always a little bit of a wary

time for us.

And Mary being a good 15 kilos heavier
than Mr Hobbs means she has that

overpowering ability.

So, despite zookeeper concerns about
what may happen, Preparations have

to get them together.

Back at the wildlife hospital.

Alright, so I'm giving him what I gave
him yesterday pretty much.

Vet Gabby is preparing for emergency
surgery on a lace monitor, commonly

as a tree goanna.

It was brought to the zoo with a
gruesome injury, and vets have decided

way to save it is surgery.

He was found with a skewer, a metal
skewer sticking out of his abdomen, and

was taken to a local vet where they took
radiographs and sent him.

The x -rays are pretty spectacular, so
you can see a metal barbecue skewer,

that's what it looks like, with a round
ring on the end, so we can't just pull

it out.

because it's stuck in his body.

And I can't see where it's stuck in his
body. I can't see if it's within his

gastrointestinal tract or whether it's
moved out of his gastrointestinal tract

and just sitting free.

So he needs surgery to remove it. So I'm
going to draw up the adipamazole.

While they don't know the skewer's
precise location, they do know they have

move fast.

But first, they have the not -so -easy
task of sedating him.

He was quite feisty.

yesterday when Belle picked him up.
Okay. Yeah.

Okay. And he's probably feeling a bit
better after his fluids.

So I need gloves?

Yes.

So lace monitors are quite gnarly. They
can be defensive.

So obviously he's scared.

And so he's going to try and get me with
his mouth, his both front and rear

claws, and his tail. They whip you with
their tails.

So I'm just putting some...

protection on because I've been bitten
by these guys before.

Where is he?

He's right up to the left corner.

Up the wall. Probably going to go in
each arm.

Okay, front arm.

Can someone get me that shovel as well?

That's on the wall, the red one, orange
one.

Okay, we're going to start scrubbing.

They're not the biggest, but they're
just, yeah, they're clever.

It's the first chance for Gabby to look
at the injury, and she doesn't like what

she sees.

The animal is quite compromised, he's
quite thin, so getting him through the

surgery is a challenge, definitely. And
removing it will be a challenge as well.

I'll be very pleased if he survives the
surgery.

Coming up, final preparations for Mr
Hobbs before he visits Mary.

Open.

Every second counts as Zoot staff race
to fix a lane near Kat. We cannot afford

to take her out of the group for very
long. You could lose your place and

going to be disastrous.

And a steady hand from Gabby will be
needed to save this goanna's life.

Kimberly is doing rounds of the zoo and
is about to check out an injured meerkat

called Zulani, who is receiving
treatment for a mysterious limp.

Can you point her out? Yeah, yeah. She's
the one with the green?

She's one of the ones with the blue food
dye on her.

So Zulani's in the middle at the moment.

Yep, the one with the food coloring.

Yeah, so she's got the blue food dye on
her, being very nervous of everyone

coming around her.

So we have one of our female meerkats
that's quite high ranking in the group.

She's lame on her left front foot, and
she's had this lameness for a few days

now. It doesn't seem to be responding to
treatment very well.

I have some video for you.

You can see she's completely... Oh,
she's not putting it down at all. No.

Sometimes she is, but mostly not at all.
Oh, okay. And that's not really

improved since you started?

Well, she is noticeably still quite
lame.

And because of Delaney's injury, another
problem has arisen.

We're just noticing this morning that
there's a little bit of conflict in the

group just because they're noticing that
she is obviously lame, and then they're

taking the opportunity to try and
increase their status in the group. And

quite high -ranking. So they're picking
on her because she's got a problem. Yes.

Meerkats are a very social animal and
Taronga spend a lot of time making sure

they have a happy family group.

We have quite a large dynamic group of
meerkats with 18 individuals and just

like brothers and sisters don't get
along all the time, meerkats are the

and they have a really structured
hierarchy on both the male side and the

side. So they're looking at any chance
they can to try and increase their

in the group. So we're sort of seeing a
little bit of a shift going on within

the group which we didn't really want
because we've done a lot of work to get

them quite cohesive at the moment.

Okay, so let's increase her to 0 .4
mils, a higher dose of anti

We'll see if that helps her.

Hopefully that'll help her stay in the
group. If she's still lame on Friday

morning, we'll recheck her, but let's
plan to grab her and take an x -ray up

the hospital if she's not better. Yep,
absolutely.

I'm just worried that there may be a
broken foot or something a little more

serious going on. Let's double check
that she hasn't been bitten and there's

abscess or something else that we need
to give her additional treatment for.

Yep. To keep the status quo, keepers
know it's crucial to get Zulani back to

full health as soon as possible.

See you later.

Mary and Mr Hobbs, the Malayan sun
bears, are about to be brought together

attempt to breed.

And Mary is keen to get to Mr Hobbs. as
soon as possible.

So one of the signs he's coming into
Easter is he actually likes to try and

to Hobbs a little more easily.

But Mr Hobbs is an older bear and
understandably needs a bit more time to

prepare. Hey, what's going on?

Hey Hobbsy, you good?

You've been resting somewhere.

I can tell you've been resting.

Mr Hobbs will scratch his back pretty
much every morning. I think it's a bit

a... Ritual, getting ready to go out.
Good stretch, good scratch, all that

of stuff, similar to us, I suppose.

Getting ready for the morning. And then
he'll do his little yoga poses at the

door right before he goes out. You know,
he might be there for five minutes, ten

minutes. Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes.

It's up to him.

Mr Hobbs' story is an extraordinary one.

Mr Hobbs had a really rough start to
life. He was a rescue bear, so his mum

than likely would have been shot and
killed in the wild by poachers. And then

they take the cubs and rear them, and
then when they're old enough, they sell

them off to restaurants and those sorts
of things for bear poor soup.

And sadly, his time with the poachers
has left some ongoing problems that

keepers need to take care of.

Injure your teeth!

He was raised by the poachers.

and probably raised on food items that
are quite cheap and readily available,

a lot of fruits that are soft and, you
know, sugary. So he probably didn't get

the best diet and the best start to life
and maybe hasn't experienced other food

items, which would naturally be nature's
toothbrush.

Open.

Touch.

I still think it's amazing that we brush
our sun bear's teeth with an electric

toothbrush. We've never lost one yet.

Good.

And, yeah, sometimes I think it's easier
than brushing my own kids' teeth at

home.

Hopefully he understands that we are
actually doing him a favour and

him the opportunity to get rid of that
calculus on his teeth so he has a better

long -term outcome.

What a good boy.

With teeth now clean, it's time for Mr
Hobbs to get reacquainted with his old

flame, Mary.

A member of the public has brought in a
lace monitor with a terrible injury.

And vet Gabby has decided that this poor
lizard needs immediate intervention.

He's obviously ingested the skewer,
probably with meat on it, and it's gone

his stomach and his intestine, and then
the pointy end has migrated out,

dragging bacteria with it.

And because of the very threat of that
bacteria, the team are taking no risk,

wearing surgical gowns and masks for
what they expect to be a long and

operation. So the surgery involves
making a longitudinal incision on his

and opening him up and just having a
look for where the skewer is.

I'm just raising the skin up so that
when I cut, I don't cut into an organ.

Got lots of fluid in here.

Oh, really?

So they'll have some fluid.

You can suction some of that.

You want to swab it.

This is a lot of fluid in the abdomen
and in the cavity, and we're not sure

Just don't know why. Backing lots of
fluid out, and we're just going to see

what...

what it means when we get in there.

Just walking.

With such a tricky surgery underway,
senior vet Larry has popped in to see if

can offer Gabby any help.

We see sort of unusual, bizarre things
quite often here in the hospital,

that have swallowed various things.

To me, it's just interesting to see, you
know, how we can deal with it, and

Gab's obviously doing a great job
getting down to it.

So I can't see it. I can only feel it.
The challenge is that it's been there

a long time. It's well embedded and
surrounded by tissue.

Probably the tissue has grown all around
the top of that skewer and probably an

attempt for the body to get rid of it.

I can feel something.

After some exploratory surgery, Gabby
has finally found the end of the metal

skewer. That's the head of it in your
stomach.

Stomach's twisted around.

And then it goes, I can feel it, but
it's all encased in tissue.

Can't feel any metal.

You got some big metal cutters?

No, but we'll need some.

We might be preparing, like getting the
big bulb cutters and putting, soaking

the end in some.

Sterilised.

Yeah.

I just want to make sure this is not
intestine.

So you mean there's tissue inside the
hole?

Tissue gone through the meat.

Unfortunately for the lizard, it looks
like this skewer is not going anywhere.

Sun Bear Mary is an estrus, meaning she
is ready to mate with the male sun bear,

Mr Hobbs.

And this has got the carnivore team
excited.

Fingers crossed. Yeah, fingers crossed
this time that we get a little sun bear

cub.

Since the bears are kept separate all
year, this will be the first time in

months that they'll be together, meaning
keepers are unsure of how they'll

react. I haven't seen the pairings yet.
Do they normally go well together when

they are in together?

Yeah, they're generally pretty nice to
each other. Mary's really nice to Mr

Hobbs. when she's an Easterth, not so
much any other time.

As you know, Mr Hobbs is pretty old as
well, so it really brings him out of his

shell a little bit and he becomes a bit
more active and more boisterous and it

really gets the two interested in each
other. So, yeah, it's really nice to

watch.

Before bringing them together, they
always conduct a controlled introduction

behind closed doors to make sure
there'll be no signs of aggression.

And then C.

Yep.

Now that's A and B.

Mary basically gives all the signs to Mr
Hobbs that she's an estrus. So if she

is an estrus, you see a lot of
behaviours like clucking between the

Hobbsy will cluck to us occasionally,
but he'll only cluck to her when she is

that estrus cycle.

That's a nice clucking there from Mr
Hobbs towards Mary.

And happily the keepers have no cause
for concern as there

is an instant chemistry between Mary and
Mr Hobbs.

This is good.

Yes, this is really good.

Similar to what it looked like when I
was seeing her parents, right? Yeah.

They were showing all the right signs at
the slide and everything.

I think it all went really well.

We don't think today was the day. We
think maybe our next couple of days

be the target Easter period, so you kind
of have a couple of days to play with.

There's always tomorrow, so we'll try
again, come back in and do it all again

tomorrow.

Fortunately, it didn't take long for
Mary to warm up to Mr Hobbs.

When it comes to breeding with sun
bears, we know that there's a lot of

anticipation on it. We always know in
our job sometimes...

It's just not going to happen and you
can't get too disheartened by it, but

makes it more exciting when it does
happen because that's always fantastic.

So for the next week, they'll spend day
and night together, which will hopefully

end with an incredibly rare sun bear
pregnancy.

At Taronga's Wildlife Hospital, Vet
Gabby has found the end of the metal

that the lace monitor had swallowed.

and is in the tricky process of trying
to remove it.

It's just too tough.

But after being inside the lizard for
the past month, the body has grown

all around the metal loop, making it
tough to get a hold of without causing

more damage.

Once you get it out, a lot of the
healing is going to be up to the animal,

it? Because you're not going to be able
to repair all the... I suppose they're

pretty tough animals.

But not as tough as the metal, so Gabby
has called for the big guns to help try

and extract the skewer from the lizard.

Where do you want to cut that?

That's interesting.

That's just all broken off.

Take it away.

Take it away. Okay.

This is part of a skewer, a barbecue
skewer, and this is...

Part of the round, part of the skewer
that's been cut off.

With the round end now gone, Gabby is
hoping the rest of the skewer can be

removed without any resistance.

OK, it's slipping out really easily.

Yay!

Success. Gab's exposed, I suppose,
the...

the head of the skewer or the ring part
at the end of it, and we cut that off

and just pulled the rest of it out
through where it was coming through the

There you go. There's the whole thing.

Amazingly clean, really, when you
consider it's been in there for probably

some time in that animal.

I'm really happy that the skewer is out
because I thought it was going to get

stuck coming out of the body cavity
because it was wrapped in tissue.

Reptiles are really tough. The fact that
he's had this going through his body is

amazing. The biggest risk for him now,
aside from the infection, will be food

getting caught in his intestine, like a
blockage, just because it's been pulled

in different directions.

The skewer may be out, but this lizard's
survival is far from guaranteed. His

chance of survival is probably, say, 50
-50 at this point.

It's hard to say.

Three days have passed and meerkat
Zalani's injured leg is not healing.

All right, all good?

The head of carnivores, Louise, is
taking her to the wildlife hospital for

scan. Hello, my little one.

I know you're all starving.

Hey, we haven't been able to feed you
yet, have we? Because our princess has

have a little anesthetic.

So this morning we've got Zulani, our
meerkat, who's going up for an

anaesthetic. We just want to have a look
at that foot and see, is there anything

going on? You know, maybe she's got a
little fractured bone or something. We

want to know why the lameness keeps
coming back.

And because of the meerkat's complex
social structure, this is time

We cannot afford to take her out of the
group for very long, so any anaesthetic

that we do, any treatment we do, it has
to be fairly quick so that she's not

kept away from her family for long.
Because when you're living in that

social hierarchy, if you're missing for
too long, you could lose your place, and

that's going to be disastrous.

All right, my baby girl.

All right, little miss, let's get you in
to see the vet.

For vet Kimberly, the fact that
Delaney's leg isn't getting better has

concerns that something more serious is
going on.

Well, it's weird that she keeps becoming
lame when she goes off for treatment,

so I just want to make sure there's not
an abscess or a fracture there.

All right, we'll be interested to hear
what you find.

Okay. Thank you so much, Kimberly.

Thank you. Bye, you and we're done.
Thanks.

She's not very happy.

Well, she's sitting there holding her
left paw up.

Her left front paw is the paw that's
lame.

Okay, me again.

Okay, oxygen.

Do you want it higher?

Yeah, five. Okay, then go to five.

You can have a good feel of the left.

Yeah. Oh, cool.

She's not happy with that.

So the two things I'm worried about is
whether she's sprained herself or has a

fracture.

And then the other thing is whether she
has an abscess, which would be an

infection under the skin.

Sometimes these guys bite each other
when they're trying to move up and gain

hierarchy in the group.

So it could be she has an infection
under her skin. We just want to make

that's not going on.

We'll take some x -rays and see what we
see.

All I'm seeing is the soft tissue
swelling, so I don't think we're dealing

a broken bone, which is good.

Just maybe move it down so I have just
the arms in the center of the plate. I

put them in this, just a 90 -degree
cold.

All right, that's all right. Thanks,
guys. Great, thanks, Liz.

I'm just looking for symmetry in the two
sides and everything looks equally

balanced.

I don't see any.

obvious orthopedic problems. I don't
think anything's broken.

I'm happy with the x -rays. We'll wake
her up, get her back in the group.

Yep. She's already on her way back home,
but there's still no medical answer to

explain Salani's problem. I guess the
verdict is there's definitely still a

lameness in the left front leg.

It seems to be isolated more to the
elbow.

Don't know if it's a sprain or if there
might be some underlying infection in

the tissues around the elbow.

So we're going to leave her on the anti
-inflammatories.

and put her on some antibiotics, which
we gave the first shot today, and see

things progress.

While the procedure has taken less than
an hour, it could be weeks until this

little meerkat is strong enough to hold
her position in the group.

But keepers are hopeful she'll be all
right.

Yeah, take her back to be with the
group.

One of the most iconic and instantly
recognisable animals in Australia is the

koala.

Taronga have a population of 24 koalas,
but that number is constantly changing.

So we're really lucky here at Taronga.
We have a really successful koala

breeding program.

Right now is a fantastic time to see our
joeys. So mum here, Wassil, she's a

four -year -old female and she's got
little Mateo sitting on her back at the

moment. When Mateo is ready to leave his
mum, he'll go into a creche with the

other young joeys to learn how to be a
koala. He still piggybacks around on mum

when she's walking around and when she
sits still, he'll get on her belly and

they'll have a nice little rest
together.

You can see Mateo there awkwardly trying
to get onto her back, getting into the

backpack. You're facing the wrong way,
buddy.

You never know what they're going to do,
but that's certainly not the usual way

to travel.

He looks a little uncomfortable about
the whole thing too.

That's it, buddy. Good job.

The one thing you can be sure a koala
will do is sleep.

They do sleep 20 hours a day, so that's
what you get most of the time when you

see them. And when they're not sleeping,
they're eating.

And boy, do they eat.

We're going to go feed Waddle and Mally
there. You want to grab that.

Follow me.

You're hungry. You want some of this?

Every day, koala keeper Laura and her
helper Jennifer swap out the eucalyptus

branches, ensuring the koalas have
access to plenty of fresh leaves.

If you look here, this is yesterday's,
well, two -day -old food. They've eaten

all the bits they like from it, and so
we're going to give them fresh stuff to

make sure they're happy. So we'll take
this out here.

Koalas eat around 10 % of their body
weight in leaf every day. Now, a leaf

doesn't weigh much, so that's a large
volume of leaves you've got to look for.

So the tips of eucalyptus are the soft,
sweet, juicy ones. So they're full of

water. They don't need to drink
anything. They're getting all their

the leaf. Also, it's much easier to
digest this soft little leaf than it is

big hard leaf.

And they're already doing a lot of work
on eucalyptus. What she's eating right

now, it's going to process over about
the course of a week when she'll finally

poop it out the other end.

So whilst it looks like she's really
lazy when she's sleeping, she's doing

of work. It's just inside and we can't
see it.

While the adult koalas eat eucalyptus
all day, it's something the joeys have

work themselves up to.

Eucalyptus is toxic to most species,
including us.

Koalas, they're really specialised, so
they have a completely different

digestive system. But for Mateo to start
eating leaves, he does something a bit

gross first.

He actually eats his mum's poo.

It's not just regular poo, though. It's
called pap, and it's a really special

mixture that comes from her cecum, and
it's full of bacteria. And that bacteria

is important for these guys to be able
to digest their leaf. It's actually part

of the process.

But koalas are very picky eaters when it
comes to their leaf.

So if you watch her there, she's
generally smelling the leaf before

it in her mouth.

So their sense of smell is the most
important of their senses.

It's how she chooses her food and how
she interprets a lot of her environment.

So their eyesight's not thought to be
very good.

So you can see there, right up to the
nose, yep, that's what I want.

And if it's not what she wants, she'll
let it go and discard it.

Despite their quirks, Laura loves
working with koalas.

They're interesting. They're super
unique.

They're not like any other animal. Their
food source is a challenge. It's always

something to learn.

There are so many varieties of
eucalyptus and how the koalas use them.

of an endless fascination to me. And
look, we've had babies since the day I

started and you just never get sick of
it.

Still to come, after a few false
starts...

Will this be the day Mr Hobbs and Mary
finally produce a little cub?

Every time they mate, we're hopeful that
there might be a pregnancy.

And the results are in after a busy week
in the Taronga ER.

It was a long surgery. At the time, I
thought it was a 50 -50.

But anyway, we'll see how it goes.

Come on, guys, you know the routine.

Go, go, go, go, go!

Coming over.

It's been a couple of days since
Delaney's X -ray and Keeper Deb has been

closely watching the injured meerkat's
progress.

So this is Zulani here. We saw Zulani
was really lame on her front foot. She

holding it up and wasn't what we call
weight -bearing, so wasn't putting it

on the ground to walk as she would
normally walk. She was put on a slightly

higher dose than what she was on of pain
relief to give her a little chance to

heal, and that has... done exactly what
we had hoped it would do. So she's back

to her normal self. So today we can see
her moving around fine. She's using it

fine. She's digging in the exhibit here.

So, yeah, we're really happy with how
it's gone and it means that we don't

to go any further.

The keepers are also happy that a
healthy Zulani has been able to hold her

position in the group.

So Zulani will be fine.

Within the group, Zulani is...

still quite a strong member.

There's still one individual that she
did have a falling out with that we do

have to do some introductions back with
her. So we're just waiting for the right

moments to start that process. But we're
hopeful that with Zulani completely

healed, that she'll have that strength
and also obviously have the assistance

from her other family members to assert
her dominance over the other individual.

We're keeping a very close eye on them.
We're doing lots of observations to make

sure everyone's really cohesive.

So that's what we've got to do in the
next few weeks.

It's been almost two weeks since the
lace monitor underwent life -saving

surgery. I'm relieved that he's still
with us.

At the time I thought it was a 50 -50.

It was a long surgery and his insides
were pretty abnormal.

So he's eating everything that's in
there. So we just got him on plain meat

the moment with calcium because I don't
want him to have any bones. Yep.

And is he pooing? Yeah, he's pooing
really well. Good.

Weighing and pooing. Excellent.

Initial signs are good, but reptiles
take longer to heal than mammals.

It's going to take up to six weeks to
fully heal.

And as long as he eats and poos and
doesn't throw up, then he's just waiting

his wound to heal and then he can go
back.

So Gabby's called in reptile keepers due
to handle this grumpy little goanna.

I'll just go in, I'll grab him by the
tail, then restrain him by the head.

like that. Just like that. Without a
hitch.

They're very strong, very powerful, a
lot of power generated from their tail,

and they're all in.

They're great climbers, though, very
muscular.

Wow.

He's just got one claw on my belt there.
Okay.

So I can't lift him up much higher if
you want to... No, no, no. Is that okay?

Yeah, look at...

It looks fantastic.

It's really nothing.

I'm just going to pop some antibiotic
ointment. Are you happy for me to do

Yep.

He's quite relaxed.

Yes. He's not struggling.

But the wound looks really good. It's
not pulled apart. It's not inflamed.

I can't believe it, Gabby. Look at that.
Beautiful stitching. Thank you.

What a job. Thank you.

You're a hero. He's an expert healer.

Okay. I'm happy.

Yep. Yep. Yep. Excellent.

Two weeks out, he couldn't be doing
better, really. So as long as he just

continues on this trajectory, he'll be
going back to raise some more barbecues

in about a month.

I'm just going to put him on this bench.

It's been quite an ordeal for the lace
monitor.

There you go, mate.

He's pretty relaxed. That's really good.

And remarkably, despite initially
fearing the worst... All signs point to

recovery.

Aw, that's great. Look at him, he hasn't
moved. He's just soaking up that

warmth. However, Taronga staff aren't
too sure this is the last time they'll

meet this lucky lizard.

He'll go back to West Ted, where he
comes from, north of Sydney.

It's a national park there.

Unfortunately, lots of barbecues and
people having lots of food there,

skewers. So I don't know whether he's
learned his lesson. Probably not.

But anyway, we'll see how he goes.

Coming up, the big moment has arrived
for Mary.

Yeah, just behind the bladder I can see
the horns of the uterus there.

Sun bears Mary and Mr Hobbs spend a week
together in an attempt to produce a

cub.

Pregnancies aren't necessarily an easy
thing. There have only been two sun bear

births in Australia.

Mary being one of those. So being able
to contribute to that breeding

in Australia would be fantastic,
especially with Mr Hobbs coming from

and kind of bringing his story full
circle would be incredible.

Today, after three months of waiting,
senior vet Larry has come down to

an ultrasound on Mary.

At this stage of the gestation, the
fetus should be large enough for us to

The guys have trained her incredibly
well to be able to facilitate this

examination. It'll be amazing. You'll
see how she presents her little belly,

little shaved belly to us.

So she'll be right here. And if she's
pregnant, there should be a small foetus

visible.

You would think that ultrasounding a sun
bear would be an incredibly difficult

thing, but...

The training that these guys have put
into her is phenomenal, and she's

really, really compliant with this
ultrasound examination.

Hey, Amoeba.

Here she is, beautiful girl. Hi, Amoeba.

Do you want to give her a bit of honey
water? Big girl.

All right.

Give her a few seconds.

All right, Mary.

Yeah.

So we've got Mary here presenting very
nicely, presenting the little pre

-prepared shaved area.

And I've just got to get that touching
her belly. While everyone is cautiously

optimistic, they're also aware that Mary
and Mr Hobbs have been in this position

quite a few times before.

Every time they're together and they
mate, we're hopeful that there might be

pregnancy as a result of that, but so
far that hasn't actually happened.

We've got a great view of her bladder
there.

Nice and full.

She does have a nice full bladder.

You're a good girl.

Yeah, just behind the bladder I can see
the horns of the uterus there, which...

Sadly, empty.

There's no foetus in there at all.

It was not the result keepers and vets
were hoping for.

But despite the disappointment, no one
at Taronga is giving up any time soon.

I mean, you know, this is part of the
deal. We do our best with our animals

to breed them, but there's often things
that are beyond our control.

No baby.

No, that's the next one, Heather.

You did really good.

Yeah, she's amazing.

Good job.

We don't have a little baby in there, so
it's sad.

It's my first time here with Mary going
through this process, so I was

definitely fingers crossed, fingers
crossed, toes crossed, hoping to pop the

bottle of champagne, but that's all
right. We'll keep going. We'll keep her

happy and try again next time.

That was good fun. Yeah.