Original subtitles

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, situation critical for an orphaned baby wombat.

There are certain things here that don't seem quite right.

Can a mother's love get him through?

Just worried about him.

Stage fright.

She took about 30 minutes to fly from her release the other day.

The mystery of why Leslie the condor doesn't want to fly.

We need to build up her confidence again.

And a long overdue birth for a very rare bongo.

This is an incredible accomplishment for the species.

Taronga has such a diverse number of species across their zoo that the only

to give them the care they need is to split them up into groups.

While the names of the groups are pretty common, like carnivores, primates,

aviary, and reptiles, there's also more obscure names such as

Australian fauna, invertebrates, and the oddly named, but extremely common,

ungulates.

So here at Taronga Zoo, I'm an ungulate keeper, and ungulate's just a fancy name

for a hooved mammal. So at the zoo here, we've got giraffe. They're our biggest

drawcard. But I also look after pygmy hippo. I also look after bongo, and

soon to get zebra back again.

Every morning, like all the other teams across the zoo, Jimmy and his team do

the rounds of all the animals in their care.

My day starts really early. We arrive at the barn, obviously set up their food,

but that's not the bulk of their day. The bulk of their day for me would be

their training and also the care of them.

What I'm making up here is the giraffe training pouches. So this is the

giraffe's daily food intake. What we do is divide this up amongst as many

training sessions as we're having. So today I think we've got three training

sessions on, so we need to spread this out amongst three training pouches.

All right, let's do this.

I love giraffe and I've always loved giraffe. I never once in my wildest

believed I'd be working with them, let alone up this close and this personal

with them and actually caring for them.

Here, buddy.

Good boy.

Good.

Target.

Hold, hold.

Good boy.

But there's also the less glamorous but equally important work to be done before

the zoo opens to the public.

Our typical morning, obviously, we started off here this morning, we've

training, the paddock's been cleaned, now we put up their food. So obviously

you'll see how high this goes, you've got to get it up pretty high for these

giraffes. Our male here is nearly five and a half metres, so you can't feed him

at ground level, you have to feed him up high. We put out feed and we pick up

their poo, that's the cycle of life here at the zoo.

And voila, done.

Every animal needs food and water, but the ungulates have a unique need that no

other animal at the zoo has.

Now, my main thing for these guys, or for being an ungulate keeper, is hoof

care.

Nyota here is just on a tonne, and those tiny little hooves have to hold up a

tonne. So for me, every morning I'll come in and the first thing I want to do

check out their hooves.

It'd be like being a podiatrist for giraffe, really.

For us, hoof care is the most vital thing, especially for a giraffe, a

animal carrying all that weight on what looks like a dinner plate. That dinner

plate needs to be maintained.

So I'm just going to assemble this hoof block.

But what we want our male to do, we want him to come in, we want him to present

his foot, and then basically he needs to roll his ankle or his hock onto here so

we can actually work on the underside of his hoof.

All right, Jimmy here.

Station.

Jimmy Yu, who's our youngest male, he's also our biggest, he does have a

tendency for his hooves to roll a little bit, so he's our priority for hoof care

at the moment.

Okay. Foot.

Good.

Touch. Roll.

Good.

Good.

Station. Brush.

Excellent boy, Jimmy Yu.

Good job, Jim.

This is to me like being a rock star in the zoo, you know what I mean? Every

kid's dreams to work with a giraffe or to work with megafauna is a dream come

true job for me.

But Jimmy's day is only just starting and already this rock star has another

to attend.

Australia is world renowned for its wildlife.

the likes of which can't be found anywhere else on the planet.

We've been isolated as a continent for such a long time, but our animals have

evolved, and they're crazy to look at, definitely.

Kangaroos, the way they move.

Koalas, the giant sort of cuddly thing up in a tree. It's wild, definitely.

But one animal that's a little misunderstood.

and doesn't get the same international exposure as the other Aussie icon, is

wombat.

Wombats are not slow and clumsy, they're fast.

They can run 40 kilometres an hour when they want to, and they've got this

curiosity about them.

We've got southern hairy -nosed wombats here at the zoo, and we've got a family

of four.

Southern hairy -nosed wombats have this hairy nose.

So when you see it, it's kind of a boxy nose, and they definitely, even from

young joeys, they've got this considerable fur around their nose.

They're a bit of a smaller wombat, and potentially a little bit less aggressive

than the common wombat.

This is incredibly rare for a male wombat.

He seeks it out. So he comes to me, and he loves the scratch behind the ear, and

then he voluntarily rolls over and just loves this scratch on his belly.

Southern hairy -nosed wombats are found in arid parts of Australia, down south.

They're vulnerable, as well as the other species, due to mange, which is a mite

that infests the skin of the wombat. And they really suffer before, in the end,

they can die from it.

Oh,

you love a scratch, don't you?

They've been a challenging animal to learn how to breed.

We've been fortunate enough to have bred six joeys.

over the past eight years, nine years.

Surprisingly, we've had all females up until now, yeah.

Cora, which has been the mother of also the other joeys, unfortunately, she

passed while her little boy was inside her pouch, and keepers have had to hand

raise that joey from now on.

Hi, little man.

Hello, Wauru.

Are you waking up? You think?

So this little guy is Wauru.

He's about seven months old now.

Andrew and myself here are very lucky to be able to be helping him and hand

-raising him at the moment.

Oh, good boy.

We would only ever hand -raise a wombat, Joey, if we absolutely needed to, to

ensure his survival.

He will be particularly important because he is the first boy that's been

part of the breeding program here at Trunga Zoo.

Waru actually means fire in a number of Indigenous dialects and he was given

that name pretty much because of his personality. He's a very feisty little

and he is definitely very cheeky already and we call him a little terror

in the most loving way possible.

Yeah, he's just full of energy when he's out.

Almost feed time, bud.

So we are feeding him at the moment every four hours. He's getting milk

He also gets a water feed a couple of times a day as well.

We obviously have to keep him nice and clean and dry and warm, so changing

whenever we need it. Lots of laundry.

Lots of laundry.

Tons of laundry.

You going to take it?

Yeah, good boy.

He's such a heart melter.

He's just the cutest little thing.

You're really smashing that, buddy.

It'd be normally about a year before they're fully independent from mum, so

we'll be looking after him until about that 12 -month stage.

Oh, buddy.

Very,

very cute.

In the wild, a wombat joey would not be able to survive on its own. They're

dependent on mum for up to two years of age. So these guys need 24 -7 care.

Time to go home.

Care for Wauru isn't just confined to the zoo.

You ready?

So taking Wauru, the southern hairy -nosed wombat, Joey, home with me

That's part of the job when you're hand -raising an animal is they often do need

to go home with you.

Have you got everything you need?

I think, yeah. Got his milk? I've got his milk. Got his diaper bag?

Yeah. Clean pouches? Got all his pouches, his records, his bag.

The problem is the hairy -nosed wombat is nocturnal.

So Andrew is in for another restless night.

You'd be good for Andrew.

I doubt that.

At Taronga, there are more birds than any other animal in the zoo.

Wow!

Many were injured animals that came through Taronga's rehab facility.

Those that couldn't be released back into the wild are integrated into the

as ambassadors for their species.

Looks like he's going to go in.

Leslie,

an Andean condor, is one such ambassador, but lately she's started to

mojo.

While Matt has been working with her closely, he's asked Taronga's bird

Gray, who used to run the bird team, to come down and have a look.

Release her from up on the grass.

We're about to work Leslie, the Andean condor. She's been out of shows for a

days because she had some issues. She took about 30 minutes to fly from her

release the other day.

In you go.

Why do I?

When I started at a zoo 15 years ago, Leslie was two years old and still

with her parents.

Luckily, she very quickly came around, and because I started working with her

such a young age, we've developed a really good relationship where I

trust her.

Rebuilding a bird's confidence can be a slow process.

Anytime we train a behavior, whether it's a new behavior or an old behavior

that's broken down, we always want to break everything down into small, very

easily achievable steps.

So we need to build up her confidence again, get her working a lot faster. So

currently Matt is getting ready to release her. We're going to take her up

release her from the lawns that are just above the theater. So that helps to

build their confidence with what we're asking them to do. It may not be easy to

ask her to fly 50 meters, but it is easy to get her to fly 5 meters. And so we

slowly build those steps up, build that confidence until she's willing to take

the last step and do her full routine from her release tower all the way down

the stage.

Hopefully today, because she's had a little bit of time off, today will go

smoothly. You ready, Gray?

Yeah, we're ready.

Jimmy is continuing his daily rounds of the ungulates, and next up is an animal

that's nearing extinction.

Morning, boys.

So for me, the best part of being a zookeeper is knowing that I'm making a

difference. We get to do a lot of stuff here, and we get to educate the public,

and we get to do animal care here, but we also get to take a lot of what we

learn to the wild, and that's really, really important.

So we're off to feed the bongo and clean the bongo exhibit.

Bongo's the largest forest -dwelling antelope in the world.

But before I do the bongo exhibit, I have to feed our lovely little chickens.

can't miss out on them.

Chook, chook, chook, chook, chook, chook.

Chook, chook, chook, chook, chook.

There you go, guys.

Breakfast is served.

And now we go and do the bongo.

Like the giraffe, the bongo is a massive consumer of hay.

It's dinner time.

And for the bongos at Taronga, it's nothing but the best.

This is lucerne hay.

There's a couple of different varieties of hay, but Bongo like lucerne hay.

And you know what? I never ever dreamed that I would look at the different

qualities of hay and appreciate it. This is really, really good hay. I can tell

you why. If I was a hoofstock or a grass -eating animal, I'd prefer this. So you

can sometimes get hay that's really, really stalky. This is really, really

fluffy, which is really, really good hay.

I'm not sure if you're going to appreciate it, but I'm sure he's going

appreciate it.

So here's the browse for our male bongo, a kundu.

He really likes it. This is Celtus. We try and give him as much variety as

possible. But I can tell you what, he's going to love today.

With that good hay and this good browse, it's going to be a good day for him.

But before the food comes the body check.

It gives me a good indication to have a good look all over him, make sure his

body's in good condition, there's nothing going wrong, there's nothing

that's happened overnight, he has no ticks on his body. It's all about their

welfare and we want to keep him as comfortable as possible, you know.

Good boy, darling.

Door.

You're all right. Good boy.

Good boy. Impressive, huh?

Touch. Thank you.

So what I'm doing here is I'm not just brushing him to make him look good. It's

a great way for us keepers to give a body condition and check on his body

condition, make sure there's no parasites.

And it's also a good way for him to get used to us touching him. So if we ever

need to do blood draws or veterinary procedures, he's already used to people

being around him and touching him.

But at the same time, I still have to watch my safety. I don't want to get

between those big horns and these bars.

Spray. So what I'm doing now, this stuff here is repellent. So you can use this

on your dogs at home. You use it on yourself.

It's basically a fly repellent.

Spray. And you see I cued.

We don't do anything as a surprise. So anything that is any behavior I'm

even though I'm only asking him to stand still, I want him to know that I'm

about to spray him. So you'll see when I started, I said spray.

Nothing's a surprise for him.

You want to scratch? Scratch.

Good boy. So this is a kundu. He's our male bongo here at Taronga Zoo.

I know that his ex -girlfriend, Djembe, is out at Western Plains Zoo. And I've

heard on the grapevine, mate, that she might have a bun in the oven, so to

speak. So don't feel jealous about that, mate. Feel proud for the species, eh?

A bongo pregnancy is massive news for the species as they're doing it

tough in the wild.

Bongo numbers are really, really low in the wild. I think they're less than 100.

So you can think that animal is critically, critically endangered.

They'll be gone from the wild soon.

So it's up to us to breed up, and then hopefully one day we can secure their

habitat and release them back into the wild. But that's a really, really big

hope. And that's what half the problem is. We can breed these animals, which is

fantastic. We've got nowhere to release them yet.

So until we can fix the problem of them being poached or in the wild, we are

just at a standstill. But such exciting news. for bongos that we've got a new

one on the way.

Keeper Andrew is travelling with some very precious cargo.

He's taken Wauru, an endangered southern hairy -nosed wombat, home for the

night. Wauru was in a pretty dire situation, I guess, when he came to us.

just lost his mum. So we've got to do whatever it takes to get him through.

And because these wombats are so rare, it's vital that Wauru survives.

He'll be a really important part of our breeding program.

He's the first male we've had born here in five years. So it's up to us to make

sure that we give him the best chance of growing up healthily and making sure

we're doing whatever we need to do to get him through.

Out you go, little man.

See, I'm just asleep.

Whether that's getting up at 2am to feed him, whether that's giving up. you

know, all our free time to make sure he's supervised and we know what's going

with him. But, you know, that's part and parcel. That's the job. And while that

sounds like a lot of work, it's also a lot of fun.

So this is home for little Waru, or home within a home.

So he's got a nice big bed here.

So we've got a little bit of grass here, a little bit of turf.

That's really important for him to transition to solid foods, and grass and

vegetation is what he'd be eating out in the wild.

We have a little chew toy here for Wauru.

Honestly, it's a dog toy. You know, he loves to chew things, so it works just

well for baby wombats as well.

And then a little soft toy for him as well. So, you know, I'd like to say he

cuddles it, but he probably chews that just as much as well.

So it's early evening, coming up to 6 o 'clock, so time for Wauru to have

another bottle of milk very soon, and then he'll probably fall straight back

asleep.

Wombats are nocturnal.

So while Andrew gets ready for bed, Waroo is just waking up.

Yeah, life's pretty strange sometimes when you're a zookeeper and you're

bringing an animal home to your apartment.

You ready?

Here you go.

To be honest, I'm not sure if I'm mum, dad or, you know, just the milkman for

little Waru here.

Ah, good job, buddy.

It's a lot of work bringing him home, but hopefully he pulls through, makes it

to adulthood and, you know, contributes to the breeding program for this, you

know, it's a vulnerable species.

Well done.

Ah, big scratch.

So, he's a very important little fella and we're going to do everything we can

to get him there.

Right now, life looks good for little Waru.

Looks like you're going into a milk coma.

You're a little bit milk drunk.

But unfortunately, that's all about to change.

Leslie, the Andean condor, has lost her mojo and is refusing to fly.

So we need to build up her confidence again, get her working a lot faster.

So Matt and Gray are trying to get her back on track.

We're ready.

And they plan to do this by starting small.

It may not be easy to ask her to fly 50 meters, but it is easy to get her to fly

5 meters. And so we slowly build those steps up, build that confidence until

she's willing to take the last step.

You ready, Gray?

Yeah, we're ready.

There she is.

Give her a little wave. Here she comes.

Yeah.

You're all right.

It's early days, but at least Leslie is back in the air.

Good girl.

My concern with Leslie's performance today was that she would be slow to come

down the stage and slow to exit.

She's a little bit nervous today.

She did have a little bit of concern over some novel objects in the

But what I appreciated about this session was she recovered very quickly

that. Come on.

She very quickly put her attention back on me. I was able to get her back on

track and finish off the routine. And this is, hopefully...

Job done.

She was very quick out, quick down the stage. She exited really well, so I'm

happy with that. I think that Leslie's definitely done a great job today. I

every confidence that we're going to be able to have her back in shows, flying

from her release tower, hopefully within the next week.

Over the last few weeks, Substitute mum Susie has noticed that Wauru, the

orphaned southern hairy -nosed wombat, is having trouble walking.

So she's taken him to the animal hospital to investigate.

The last couple of days, his gait just changed a little bit. The way he walks

a little bit different. So we just want to have a good look at him and see

what's going on.

So as far as this sort of lameness goes, how was he over the weekend?

I wouldn't say there's been much improvement.

And last night, maybe a little bit less.

inactive after we spoke.

He's still able to get around.

He just, yeah, he likes to sit down a lot.

So maybe before we anaesthetise him, let's see him just walking around.

Yeah. I can really see a

stiff shuffle to the gate.

Okay, we'll pop him back in the pouch and we'll just mask him down with the

anesthetic. With his walk, he was just a little bit less active than he usually

is and just seemed a little bit stiff and a little bit tentative on his back

leg. So that's what we sort of want to have a look once he's doing a wee.

Yeah, I mean, I'm definitely concerned seeing that change in behaviour and the

way that he's walking is a little bit unusual.

But, you know, I know he's in the best hands here, so he's going to get a good

check -up and we'll find out what's going on.

While he's still going to sleep, just give him a quick exam.

So just feeling if there's any lumps or bumps, any what we call crepitus, so

crunching feeling or grating feeling in the joints.

Yeah, so certainly none of that is evident at the moment.

Is it normal for the ankle bones to be quite prominent like that?

It is prominent, and actually his elbows are very prominent as well, but I'm

pretty sure that would be a normal thing. Yeah.

Let's do some x -rays. We probably don't need to intubate him. Okay.

So the x -ray is going to be very useful to evaluate particularly his skeleton,

just make sure all his bones are developing properly.

It's hard to see him in such a helpless state.

I guess I feel a little bit anxious, you know, seeing him sort of splayed out

like that. It's a little bit confronting.

All right, let's take the x -ray.

So you

can

see all these sort of dark...

Spots here in the intestines, and that's gas, so the black bits, and then all

the whiter bits are actually his faeces.

So he's got a lot of faeces and a lot of gas.

Does he fart a lot?

Not that often.

Yeah.

A couple of times, yeah.

Okay, let's just get his skull, but actually I might as well do a skull,

him over and do a DV.

He's in a good position and then we can... I guess it's just unknown, not

knowing what is going on and why he might be showing this change in gait and

little bit of potential soreness. But, yeah, it's just that having spent the

last five months looking after him 24 -7, you know, we just want him to do

and get to adulthood. So we're just hoping that, yeah, that he does well.

you want to come over and look, Suze?

Yeah.

There are certain things here that don't seem quite right.

Hello, beautiful boy.

Animal husbandry is the practice of caring for animals and is one of the

important aspects of running a zoo.

What are you doing?

Are you going to do your teeth?

While the majority of care happens behind the scenes... Open.

One of the most visible examples at Taronga is the daily elephant bath.

So we give our elephants a bath every day.

It's just an activity that they really enjoy. Elephants actually love water.

We do our baths roughly about the same time, so they know it's going to happen,

and it's entirely their choice.

If they don't want to participate in something, they don't have to. But they

know the baths are about to happen. We ask them to come in if they want to.

Every day they come in.

Jydee, move up.

Atta boy.

We've got the three Asian elephants that are joining us for the bath today.

So we've got our matriarch, Pakaboon. She's the eldest.

And then we've got her son, Jydee.

who just turned two, and his name means good heart in Thai.

And then our other elephant is Tang Mo, and she loves her bath as well, but she

doesn't quite stick to the routine that the other elephants do. She's got her

own way of laying down, and I'd rather do it this way.

They've each got their own little quirks and personalities and, like, certain

things. So, yeah, it's always fun.

Ready, move up.

Go on, buddy. The point of the bath isn't to get them clean necessarily.

It's just for us to have a look at the skin, make sure they're in good

condition.

Bruno, move up. Good girl, move up. Jodie. Good girl. Paco, move up. Come

big boy.

Good girl.

Come on, bud.

So this is our two -year -old elephant, Jaidee, and he's enjoying his daily

shower. Some of our keyboard is just giving him a good scrub, trying to

exfoliate the skin, making sure it's in good condition, but also looking it over

and making sure that everything's looking good. There's no scrapes or cuts

we need to attend to.

It allows him to inspect everything and seeing how they're moving and how their

attitude is.

All right, Jaidee.

Come on, come on. Good boy. Chunk up.

Good.

Good trunk up.

Good boy. Open.

Good boy.

Steady. Good.

That's it, big girl.

That's it, Pakbun. So this is Pakbun, our matriarch, and she's Jaidee's

She's 27 years old. Now it's her turn to enjoy the bath, and she absolutely

loves it.

Everything is based on trust. In order to lay down, that can be a very

vulnerable position for an elephant, so they're only going to do it if they feel

safe. and comfortable around you.

We invest a

lot in that positive reinforcement training and building that bond and

And once we've established that, then they're totally willing. They trust us.

All right. Look, this is Tang Mo, which means watermelon in Thai.

So the biggest watermelon you've ever seen.

And she's just enjoying a drink from the hose.

Because we use warm water for the baths, it's kind of novel for them to drink

warm water. So we always offer them a drink. It's like having a little cup of

tea to start the bath.

So, yeah, we give her time to enjoy that before we actually start the bath.

We also look at the elephant's feet, very important to an elephant.

We want to make sure they're in the best of condition possible.

So we have a look at the bottom, that pad, make sure that there's no stones or

anything stuck in them because elephant's feet are very important to

want to make sure they're in the best of condition.

So the final step in the bath is asking the elephant to open their mouth nice

and wide so that we can visualize the teeth, because teeth are very important

an elephant. So they've got big, massive molars. They've got four teeth in their

mouth, on each corner of the jaw, and they are grinding food day in, day out.

They eat about 18 hours a day. We have to make sure they're fully functional,

they're not impacted, because that's its livelihood, is being able to eat all

that hard, dry stuff.

Everything that we do with our elephants is based on positive reinforcement, and

it's entirely their choice. If they don't want to participate in something,

don't have to. But they know the bads are about to happen every day they come

in. So that lets us know that they actually do like the activity and love

interacting with us.

As far as the elephant is concerned, it's just a daily spa treatment. They're

just getting a nice scrub, exfoliation, and fed treats at the same time. So they

love it. Yeah, it's always fun.

Out at Dubbo, Taronga keepers are maintaining a close eye on one of the

important pregnancies they've had in the last few years.

Jambi! Hey, little gal.

What we're going to do is we're going to give them some lunch. So we'll put

their lunch out, they'll make us a treat.

I've been working with the bongo for approximately four years now.

I'll just let them approach us.

Good gal.

Good.

This is Jemby, our eldest breeding female.

Jemby was actually born here at Taronga Western Plains Zoo.

She's very good with her high -value treats, but that's when you're her

favourite. Otherwise, outside food, she likes to do her own thing.

She's a gorgeous girl, and she's the one that's in cuffs due any time.

So, yeah, she's looking really well.

She's got a nice little body condition.

The calf actually gets quite active in the afternoon. You can see it kicking,

and you'll see its little legs push out, and she'll feel a little uncomfortable.

But she's doing so well, so, so well.

And it's no wonder the baby is active, as Jemby is due to give birth any day

now.

Reading bongo here at Triangle West and Plains Zoo is not extremely scientific,

but you do have to orchestrate it quite well. Sometimes you'll see them mate

through the day. With Jemby, she's a little bit more private, so we think she

gets mated overnight, which does make an accurate due date for her a little

difficult to gauge.

So the calf could come pretty much any day. However, our gestation is about 286

days. That was from mating to birth, so the earliest possible calving would be

the end of this.

However, it could be in the next few weeks as well.

We're just praying for a little female. The region needs a little female so she

can be a little warrior so we can hopefully buddy her up with a potential

breeding male in the future.

A healthy female bongo baby will go a long way to helping the species as the

numbers of this beautiful animal are in serious decline.

The eastern bongo is found within the forested area within Mount Kenya.

they're a critically endangered species.

Predation for the eastern bongo would be primarily methods within the area, of

course, snaring from man -made snares.

Deforestation is another huge issue and also domestic cattle diseases that is

wiping out this remarkable species.

But we'd just be very thankful for any healthy calf at this stage. So, yeah,

it's super exciting. There's nothing better than a baby. So, have to watch

space.

Wombat orphan Wauru is having trouble walking.

After a series of x -rays, Larry has found some worrying signs.

Did you want to come have a look, Suze?

Yeah. You know, there are certain things here that don't seem quite right.

See how dense the teeth are and some of these skull bones and the rest of his

bones are quite grey.

So it's possible that there's just not enough calcium in his bones.

which shouldn't be the case because this diet is specifically formulated for

wombats. But sometimes there are other factors which influence the amount of

absorption of the calcium as well.

We've got a good comparison here with this very dense faeces in his

and if you look at the density of the bone, it's not quite there.

And so, yeah, low calcium in the bones is certainly a risk for...

for Wauru in that the bones may not develop properly.

They might be more susceptible to injury as well. They can fracture.

They are a bit weak. The bones are a bit weak, brittle.

And they can also be a little bit deformed in their shape as well. They

a bit.

Unfortunately today, there's no quick fix for Wauru's problem.

Susie is well aware there's a big fight ahead for this little battler.

Yeah, you know, you want an answer. You want to know what's going on. So still a

bit of apprehension.

Sure.

Just worried about him.

So, Suze, I think we've got everything we need today.

I'll go have another look at the x -rays. Yeah. I'll pair it with similar

bare -nosed wombats we've got. Unfortunately, we don't have other hairy

wombat x -rays.

And the blood work. So that'll come through sometime today and we'll be able

look at all of that and then hopefully a bit of a diagnosis and a plan.

I mean, at least, you know, there's nothing, like, dramatically obvious on

bones. They're not sort of broken or bent or anything like that.

I spend a lot of time with this guy. He comes with me everywhere and I do

everything for him. So, yeah, just a worried mum.

I do have a feeling that his bone development is not where it should be.

There are things we can do to fix that. We can supplement his diet.

Obviously, the gut problem is also probably something we can fix by

-establishing a normal gut flora.

He does have a big road ahead.

It's been a bit of a tough journey for him, but, yeah, you know, he's got the

best care that he could possibly have and considering everything that he's

through, he's doing incredibly well.

Leslie the Andean condor has lost her confidence.

Leslie has been having some issues lately. She has not wanted to fly from

release tower. She stood up in there for about 30 minutes the other day. But

there's no one better to get her back on track than Gray, who has worked with

Leslie for the last 15 years.

So over the last week, we've been doing a lot of repetitions with Leslie,

building up her confidence. I think she has that confidence back now. That means

that once we get her into the release box today, what I'm looking for is that

when the door opens, she flies straight down the stage, perfect routine, and

then exiting without any hesitation.

Matt is also quietly optimistic about her recovery.

So Leslie's been really good for the last couple of days. It looks like the

confidence has built back up again.

So the last step is popping her up in the tower.

All right, Les, in you get.

Howdy, girl. It's about 15 metres off the ground, probably another 30 over the

stage.

She's ready to be getting close back into shows. This is the last step of

checking where her head's at.

We have every confidence that she'll come out and do her thing. But if not,

know, this is part of what we do. Any breakdowns, we'll work on it, build a

confidence, and she'll be back on track again.

I'm always a little bit nervous when I'm putting a bird back in shows after

they've had some time off.

Condors are incredible creatures, and she's a very unique bird to get to see

in a show. So we're very heavily invested in her success.

We've had a lot of really good training sessions over the last week, so I think

we're good to go.

You ready?

And after days of preparation, all Gray and Matt can do now is watch.

It's all up to Leslie.

There we go.

Here she comes.

Beautifully done.

Leslie did great. I couldn't be happier with that. She came out of the tower as

soon as the door was opened.

She had really nice flight down, got a bit of height on her way down, which was

really good because an Andean condor has a very impressive wingspan.

So getting to see that in action is always an amazing thing.

Once she was on stage, she was very focused on me, focused on what she

do. Okay, let's go this way.

It couldn't have gone better as far as I'm concerned.

Good job, Leslie. Come on.

Good girl.

Here she comes.

Leslie has definitely built up that confidence that we've been working so

on over the past few weeks.

That was perfect.

She's ready for shows.

She's ready to face an audience again.

Starting to get a big nose, aren't you, buddy? Big schnoz. But he's starting to

grow into it. Yeah, he's actually starting to grow. It's been a month

was diagnosed with bone development issues.

He's a good boy.

But Susie and Andrew aren't giving up.

He hit 5 .8 kilos yesterday.

Yeah, kind of big. Almost at 6 kilos.

They're tackling Wauru's problem head on.

I was pretty upset last time, you know, very worried about him because he's our

little guy and we want him to do really well. But, yeah, really hopeful that

he's going to be a nice, strong adult wombat.

But Wauru still has a fight ahead of him if he's to rejoin his family of

southern hairy -nosed wombats in the coming months.

Wauru went back down to the vet to have a follow -up procedure just to see how

he was progressing on the new diet and diet changes.

And his X -ray showed that he has had some development and calcification, so

that's a good thing, that he's starting to get some good bone growth.

But they did notice that he has some small fractures in his growth plates in

hind legs.

So that's why he's still a little bit shuffly and that sort of thing.

Basically, we just have to get his bones strong enough so that they can assess

how to move forward with that.

It was hard to hear that he does have some small little fractures in those

legs, but, you know, it's... I don't really know how to...

It's tough.

Um... Yeah.

We keep doing what we're doing and we keep hoping that we see the improvement

that we saw in his last set of x -rays in terms of the calcification and

mineralisation.

So we keep doing what we're doing and hope that he keeps improving.

He's a good boy.

And although Waru had problems walking, as long as he's at Taronga, he will

never walk alone.

He's got a whole team supporting him, the whole zoo's behind him.

So, yeah, we're just doing our best for you, aren't we, buddy?

Back at Taronga Western Plain Zoo, Keeper Caroline is eagerly awaiting the

of an endangered bongo.

Hey, Jimby. Good girl.

Good.

By the zoo's calculations, Jemby is now four weeks overdue, but she's taking it

in her stride.

We are still waiting on the birth of this incredible calf.

It feels like it's been forever, but naturally calves will come when they're

ready, as you know, like any pregnancy, which is going to make it even more

rewarding and even more spectacular and beautiful and magical.

But there's a little moo.

She's been a fantastic mum.

She's been very calm, very settled.

All the physical signs are now present. Her abdomen is quite extended now.

It's a lot lower.

But also that vulva swelling, which is a really big sign.

Her behaviour is starting to change.

She has very clear guidelines of what we can and can't do, so we basically take

all the cues from her, which is a clear indication that we are getting so much

more closer.

In anticipation of the big day, the zoo has prepared a birthing suite.

This is a purposely built carving yard for a bongo.

are quite private, very protected for her as well because they do give birth

privacy. So we need to make her feel secure, enclosed, and that way she has

to imprint and bond with her calf at that very significant period of time.

also it needs to be soft and comfortable.

We do need to make sure that she's secure.

It's draft -free as well. We do make sure we provide lots of extra heat.

We do get a cold snap.

Newborn calves or neonates can't control their body temperature.

So all these little things we just need to make sure we're prepared for. So

we're ready to go. Hopefully Jemby is too.

And Taronga keepers didn't have to wait too long, with Mother Jemby giving birth

to baby Jabali only two days later.

and word of the newborn male bongo has travelled quickly to Sydney.

We've just had some really exciting news come through. The bongo in Dubbo, she's

had a baby, so that's fantastic.

Because, as you know, with any pregnancies, they can go hit or miss,

an incredible accomplishment for the species.

For the regional breeding program, it's fantastic, because it means the numbers

are growing.

Their numbers are really, really low in the wild. So what we can do here is

increase them, increase the breeding program, start to disperse them, get

genetics out there and just create a bigger, bigger bongo population. And

what we're doing.

But just that one being born is so special for everyone and so special for

special for him as a species, special for everyone. Couldn't be more happy for

those guys.