All language subtitles for Inside Taronga ZOO s01e04.eng

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... The ringtail lemur
Noah is possibly in labour and has been

bitten up. A scrap and dubbo leaves a
mother and baby fighting for their

Critically looking for whether or not
there might be a heartbeat in the baby

still. The race to save this turtle from
extinction.

Every animal that was infected went on
to die.

We have the last breathable adult in
this facility.

And what's in the box? Struggling to get
a little peek inside.

As five VIPs touch down at Taronga.
There you go.

At Taronga Zoo, the health and welfare
of all animals

is paramount.

From the big exotic, all the way down to
the weird and wonderful.

Francis, we've got the bats for you.

We've got ghost bats, which are an
Australian species of bat, very special,

two of those animals are going to have a
full health exam in preparation for

then participating in a regional
breeding program at another wildlife

We're going to put the bat into this
chamber and feed a little bit of

anaesthetic gas in here so that the bat
gets sleepy.

and that will make it easier for us to
safely get its face into the anaesthetic

mask. All right, if you can take that
out.

Any bat in Australia potentially could
carry a virus, and so nobody should

handle a bat unless they're adequately
trained and experienced and vaccinated

against rabies and know that they have a
protective teeter. So we follow special

procedures when we're dealing with bats.

Tell me when you're comfortable.

Yep.

Liz has got special protective gloves
because she's going to be the one to

restrain the head of the bat while it's
in the mask. So you'll notice she's got

covered sleeves and she's got special
gloves there.

Come under my fingers. Yep.

And let's get out.

Robert,

I'm going to get you to bring that
examination light around.

I will hold his head in while you get
your gloves off.

An important part of our examination,
funny as it may seem, is to make sure

the bat is reproductively healthy, fit
for service.

There you go.

And so it is important that we can see
the male external genitalia and that we

know that it's normal.

So Liz, I want to look at his head and
his face and teeth and so on now. So are

you happy if we take him out of here?
Yeah, that's fine.

We might need to just take that monitor
off. So his little face.

He's got lots of folds and things like
that. We're just conscious at the moment

that he's not breathing any anaesthetic
gas and so if we take too long he will

wake up.

Let's just have a look here. The teeth
are amazing.

Pretty fierce teeth for such a small
animal if you look at the size of those

canines.

There's so much about them to
appreciate.

The largest carnivorous bat in the
country, found in some really weird

from tropical rainforests out into the
sort of desert areas.

But unfortunately, like so much more of
our wildlife, they're in a lot of

trouble out there in the wild.

So the importance of breeding programs
is just getting more and more as the

years go on.

Okay, Liz, would you like to take him
over and weigh him? Sure.

And then we'll wake him up.

So Liz is restraining his head all the
time.

Weigh him and then we'll work him up.

All right, so his body weight is 111 .9
grams.

Are you recording that, Rob?

Yep. Excellent. 111 .9.

Only a mother of a ghost bat would love
this. I agree.

They're really cute, and that theory of
ugly but interesting.

Okay, so this little guy is really
healthy.

He's in super body condition, can't find
anything wrong with him, everything in

its right place, and I'm quite happy
with him.

Yeah, Batman, Batgirl, to go off to
their new home, hopefully to make more

ghost bats to increase the population as
a whole.

Any animal that is going to be moving
between wildlife parks and zoological

institutions need to be in great health,
and obviously we aim to keep them in

tip -top health here.

Let's just give it air. Sure.

All right? Yep.

Funny, because I could see its ears.

I'm awake.

These are just now going into their own
separate space, so they're not

interacting with the others until such
point that they travel off.

While the ghost bats wait to start their
journey to their new facility, another

species is at the end of their journey
to Taronga.

How long was the flight from Wellington?

Three or four hours?

I think it's only two and a half.

I think the zoo itself is like another
hour away.

We've been in the box for four hours
now. Yeah.

Today, for the first time in its
history, Taronga is receiving five South

American capybaras who've just landed on
a flight from New Zealand.

We've just been, like, spitballing a
whole bunch of, like, South American

I wouldn't even know what a South
American name. Oh, like Diego and Pedro

Maradona. Yeah.

The first stop for these newcomers is
with Tim from Exotic, who's been waiting

anxiously for their arrival and is
excited to get his first glimpse.

Struggling to get a little peek inside,
but you can see a little glimpse of

movement, which is always very exciting.

Our first little glance at their new
life, so it should be really good.

Capybara are actually the largest rodent
in the world. They come from Central

and South America.

Definitely a nice little smell to them
already, so that'll be fun.

Normally throughout the day I actually
look after our elephants, so it's going

to be a bit of a learning curve for all
of us, but we've got a really great team

who's really confident we're going to be
able to take some really good care of

these animals.

Australia has some of the toughest
quarantine laws in the world.

These are in place to protect the unique
native animals from diseases like

rabies. The container should come to
about here.

Because it's an international transfer,
we have to be very, very strict.

Anytime we bring an animal in from
overseas, we want to make sure they're

and healthy.

And any parasites or diseases they might
be bringing in, we want to be able to

check them before they enter the greater
population.

One, two, three.

This one's leaking urine. That's why we
have the quarantine.

status, because that's why we've got to
put the tarp down, because he's

obviously excited to be here, and the
urine's coming out. So they're mopping

the urine, or they've cleaned up the
urine now.

So these boxes will go into quarantine
as well, so they're all cleaned

Last one, very exciting, nearly ready to
go.

We have just found out that the
Wellington keepers have put a few names

of the crate.

There's some good ones, and there's some
questionable names floating around up

here.

Like humans, when animals fly around the
world, it can be stressful.

So the team is hoping to get the
capybaras back to Taronga as quickly as

possible. Well, definitely time's
critical because the animals have been

crate for probably four hours. We want
to get them back into quarantine and

release so they can check on their
condition and stuff and get them out of

box. No one wants to be stuck in a box
for a long time.

All right, guys, I think we're ready to
rock and roll. Let's do it.

So the quicker we can get them back on
the road and get them back to the zoo,

the better it is that it's going to be
for them and we can get them settled

a new home where they'll be nice and
comfortable.

400 kilometres away at Taronga's other
zoo, one of their most loved species is

the ring -tailed lemur.

So lemurs are a lower order primate.
They are a very distant relative.

While they may look small and cute,
Their personalities are actually big and

boisterous.

Ring -tailed lemurs are a matriarchal
species, so they are run by females.

They have a very strict hierarchy.

I sometimes think it's a little bit like
Bold and the Beautiful because they can

be so dramatic.

Critically endangered, the ring -tailed
lemurs are one of Taronga's biggest

breeding success stories.

We established a breeding program for
them in 2013.

Just in the last few weeks we've had two
female babies born which is really

really exciting.

We're not sure on the sex of the third
one that we have pending but we'll find

out pretty quickly.

But the animal kingdom moved to the beat
of its own drum.

I've just got to find the nurse now.

A vet Michelle is about to find out.

I've had a call from Sasha, who's one of
our primate keepers. I'll just grab

one. And she was concerned that she'd
observed a big fight in our ring -tailed

lemur group, and the individual who
seemed to come off second best in the

was one of our adult females, and she's
actually due to give birth any day now.

The ring -tailed lemur Noah is possibly
in labour.

and has been beaten up.

She's missing a finger.

Her lip's torn completely open, and
there's a lot of blood from her vulva.

So the question is, is the blood from
the vulva due to the pregnancy, or is it

bite? She's had stillborns before, yeah.
So there is a potential that it could

end up being a caesarean. OK, so that's
the new kit.

It sounds like she's sustained some
pretty nasty injuries, and given she's

pretty precarious stage of her
pregnancy, we need to be really careful

one.

We have had incidents of fights in the
past, particularly in breeding groups,

where obviously emotions and hormones
can be pretty high.

Again.

I bought a net too. Did you want that or
a towel?

The first thing I noticed was that she
had blood around her vulva, which meant

that she could have been in labour.

So we were all a little bit worried
because she is the last of our three

that was needing to give birth. So the
timing was pretty terrible.

Do you want a towel or prefer not a
towel? No, not a towel is easier, I

And then obviously she grabs the door
with a mesh. I'll give you a hand.

Ordinarily, with a routine health exam,
we get the animal familiar with being

put into a transport box so that when
the day comes, it's all very non

-stressful. But in an emergency,
unfortunately, we don't have the time to

that.

Covered in blood, missing a finger and
heavily pregnant, the mum -to -be, Noah,

has the odds stacked against her.

Five capybaras have arrived

in Australia from New Zealand.

Here we go, boys.

First big trip over that giant coat of
hair.

Welcome to Australia.

And while their journey to Taronga may
almost be over... Oh, this is better

looking than you see it.

...their longer quarantine process is
about to begin.

We've just arrived at the vet hospital
here at Taronga Zoo.

And now we're just about to move them
into the quarantine dens where they're

going to spend the next two weeks.

Plan is we're going to offload them from
the truck.

People listening out here in regular
uniform will pass through the double

doors to quarantine staff in gowns.
Beautiful. We'll put them on the scales

have in quarantine, get away with the
animal in the crate and then pet the

into the dens, unload the animal. We're
going to check microchips on each one as

we go.

You got them?

Got my finger too?

Yes.

This is the quarantine for the zoo.

So any new animals coming into the zoo
get quarantined. But these animals,

because they've come from overseas,
quarantine's particularly strict.

That's why we've got the quarantine
officers here to oversee the whole

of unloading.

This is the last part here. We're just
disinfecting everything that came in

contact with the boxes.

So we had a bit of urine spill on the
floor.

So we're just cleaning up, making sure
everything's nice and safe and good.

Things have to be done. They have to be
done.

A lot of work goes into bringing an
animal into the zoo from overseas.

78 .9. 78 .9. Can we have a name? This
is Diego.

Did you hit the word?

Diego.

especially considering no one from
Taronga has even laid eyes on their new

capybaras yet.

I haven't seen these animals. They're
very cool. They're like giant guinea

except they're just one colour. So if
you can imagine a guinea pig about that

size, these guys are that big, 30 kilos.

They're really cool, charismatic
animals.

We can't wait to open up the boxes and
see who we have in there. We're going to

give them some zoo, get some greens and
some cubes and hay ready to go, so

that'll settle them down and see how
they are.

With their capybaras now in their
temporary home for the next two weeks,

long wait for the rest of the zoo to
catch their first look at this playful

species.

After suffering serious wounds in a
fight, pregnant Lima Noah has arrived at

Western Plains Wildlife Hospital.

Before

Noah

can be examined, she needs to be
sedated.

Whilst we would always like to avoid
anaesthesia at this late stage of

pregnancy, in this case it's important
that we determine what's going on and

we'll do our best to make it as quick
and smooth for her as possible.

Let's just check.

Now know it's calm, Michelle can turn
her attention to the thought of the

bleeding. Feels okay.

Seems to be able to go all the way up.
That's a bit worrying.

If we've got internal bleeding and it's
uncontrolled, then obviously that can be

life -threatening.

And in this case, we're dealing with
both the mum and the baby, so we've got

lives that we're concerned about here
and we need to really make decisions

on what's best for both.

Yeah, I think it's a torn vulva.

Not really ideal just before you're
about to give birth, is it?

Thank you.

She has sustained a nasty injury to the
vulva. That's certainly better news in

terms of life -threatening illnesses
right at this stage. It looks like she's

very close to giving birth and we'd like
her to go through that process

naturally if possible.

But first, they'll need to use
ultrasound to determine if the baby has

the attack.

Oh, darling.

Bit of a pitiful sound, isn't it?

How confident were you about the abdomen
size going down overnight?

Just before when I came in and I found
that they'd had the fight, my main

concern was making sure that she still
had the baby and she hadn't dropped it

somewhere. So I did gently palpate her
stomach to try and feel for the baby.

usually the head is the most obvious
thing that you can touch and know what

is. And it didn't feel anything like it
did yesterday.

We need to confirm that the baby is
alive and well.

So while the vets in Dubbo fight to save
the life of this lemur and its unborn

baby, back in Sydney,

Teronga keeper Adam is fighting to save
an entire

species, the Bellinger River turtle.

They're amazing. They are really pretty
turtles. The bright yellow in them makes

them quite attractive. They're
definitely one of Australia's prettier

The adult, the females get about that
size, so in proportion.

They get up to like 1 .5 kilos, maybe a
little bit bigger. The boys are

generally a bit smaller, the males, and
they're around that 600 gram mark. A lot

bigger than these guys, a lot bigger.

The reason these turtles are so
special...

is that Taronga Zoo hold the only
Bellinger River breeding turtles in the

Named after the Bellinger River on the
New South Wales north coast, these

turtles were decimated when a disease
outbreak swept through their once

habitat.

February 18, 2015, a group of young men
were kayaking along the river and they

came across a pond with 53 sick and
dying turtles.

But this was only the tip of the
iceberg.

Every animal that was infected went on
to die.

And over a period of five to six weeks,
the species was driven to functional

extinction.

Probably about 90 to 95 % of the
population was lost.

Finding out exactly what was happening
fell on the shoulders of Taronga

pathologist Carrie Rose.

You can see the damage right here. This
is dead.

So within two days, we had received
animals to investigate and try to find

what was going on with those poor
turtles.

Here we go. This is one of the animals
that had incredibly swollen eyes.

The turtles were turning up blind. They
were pawing at their eyes. Some of them

had the skin ulcerated all around their
eyes.

So it was really a grisly finding.

It's meant to be full of lymphocytes, so
really quite blue.

So much damage to the tissue, you can't
even tell what it's supposed to look

like. We knew we were dealing with a
large -scale explosive outbreak right

the very beginning.

The decision was made that Taronga would
lead an expedition to the Bellinger

River to rescue the remaining turtle.

Our biggest worry was that the species
would go extinct before we had a chance

to even find out what was happening.

So the last group of animals from the
last pond upstream were taken into a

captive breeding program before the
virus went through.

Really, only a few more days and the
species would have been extinct.

So this out -of -the -way, fenced -off
section of Taronga Zoo is the last hope

for the Bellinger River turtle.

In the wild, there's no breeding, so we
have the last... 16 remaining breedable

adults in this facility.

This is the future of this species.

Pregnant Lima Noah has been brutally
attacked just days before giving birth.

We were all a little bit worried because
she is the last of our three females

that was needing to give birth. We've
already had two successful young to the

other two females in that group a few
weeks prior.

She was the last piece of the puzzle, so
the timing was pretty terrible.

With Noah now stabilized...

Michelle turns her attention to finding
her unborn baby's heartbeat.

In the past, she has had a stillbirth,
and she also has had infants that

survived after the first week or two of
life.

And in this case, we're critically
looking for whether or not there might

heartbeat and the baby's still thriving
in there.

Just really nervous.

She is a really good mum. I've seen her
pine for lots of infants before and it's

a pretty heartbreaking thing to see.

Got a heartbeat.

Baby's still alive.

Do you want to see it?

We might be, it might kind of be super
quick anyway.

A little flutter, yep.

The baby has a heartbeat. It doesn't
quite look as vigorous as we would

but that may be just because she was
just about to give birth, and now mum's

been put up through an anaesthetic. The
only other thing that might be handy is

for us just to get a quick X -ray, just
to see the position where it is.

So that's the head there, just heading
towards the pelvis, and then the spine

down the middle, and the limbs coming
off at the side. So in perfect birth

position.

So fingers crossed, everyone.

Just because it has a heartbeat now
doesn't necessarily mean that things

smoothly, but it's obviously a step in
the right direction.

I've just given her an injection of an
antibiotic and it's safe for the baby as

well.

The lip tear and the finger injury,
although they look quite nasty, they're

certainly not life -threatening.

Hey Sasha, what do you reckon the
chances of her keeping staples in a face

Pretty slim?

Well, it depends. Do you think it's
going to do more damage taking them out?

I think it would just be back to how it
was. No harm in trying? No harm in

trying. Because she'll be kept either on
her own or just with one other

individual. Yep, okay.

Let's just clean those wounds.

Have you got a stapler handy?

Just a lot quicker to do this than try
and stitch it.

And we can worry about trying to remove
them later.

Oh, goodness.

Just give you a little bit more gas,
Missy.

How's it going?

Good. So we've got, it is a vulva tear
and a lip tear and all the rest of it.

The baby's got a heartbeat.

So I'm tempted to just wake her up.

Can you determine whether the cervix is
open or opening? I think it probably is.

I can get to the length of my finger.

So she may deliver the baby overnight?
She might, and I'm thinking if she

doesn't, then maybe we need to
intervene.

Would you agree?

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I presume you're
thinking that it would be better for her

do that up in the facility where she's
familiar.

I think so.

I mean, I'd like to see it moving a
little bit more than it is, but the head

getting close to that pelvis. It's in
the right position.

All right, let's get it back in the pet
pack then, and we'll reconvene in the

morning. I think mum's going to be fine.
I think it's a bit touch and go for the

bub, and Noah has had a stillborn baby
in the past.

So that is in her history.

So it's not outside the realms of
possibility that things might not go

well. But so far, everything is looking
okay. She could have done without the

injuries, for sure. But anyway, they are
what they are and we've given her the

treatment she needs.

Fingers crossed that she gives birth
naturally because the stress that she's

just gone through because of all the
fights and everything and obviously the

additional stress of having the GA can
cause complications.

But obviously the fact that the
baby's...

currently life right now is hugely
promising.

So we'll just have to see how we go.

You ready?

Yeah.

The vets have given Noah every chance to
have a natural birth.

Yeah, okay.

And it's a nervous night's wait for
Sasha.

In 2015, the Bellinger River turtle was
pushed to near extinction.

When a virus swept through the river
system, they call home.

Now Taronga Zoo has the only adult
Bellinger River turtles on the planet.

This is our quarantine facility of our
Bellinger River snapping turtle. They're

classified as critically endangered.

And this is where we house all our 16
adults of this species.

Year -round, these turtles are kept in
an environment purpose -built to

encourage breeding.

Alison, what I need you to do is take
off your boots, and I want you to step

into these white boots and come forward.
So don't take the boots to you. You

step in and come forward to me.

Today we're going to ultrasound six of
our female Bellinger River turtles and

see if they have eggs.

I'll grab that off you now, Charlotte.

Senior vet Larry has come down to
ultrasound the females in the hope that

previous mating season has been
successful.

The most important thing is that the
screen is in the shade.

Who are we doing first, Adam? Number 11.

She's my favourite turtle here.

From day one, like when we enter the
facility, she used to live in the tank

behind me. So she would greet us as I
would come in. She'd sort of look up and

look at you. So she's the only one
that's really shown any interest in us,

speak. So I sort of like her, something
about her. I find her pretty cool.

Hey, she's bulging.

Yeah.

I don't think I've ever not been happy
to see eggs turn up on this screen.

Because you know that you're doing
things right. You know that the animals

happy. Animals won't breed if they're
not in condition or if they're stressed.

It's so crucial that every one of these
girls lay eggs for us because there's no

other Bellinger River turtles producing
in the world, only the ones that we have

here.

So we've got a great situation here.

Straight away we can see she's got eggs.

And this is amazing. This is brilliant.

So these female Bellinger River turtles
are so important for what we're doing.

Oh, we're done with her.

They're from the original animals that
we brought in from the wild back in 2015

during the dive event.

Shazam.

So again, a nice lot of eggs there in
this one.

And we've got four girls at it.

They're pretty good.

It's always very exciting to see this,
and of course now that we know.

These guys have got eggs. Adam will
start preparing for them laying their

There's quite a bit of preparation to be
done, isn't there, Adam? Yeah.

For laying the eggs and then, of course,
beyond that, the incubation of the

eggs. And these are the hardest ones to
catch too.

But it's the two youngest ones that have
never produced eggs before that has the

team on edge.

Hey, who's number three? Number three.

All right, this will be exciting. All
right. So this is one of the younger

girls. If we get eggs out of these
girls, it means that they're happy.

It feels like we're doing everything
right for them.

It's so important for what we're doing.
It's so important for this program to

have all our potential breeding girls
producing eggs.

It's really important.

I'm so excited you're not holding the
animal still. I know. I'm actually,

a bit shaky because I'm, like, really
excited.

Fingers crossed.

Taronga has welcomed five capybaras to
the zoo and the world's largest rodents

are halfway through their two -week
quarantine stay.

Hey, Larry. How are you going, mate?
Good. How are they?

Yeah, good. So I've just come up to the
wildlife hospital this morning to come

and check on our capybara boys in
quarantine.

Fight everyone else off to come up here
and see them, so it should be great.

Well, they're your babies. They are.

Although Tim will be responsible for the
capybaras once they go on exhibit...

With such strict quarantine laws in
place, he's still yet to even see them.

It'll be nice to get in there and kind
of check them out, give them a bit of a

scratch. It should be great.

All right.

All the keepers have been, like, dying
to get up here.

And Gabe and everyone.

So I can open up and let them into this
den so you can get a closer look.

And now they're all going to go back to
bed. Hello.

Time to rise and shine, pretty.

Come on, boys.

Hi, everybody.

Good boy.

Here's the first one coming.

What are you doing, big boys?

It was great to finally get into the
dens with them and kind of see how

going.

Took a little bit of reluctant few steps
for them to come in and get nice and

close to us.

But they're getting nice and strong and
the water was a great motivator for

them.

Hi, buddy.

Their little noises are so cute.

They're doing a lot of really cool
natural behaviours in there. They're

settling in.

Having a little bit of a snack is always
good. It means that they're getting

nice and comfortable.

Oh, yummy.

A little bit of kale or some bribery is
always fun to get them nice and close so

we can get a good check on them.

How about more?

Hey, boys.

So Tim's still in there. We can't pry
them away from the capybara and love

so much. So we'll just have to wait a
sec for him.

Putting a new species on display is a
big event for the zoo.

I'm just going to do a quick run through
and make sure everything is ready for

their arrival.

And soon to be capybara keeper Johnny is
making sure everything is just right.

You can see here we've got everything a
capybara might want in life. They've got

a nice mud wallow over here which will
refresh just before they get into the

exhibit. Capybara love to be in water.

And they love to interact and kind of
play with each other in water. So it's a

nice social area for them to play in.
The water is almost like a second home

them.

Here we have a couple of lean -to
shelters, which will provide them with a

of shade and also a bit of protection
from the rain. And we've installed a

couple of heat mats underneath them as
well, just to give them that extra bit

warmth on the slightly colder Sydney
days.

So with capybara being very gregarious
and social animals, and very playful

animals as well, we'll hopefully see
them running in and out of this log.

And being rodents, they will gnaw on
this log and on this wood to keep their

teeth in really good nick and also to
help keep their teeth to an appropriate

length as well.

I think they're going to absolutely love
this. As far as real estate goes, this

is prime Capybara real estate.

You're just making sure that there's
nothing that's blown in here from the

in the last few days.

I think once they get their bearings and
once they become comfortable, they're

going to be very playful and they're
going to really interact with the

environment and the habitat really well.

With everything in place, and
anticipation amongst the zoo staff high,

that's left to do now is wait.

Yeah, buddy.

Facing extinction, the Bellinger River
turtle's last hope at survival is the

breeding program operating out of
Taronga Zoo.

To ensure the genetic diversity required
to keep the population viable, each of

the six breeding -age females needs to
carry eggs.

I mean, this is a critically endangered
species, and every single hatchling that

we get out of these guys is contributing
to the survival of the population.

So far, each of the four turtles
examined have been found carrying eggs,

it's a nervous wait for the final two,
who, after several years of trying, are

yet to fall pregnant.

I'm really...

You're so excited you're not holding the
animal still. I know, I'm actually like

a bit shaky.

Fingers crossed. Okay.

She's got eggs as well.

That makes me smile a lot.

With five out of six turtles pregnant,
it's been a successful day.

But for Adam, the result of this final
ultrasound could make it truly a day to

remember.

All right, here we go.

Okay.

I'm containing my excitement.

Adam's always excited, but today
particularly.

You ready, Adam?

I knew it.

I mean, this is a great thing with this,
you know, doing the ultrasound. You get

this instant result with these guys.

Her eggs look fantastic.

Look how nice they are. A bit better
than the... Photograph that.

So you can see, you know, the perfect
structure of the egg there.

I never get to see them, though. No,
it's such a buzz, isn't it, to see these

eggs?

I want that on the fridge.

Hopefully they are fertile and they'll
hatch and we'll get another bunch of

hatchlings.

So this is like one part of the process.

We find that we have eggs, then we've
got to lay the eggs.

Then we have to incubate and hatch the
eggs. So it's a long process and each

process has its risk.

So this is just part of that journey now
and this is where you start getting a

bit anxious and really want them to do
well.

With all six Bellinger River turtles now
carrying eggs, it's a great result for

Adam and the species as a whole.

Carrying the future.

I like those organs. They're the things
that keep you going when it's, you know,

it's raining and you're up here working
on them or, you know, it's really hot.

Just the time things happen is really
amazing.

I'm going to stop saying it's really
amazing.

Really amazing, like I say, it's really
amazing.

Yesterday, pregnant Lima Noah was
attacked, losing a finger and raising

for her unborn baby.

But after a stressful night, keeper
Sasha finally has something to smile

So I came in to check on Noah again at
about 10pm last night.

I had my fingers crossed, but I was a
little

bit nervous.

But I came in to find that she had had
the baby since I had last been there to

check.

The baby was alive.

It seemed to be thriving. She seemed to
be pretty happy.

It was just the best outcome possible.

I was just incredibly relieved.

Definitely a couple of small tears were
shed. I was very, very proud of her.

I don't think that I realized just how
stressed I was until that stress was no

longer required.

I trust everything's fine anyway?

Yeah, she looks good. The baby's in the
right position for suckling, so I assume

that she is.

Gee, she looks well, doesn't she? Yeah,
and I think it looks pretty good. It is

swollen, but everything looks clean. She
took her meds. Yeah, yeah, and she took

her meds fine.

Have you seen a vulva?

I haven't, not yet. But I can definitely
achieve that by the end of the day, I'd

say. Okay, all right. Yeah, I won't go
in and disturb her at this stage.

Everything looks perfect.

Mum looks strong, she looks settled.

She's really holding it in the right
position, isn't she? Yeah, looks great.

Baby's in the right position for
suckling. Sasha tells me she got a

look, thinks the baby's a little girl.
This is a great result.

And it's her dad. That's Romeo. Yeah, so
he's just chilling. Yeah, great.

He's good.

And being a good daddy.

And hopefully in a week's time her
injuries will heal even further and

have a baby who's feeling stronger and
thriving and reintegrated into that

group.

Okay. She doesn't seem overly stressed.
She's handling it pretty well.

So, yeah, we're doing all right.

Fabulous. And we'll put some of the
others in with her later today.

Yeah. But just not the main instigators,
of course.

So the last couple of days have
certainly been an emotional

I do find that if you've worked with
ring tattling long enough that you're

unfamiliar with that range of emotions.

Great stuff.

I know. Very exciting.

Very exciting.

Yeah, every day is a good day to be a
lemur keeper, but yeah, babysitting is

always a really exciting time of year.

Good work, Noah.

Yeah. Did the job in the end. Yeah, she
sure did.

It's early days, but Mum and Bub are
both doing well, and the endangered ring

-tailed lemur population has another
birth to celebrate.

Extinct in the wild, the Bellinger River
Turtle's future is contained entirely

in the breeding pools of Taronga Zoo.

I just have to be careful that I don't
push anyone as I jump in.

Now, six days after the ultrasound, Adam
is doing his daily check.

All right.

You know what?

I think we have some eggs.

She hasn't closed up her nest
completely.

There's quite a few in here.

I'm really happy.

So I'm just sort of digging out this
nest to open up some space to get my

in it.

I don't want it to collapse on me
halfway through. It can make things a

harder to get the eggs out.

And I'm just going to start pulling them
out.

This is the nerve -wracking part.

I have to be really careful doing this.

Each one of these little eggs indicates
a species surviving, you know, so each

one of them is critically important.

I'm even more excited because there's
still so many in here. It's like I'm

to need another container. It's great.

So this is the last one.

Well, it's exciting. We've got 13
Bellinger River turtle eggs, which is

So now I'm going to take these off to
our incubator to give them every single

chance to hatch.

And, you know, what's remarkable is
we've still got another five girls to

eggs. So potentially we have a chance of
increasing our wild population by, you

know, 50 % or more from this season,
which is truly amazing.

It's pretty hard to believe.

While it's still a long way to go for
these tiny little eggs, Adam couldn't be

more proud of the conservation effort of
Taronga Zoo.

It just shows that zoos are worthy
places to care for animals and to look

repopulating the wild. This is why we're
here, is to showcase we do do this

stuff and we do do it well.

The arrival of a new species is always a
huge moment at Taronga. And after

months of planning, the zoo's newest
furry celebrities are about to take

stage. Very similar to their guinea pig
cousins.

Biggest guinea pig in the world. Pretty
much, yeah. Yeah, unreal.

We're ready to roll.

Today is the big day.

The capybara are finally going to come
out of quarantine and we're going to

them down to their exhibit within the
zoo.

And we can start doting on them as much
as we possibly can.

50 .5.

The cappies themselves are quite large,
but then the purpose -built crates that

they're going to be into are even
heavier.

So at this point, we're here to provide
some muscle support.

A big relief to have this trickier part
of the job done.

And I can't wait to get them in the
exhibit and get them the fresh air and

sunshine and deeper pool to swim in.
Yeah, and enjoy them.

Gates, Johnny.

Johnny,

we're just coming down the road towards
you now.

A crane's even here.

He wouldn't have missed it for the
world, would he?

As a new species for us as keepers, it's
a very exciting day. We've been looking

forward to this for some time.

We're looking forward to getting a
chance to start caring for them and

bit more about them as individuals and
find out a bit more about their

individual characters and personalities
and really start to bond with them as

well.

So the plan is we're going to let these
two out of the cranes.

And then when they're far enough away,
we'll move these crates out, put another

two in position and then repeat till all
five have been released.

Sanchez and Carlos.

Capybara can be quite a flighty animal,
so we don't want to go in there with

lots of energy and try pushing them
around too much. It's all very much

be on their terms and how comfortable
they are.

This is their new home now, so they
don't look too agitated and they're

adorable for us.

It's kind of exactly what we want to see
in them.

It's great.

It's exciting.

Well, when we picked them up, they were
just in the box. So this is the first

time I've seen them out of the crate.

They're quite a beautiful animal. And
they're just so cute. Look at them.

you don't like them.

They're very inquisitive.

Okay, everyone's in position.

Time to let the cappies on to exhibit.

Well, I'm very happy to officially
declare Taronga Doo's capybara habitat

officially open. There you go.

Go ahead.

Now,

we're very tentative.

Some of them are a little bit more wary,
but that's completely fine. We're all

different.

You're a big brave boy, huh?

You're a big brave boy.

You want a little bum scratch?

Yeah.

Yeah, really looking forward to looking
after them.

Cappies are great little animals.
They're very social.

They'll be displaying a lot of natural
behaviours. The exhibit is suited for

that, so they can be grazing, they can
be in the water. They're very aquatic,

they love the water.

Oh, that's deep.

It's the deepest water they've been in.

So it'll be good to see the five of them
out there and doing what Cathy's do.

Oh, they must love being able to
actually submerge.

They're like, yeah, play fighting in the
water.

I feel great. It's been a pretty
unbelievable day.

It's a massive what you did at the
moment. We're so proud of everyone, the

teams, our teams, the drivers. Grant did
a fantastic job. Yeah, we're over the

moon. I couldn't have pictured this day
going any better.

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