All language subtitles for Inside Taronga ZOO s01e08

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 last of their kind.
In the wild, there's no breeding.

This is it. The race to bring a species
back from the dead.

I'm so proud of the work that we do. You
know, this is Taronga to me.

Saving the smile of an old crocodile.

Knocked a tooth off after eating some
food.

Just not crying back. Just not crying
back. And who knew it would be so hard.

I voted for Pia.

Pia. Tahi.

To name a penguin.

Her name will be.

A large part of Taronga's activities are
focused on educating the public.

But they're also dedicated to giving
injured wildlife a second chance.

We have such a great message about
education and conservation.

Monday!

Hi, kiddo!

I think it's really important that we
give back to the community and we give

back to the animals that we're looking
after. So making sure we put effort into

their wild cousins is really important.

Hey, kiddo!

Good.

This is Bondi, and he is a six -year
-old New Zealand fur seal.

Bondi's pretty special because he was
found on South Bondi Beach, pretty much

split open by a shark. So he ended up in
our wildlife hospital, and after that,

after a few months of rehab, he came
down to Seals for the Wild to help be an

ambassador animal for his species and
help talk about education and

for the species.

When an animal can't be released back
into the wild, Taronga will help them

adapt to zoo life.

When we first start working with an
individual, we spend many, many weeks a

month gaining rapport with them. They
really need to be able to trust us in

order to do what we do with them.

When we get our seals, like Bondi from
the wild, he started learning his

husbandry behaviours first.

I can pat him all over his body when
he's in this position.

I can also open his mouth and check his
teeth. Good boy.

And most of the behaviours we teach them
are derivatives of natural behaviours

that they would be doing anyway.

Seals are just one of the many animals
the marine team take in each year.

We are heading into the penguin exhibit
and we are going to be weighing

our four fjordland crested penguins.

Native to the New Zealand South Island,
the elusive Fiordland crested penguin is

a bit of a mystery.

They're actually one of the rarest
species in the world and not many people

even heard of them. So we get to
showcase them to our visitors and

them a bit of a profile.

Oh! So we weigh the Fiordland penguins
every fortnight.

And that's just to keep a track of how
their weights are going. It's a really

good indicator of animal health
generally.

We train them to do it. So they train to
jump on these scales. It means that

it's stress -free.

They're very charismatic.

In fact, it's hard to keep them off the
scales.

Hello, mister.

Oh, he loves the scales.

Of the four fjord land -crafted penguins
here, there are three female and one

male. And like Bondi the seal, they all
share one thing in common.

They're all rescues. They all came to
Australia sort of out of their range.

And Ducky was actually found in Perth.
So she went all the way back around. I

was weighing.

Here we go. And she was taken into care
because she had quite a few injuries on

her underside.

She'd obviously been attacked by
something and couldn't be released back

wild.

And Taronga Zoo is about to receive its
fifth Fiordland penguin.

A female with a broken flipper is being
transferred from Melbourne Zoo.

We're going to be picking up a new
penguin. She has come from the wild,

in the wild, which of course is not the
best thing to happen, but it's going to

be so awesome to have another one to
join that beautiful family at the zoo.

Woohoo! Let's go! Grant. That's our pet
pack. She's arrived.

She has.

All right. Hello.

Hello. How are you?

Penguin off the flight from Melbourne.
Thank you very much.

I can just see you through there. Hello.

Hello.

Hello.

Are you talking?

Yes, you are.

She looks really good.

She looks like she's had a great flight.

Hello, beautiful.

All right, I think we should get her
into the van. Yes, you do.

All right. She's a very special bird, so
I'm glad that everybody is really

taking excellent care of her because
she's going to get five -star hotel

treatment at Taronga Zoo, I can assure
you.

All good, mate? All good.

Being away from the water for too long
isn't ideal.

so Joe wants to get back to the zoo
before the penguin overheats.

We'll get this bird on the road soon.
We've got to air -condition the van up,

it's been on the road a bit.

All good? All right, mate.

OK.

In 2015, a mysterious virus swept
through the Bellinger River on the New

Wales north coast.

As it spread upstream, it infected
almost the entire Bellinger River

turtle population.

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.

Every animal that was infected went on
to die.

Probably about 95 % of the population
was lost.

But the species was about to be offered
a lifeline.

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

captive breeding program before the
virus went through.

And today, those adult turtles are
housed at Taronga's purpose -built

pond. These are the hardest ones to
catch. In the wild, there's no breeding,

we have the last 16 remaining breedable
adults in this facility.

This is the future of this species.

To date, the breeding program has been a
huge success.

I knew it!

And currently, all six of the female
turtles of breeding age are carrying

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

Her eggs look fantastic.

As they wait for these latest eggs to
hatch in a few months, the previous

breeding season's juveniles are about to
begin an epic journey of their own.

Today is their second health check, so
if they pass this health check, it means

that we can release them, which is
exciting.

So they look quite good.

After two years of care, the plan is to
release ten juvenile turtles back into

the Bellinger River.

They're just so striking when they're
little.

Really pretty.

It's an ambitious repopulation plan that
the zoo has been working on since the

turtles first arrived five years ago.

So when we release these around two
years of age, they've still got another

maybe six to eight years of growing
before they're ever going to be sexually

mature. So we're starting them off
young. Hopefully they'll navigate the

and learn it quite well.

contribute back to the population, which
would be so amazing, to know in the

future that you're finding turtles that
are from these guys. That would be

remarkable.

Hello.

Are we on time or not?

You're on time.

Before they release the turtle, they all
need to be given the all -clear by

Larry.

So just a quick exam, check them over,
make sure eyes and mouth are OK, nothing

abnormal. Skin's good. Looks great,
actually.

So anything abnormal, whether it's a
physical abnormality or a skin lesion,

infections, things like that, would be a
problem, and we'd probably have to

reject the animal from the release
cohort.

We always know they're healthy because
they've got a permanent smile, these

guys.

Beautiful little face.

122. That's the biggest one.

The most important hurdle to clear
before release.

is to ensure that each turtle is free of
the virus that pushed the species to

the brink.

So this swab we're taking now is from
the eye and the cloaca.

Or their bottom.

We just gently rub this over the eye.

A positive result will mean that the
turtle will need to be removed from the

population for fear of contamination.

All the turtles that we were looking at
have good weight.

There's always a little bit of worry
what results might come back from the

test. There's always that doubt that
something could go wrong.

Yeah.

Taronga has just received an injured
fjordland crested penguin from Melbourne

Zoo. All right, little birdie, here we
go.

All right.

Hot and stressed from her flight to
Sydney, vet Frances is waiting at the

wildlife hospital to conduct a quick
check on the penguin's injured flipper

before she's moved into a much cooler
quarantine area.

All right, here we are.

How are you going, little girl?

Eh?

Yep, I know.

Ready to come out.

You all right? Are you ready? I think
she's going to come bolting, so we might

have to... Well, we just want to make
sure she doesn't fall off here and cut

them. I have her right here. Oh, baby,
straight down there.

I'm concerned that she's very hot, and
we need to, like, spray her down and

let her... Do we want to spray her now,
aren't we?

Yeah. We can just, like, wet her down
here.

Good girl. That's better.

Good girl.

Yes, good girl.

The trip has taken a toll on the
penguin.

So, to reduce stress, Frances wants to
put her straight into a quarantine pool.

So, Jo, should we pop her? Yeah, I think
we can.

We'll take her down. That would be
really good.

Make sure she settles in.

It won't be long.

Promise. Promise, promise.

All right. Oh, look at this. It's
brilliant.

They need to get her into the water as
soon as possible.

I'm going to let her out because she
really is hot.

And we'll see how she goes.

There we go, little girl.

Coming out?

Good girl, come on.

There's a girl.

Yay, look where you are.

Try it.

Come and try this.

Go in the pool.

The pool is good.

So it may take her some time to feel
comfortable. I feel much happier with

now. I think she was pretty keen to get
out of that pet pack.

But she looks quite settled.

So she will be up here in quarantine for
roughly two weeks.

And during that time, we'll be just
keeping an eye on her. We'll be feeding

With her temperature back to normal.

And now we need to give her some rest.

All attention turns to her injured
flipper.

It's not only seals, sea lions and
penguins that need the water at Taronga

There's also the pygmy hippos, the
otters and the very obscure and lesser

fishing cat.

Fishing cats are quite an elusive
species. Not much is known about them.

They are found throughout Southeast
Asia, from Cambodia all the way through

to Pakistan even.

Being a carnivore, they primarily do eat
meat, and it ranges from fish to small

birds or small mammals that they can
catch, even reptiles as well. They're

probably one of the best swimmers in
terms of when it comes to cat species,

they're very much built for the water.

At Strong River Sydney, we have two
fishing cats. We have our male, Jalor,

our female, Mao.

Mao is a bit smaller than Jalur. The
male fishing cat's a lot larger in size

compared to the females.

So Jalur and Mao have been selected for
our breeding program here at Taronga

Zoo.

And Mao hopes in the future we'll have
kittens of her own.

But unfortunately for Mao, the carnivore
team keepers have noticed a worrying

problem. Fishing cats have this amazing
coat. So the coat is really quite dense

and packed that kind of creates that
barrier between the skin and the air.

One morning, one of our keepers did
notice some fur thinning out in her

and so we did keep a close eye on Mao,
and then we have reported to the vets,

and the vets have decided to have a
general anaesthetic to find out what

is going on with that fur loss.

I'm not planning on intubating her down
there. Yep.

That shall be fine. Yep.

This morning we're just getting ready to
go down and anaesthetise our female

fishing cat.

Skin conditions can be due to an awful
lot of things, and in order for us to

know why the skin is like that, we need
to do some testing.

So let's put it out.

We're taking this fairly seriously, and
we want to make sure that we can keep

her in the best possible health.

Taronga Zoo is giving the critically
endangered Bellinger River turtle a

chance at life.

This one's never going to scratch.

All juvenile turtles have come back
clear of the virus that drove them to

brink of extinction.

Chelsea, do you want to bring me over
the last one?

But there's one more important step to
complete before they can begin their

journey back home.

It's just a little bit wet.

So what I'm doing today is we've just
attached some trackers to the turtles.

You know, we've bred these turtles in
captivity, we've raised them for nearly

two years, and we want to get them back
into the wild. So we want to make sure

that we can see what happens to them.

Trackers are weighted to their bodies,
so they only weigh a small portion of

their body, so it doesn't affect their
swimming.

When we first put them in the water, the
turtles sort of...

You know, they feel, oh, okay, what's
that?

Their body sort of moves slightly.

But then within five, ten minutes, it's
not even like they have anything on

them.

So they're all painted.

They're ready to go back. So we're going
to go now and take them and chuck them

back in the pond.

If you have a look in the box, Chelsea,
it's like we've got our remote

-controlled car race ready to get going.

Now watch this little guy.

So stick your head over there.

Can you see how it sort of...

just hold them to that side. Yeah. So
that's why we will do the trackers, you

know, a few days before release and just
to let them get used to the weight

before they go into the wild because
there's so much new stuff going to go

Yeah, absolutely.

So by putting a tracker on and sticking
them back in their pond for a period of

time, just lets them learn to navigate
with it on.

They're all just going to hang down
there now. They're all really

They don't look stressed at all. They're
moving quite calmly in the water.

They're not swimming erratic.

They're not freaking out.

And that's what we want.

They're little things that I mark as a
win, you know, in our program. It's

you know, up here every day I'm feeding
them or I'm cleaning their tubs. And

then... You know, now we're getting them
ready to release them. It's pretty

awesome.

Next stop, Bellingen River.

Amazing.

The fishing cat is one of the more
obscure animals at Taronga Zoo.

Unlike the majority of cats... This
vulnerable species has adapted to a life

living and hunting in streams and
rivers.

But keepers have noticed that the female
fishing cat, Mao, has a problem with

her very important fur.

She does have a bit of fur loss in some
certain areas on the back, so we are

wanting to make sure that's nothing too
serious. Hopefully we'll find out what's

going on with Mao.

Bring the intubation track. Yeah, yeah.

The vets have arrived on site, but
fishing cats, like domestic cats, are

suspicious of changes to their daily
routine.

So they have to hang back until keeper
Maz has her in position.

I'll go ahead and draw up my drugs, and
you just give us a yell when you want to

stop there.

So Maz has gone up to the holding area
where the cat is and he's going to get

her into a much smaller cage so that I
can administer the injection.

So luckily it's only a very small volume
to inject, which is good because that

will make it easier to inject and better
for the cat.

Once we get the call from Maz, Liz and I
will head up to the holding area. I'll

go in and do the injection and then
we'll wait for her to go to sleep.

Are you all right walking back, Liz?

And with now anaesthetised, Frances and
her team can start trying to solve this

mystery. Yep.

The Fiordland penguin has been in
quarantine for a week since being moved

Melbourne.

Hello?

Yes, I know, that's your sore wing,
isn't it?

While the penguin continues to get the
very best care Taronga staff can

Goodbye, gorgeous.

Goodbye, beautiful.

..the one thing they haven't given her
yet is a name.

We're going to head to the office now,
have our coffee at morning tea, and all

will be revealed.

Ready for the big penguin reveal?

Oh, thanks, mate. Yeah, you excited?

All right.

So... Our Fiordland Crested Penguin has
been with us for one week.

There has been a voting going around,
right?

And today's a big day, right? Not
everybody's here, but let's go around

table and see who voted for what. And
that might give us a bit of an idea

you let us know, right? All right.
Michelle?

I voted for Pio.

Bad choice.

Pio as well.

Crystal? Tahi?

Yeah. Potato?

Potato. Mel?

I can't. I don't remember what I voted
for, but I've been calling her Denise.

Denise.

Liz? P .O. P .O.? Yeah.

Lindsay? I'm P .O., too. There must be a
lot of P .O. people here.

Sounds like there's a lot of P .O.
people here. What did you vote for? I

for Tahi.

Did you?

Yeah. Have you told them what the full
name is?

I can't even pronounce it, Lindsay.

Can you pronounce it? OK, so... Yeah, go
on. So Pio Pio Tahi is the Maori

for Milford Sound, which is one of the
places that they're from. So we can't

call her Pio Pio Tahi for the rest of
her life because it's either Pio or

Over the last week, the entire marine
team have had their say on the new

penguin's name and now the results are
in. Come on!

What shall we call her?

Her name will be Tati.

One,

two, three.

Any time an animal goes under general
anaesthetic, the vets take the

to do a complete health check.

So what we're doing right now is, at the
moment she's only had injectable

anaesthetics, which will wear off fairly
quickly.

but we want to make sure she stays nice
and stable and we have control of her

anaesthetic during the procedure.

So I'm going to put a tube into her
airway and then we're going to manage

with anaesthetic gas.

Is that a good fit? No.

Do you want just to move her up that end
a little bit? Will that be easier or

are you going to knock her in there?

No, I'm fine.

We're going to take some screening x
-rays. We're not expecting to find

abnormal with her, but that doesn't mean
there couldn't be things that we don't

know about.

It's a good opportunity for us to get
some normal x -rays of her. We hope

they're going to be normal. And that way
we've got a comparison for, you know,

if she ever were to have something in
the future.

OK.

Let me make sure we get full thorax.
That should work.

OK. Right.

Last one, we hope.

So we've got a knife x -ray here of...

her abdomen, the bottom half of her
body, which basically shows her liver

her digestive tract, kidneys and so on.
And this would have been her last meal.

Already gone, they've got a very quick
transit time through the

tract, so she's waiting to politely poo
that out for us.

Get a wooft of that smell.

Fishing cat smell.

How's she going?

All right, so so far everything looks
good. Now I'm going to look at the

why we anaesthetise her. I'm going to
have a close look at her skin.

Okay, so we can see here that she's got
a bit of fur missing.

There's still some fur there, but she's
missing mostly the outer guard hairs.

Some of them are a bit broken off.

Mal here has probably one of the most
beautiful patterns you find on a fishing

cat, and she is an absolutely amazing
cat herself.

She's a favourite with a lot of our
keepers, so just to see her off the

-up is pretty cool, and quite a
privilege as well to working with

Not many institutions around
Australasian region have fishing cats,

very lucky.

The skin itself doesn't look terribly
irritated, but she's certainly got sort

thinned hair.

over that area. So what I'm going to do
is I'm going to pluck some of the hairs

out of her back and we'll look at those
in the lab.

I'll take a little bit of a skin
scraping and then just from this worst

area here I'm going to take a small skin
biopsy and we'll get our pathologist to

have a look at that and see if we can
work out why she's losing this hair.

Taronga is home to over 5 ,000 animals.

And while the zoo regularly welcomes
newborns, it

also has its fair share of elderly
residents who all

require very special care like Rin Tin
Tin.

Larry, we initially noticed that his
teeth weren't coming through after he'd

knocked a tooth off after eating some
food. You'd normally see a little tip of

new tooth coming through. We didn't
notice that, and that's why we decided

give you a call.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like little sort of black stuff in the
sockets.

So, yeah, that's abnormal because they
should be coming through.

Saltwater crocodiles regularly lose
teeth and can go through 3 ,000 in their

lifetime.

But they always have a second tooth
sitting underneath.

Mysteriously not renting 10.

Yeah, so it's difficult to know what's
causing it. I mean, he's an older

Could be a nutrient problem. We don't
know.

He's otherwise fine. He's eating well
and everything. It's not actually

affecting him.

But one option is to give him some
vitamins.

Hopefully that'll boost his immune
system, just help him along a bit, maybe

promote the growth of the teeth.

So obviously he's a very large, very
dangerous animal, so getting the drug

him is a bit of a challenge. So what I'm
going to do is use this pulse syringe

so we can inject him from a bit of a
distance, basically giving him a short

course of vitamins to just try and boost
his immunity and hopefully will help

him grow back some normal teeth.

So it's a very concentrated vitamin made
for large domestic animals actually,

livestock, so the volume is actually
fortunately quite small, quite a large

needle though.

but they need to create a diversion to
administer the injection.

So the positioning in here of the food
is really important to be able to get

injection.

So I reckon, yeah, just about here.

Just about here, yeah. Because I'll be
standing at the door here with the

closed, and so I just need to get... OK.
As he sort of grabs them and presents

his neck, I'll jab.

And I'll just place a few around as
well. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Are we ready to go? Let's go.

So if you can do the gate, and I'll
stand here so I can communicate with

Yeah, because he'll come over pretty
quickly, and we don't want to miss that

opportunity. One second. What I'm going
to do is just take this lock off.

Is he already at the door? He's at the
door.

He'll have swallowed that food in
seconds, basically. He does it very

and then he'll start moving away. So
I've got to pick that moment that he's

focusing on swallowing the food and jab
him in the neck.

Are you ready, Larry?

Yep. Yep. Okay, Michael, open the door.

Opening the gate, Larry? Yeah.

Gate's open.

Okay, so he's coming in now.

And it's all over in a flash.

There you go. Got him.

The needle's bent a little bit. I mean,
their skin's very thick.

Obviously, a lot of muscles in that
area, and he was moving around, so, you

know, it's reasonable that the needle
would bend.

This is his third injection, so he's had
a course of injections.

We're not going to give him any more.

Let's have a look there now, just
quickly.

He's right at the door, literally right
there.

Things happen very slowly in reptiles
and probably another couple of months

before Rin Tin Tin grows his teeth back,
if it is going to work.

Fishing cat Mao has fully recovered from
her exam.

It was awesome that Mao was nice and
calm. The whole procedure went very

smoothly and her recovery went really,
really well as well. So after an hour or

so, Mao's appetite came back up and it
was like nothing has happened.

But it's still an absolute mystery to
everyone what's been causing her hair

loss.

So I'm just putting some hair from the
fishing cat into some KOA to digest.

The hair.

So we can have a look under the
microscope.

So Mal, the fishing cat, we found that
she had some hair loss on her back

So Nat and I have just been looking at
the hairs under the microscope.

Nat's been examining that to see if
there's any evidence of, in particular,

kinds of infection.

So I've got a hair here. I'm just
focusing up and down through the hair

see if I can see any fungal elements.

So there are a whole bunch of things
that could cause hair loss in a fishing

like Mal, and they range from infectious
things like little mites and critters

that are climbing around on their fur,
sometimes fungus, ringworm that even

people can get.

I can't see any mites. I can't see any
fungal elements.

I can't see anything through here.

Yeah, no, I agree.

They look nice and clean, and those
edges there of the hair, don't they? I

see any fungal elements either.
Certainly not any mites.

which is great. We don't want there to
be an infectious thing there.

The great news is today, absolutely no
evidence of any bugs or critters or

fungus, so we can tell Mal and Mal's Dr
Francis that there's nothing to kind of

be really worried about in that regard
at the moment.

So great news about Mal. The
pathologists and the vets have come back

results. That's kind of relieving, but
also still there's a bit of a mystery as

to why that fur was.

In doubt, she's still under observations
and close watches to see exactly what's

happening, but it's kind of a relief
that there's nothing kind of sinister or

there's no complications of her health.
So, yeah, it was great news.

I saw.

Tahi, the Fiordland crested penguin, has
come to Taronga Zoo after she was found

injured on a beach. Do you want me to
get on the end of that with your hand?

you want it close? Yeah.

Might be easier for you.

She has now finished her quarantine
period.

But vets won't clear her for release
unless her injured flipper is strong

to handle any aggression she may face
when she joins her new flock.

I might actually let her out rather than
have her contained because when we

picked her up from the airport, she was
really super stressed in here.

There you go, darling.

And just let her wander around because
she was panting.

Most animals aren't too fond of going to
the vet.

But Taki is taking it all in her stride.
Come on.

Come on.

Good girl.

Good girl.

Come on. Up here. Come on.

Good girl, buddy. Good girl.

Good girl.

Yes, good girl.

Good birdie. Come on.

Good girl.

Good girl.

Yeah.

Come on, Missy.

So we're going to wrap her up and mask
her down. Sure.

So she may object.

All right. Well, she's coming over to
you, Liz.

So we're inducing anaesthesia in her,
and the way we do it is by mask, and no

bird likes to be restrained.

So turning her up to three, Liz. Yeah.

Tahi is looking very relaxed, and these
guys are going to check her out to have

a look at that injured wing, which is
what was the reason that she came into

captivity in the first place.

Okay. She's got these kind of funny
elbows that kind of lock in

extension. That's amazing. I didn't know
that. Feel that. That's incredible.

So is that normal?

Yeah, that's normal.

Turn it down to one and a half.

Do you need to x -ray her? Yeah, I do.

The lesions on the right wing around her
elbow is what we're looking at because

she had an infection there and that
looks like black holes in the bones.

Yeah, right.

So what we're looking for is the black
holes shrinking inside and filling in

with bones so they won't be so black.

Wow. X -ray.

X -ray.

So far, it's been quite an ordeal for
Tahi.

Now, her future at Taronga comes down to
the results of this X -ray.

OK.

Ooh, what are you seeing?

Five years after a virus virtually wiped
out the Bellinger River turtle species,

the big day has arrived.

Ooh, hello, kitty.

Emma and I are catching up.

10 turtles to take to Bellingen for our
turtle release.

There's one.

I'll hand it to you.

Today is pretty massive, actually. It's
our second trial release.

This is part of our work. This is what
we've been aiming to do for the last

several years, to breed these turtles
and then finally get them back into the

wild. So many people are working
together to get them out there, and

of those days where we all come together
and get to see the fruits of all our

labour. Look at their trackers.

They're so cute.

We've got little remote control cars.
Amazing.

To be able to release animals back into
the wild, it's pretty awesome.

I've got B8FF.

Ballinger River is over six hours drive
north of Sydney.

We're going to the country.

And Adam is going the extra mile to make
sure his precious cargo will be

comfortable during the long journey
home.

We're just bagging up the turtles. We
bag them up in a dry bag to ensure their

safety. If we were to transport them in
water, you know, you can drown them. It

acts like a washing machine when you're
moving tubs around.

So the idea is we just keep them nice
and cool in a dark place and they just

relax and stay safe.

I'm contained because it's early days
yet. We've still got a six -hour trip

it's going to be a long day.

We're off.

Tahi has finished her quarantine period
and all that's left now is to check

whether her injured flipper is healing
so Gabby can introduce her to the rest

the flock.

Okay.

Ooh, what are you seeing?

She had an infection that affected the
joint and the ends of these two bones

here, and when she came in from the
wild, she had a big swelling, and she

couldn't bend her elbow, whereas now she
can bend it nicely. The bone's filling

in, and I think that she should be just
fine.

She's cleared.

Woo -hoo!

Quarantine. That's good. Thank you.

Okay. Tahi has cleared her quarantine
today, and so the exciting thing for her

now is that she's going to go and meet
her mates, the other Fiordal and

Christopher.

She's moving a lot in there, Party.

She's ready to go. Yeah.

When we're doing any type of
introduction, we don't want to have all

put into the mix together. I need to be
looking out for aggression and certain

things.

There you go.

She's been in quarantine in Melbourne
Zoo, then over here. She hasn't seen

another Fiordland for quite some time,
so we don't know how that's going to go.

Going in the pool?

Not yet.

Come on, Missy.

She's obviously feeling a little bit, a
little bit concerned about the area.

She's checking out the whole exhibit at
the moment.

Looks like she's going to go in.

It's a great start.

She's taken the plunge.

But the big question is, will she make
it with the other penguin?

I've never seen this exhibit before.

So much for her to take in.

Good girl. Yay.

Is that good?

Good girl.

Good girl. Yay.

She's come over to us and she feels
comfortable with us.

Let's go and have a look if we can see
the others.

Dusky, Gary.

She's hanging to get in here, so I might
let her in and let's see what happens.

Sure. Okay, this is a big moment. So Jo
is just about to open this gate.

She's going to be letting Dusky in. Here
we go.

We don't know what's going to happen.
This is their very first meeting.

Can you see another fjord?

Oh, my goodness.

It seems like they're fairly comfortable
with each other, but we do have to just

watch out for any signs of aggression.

One after the other, new penguins are
introduced.

Off you go, Gary.

Hello. Here we go.

She's just spotted Tahi.

And to the joy of the keepers, it seems
she's going to fit in just fine.

I'm going to bring Moe and Munro out
into the mix now.

Munners, do you want to go in?

I mean, it's been quite a fast
introduction so far, but because they're

such calm signs, why not give it a go?

We will be doing more and more and for
longer times.

We won't keep her out in the pool
overnight. We're going to put her in

area. because we can't see how she's
going overnight, and we want to make

that everybody's safe.

Yeah, Tahi's got her new family now, so
we'll monitor them really closely,

especially today and over the next few
days. We'll be watching really closely

just to make sure there's no signs of
aggression.

She loves just in that flow, doesn't
she? She's really enjoying that.

I'm really happy. It's so nice to see
Tahi in the pool, getting to know her

buddies now.

Fantastic.

It's an historic road trip that may just
save a species from extinction.

And the Bellinger River snapping turtles
are almost home.

I'm really excited. It's going to be
perfect.

Are you going to love this? Hey, it'll
blow your mind. It's so pretty.

Today we've travelled up to the
Bellinger River.

We're going to release 10 of our
Bellinger River snapping turtles.

Yes, they look good.

I'm happy you're happy. Let's go.

They sat in the car for six hours to get
up here and now we're going to set them

off and let them start the rest of their
lives in this beautiful location.

Yeah, this looks absolutely perfect.

Yeah, look at that. It's beautiful.

It's a bittersweet moment for Adam as
the Bellinger River has become a place

mixed emotions.

This is where the virus went up and down
this river system.

at speeds that we've never seen before,
just wiping out turtle after turtle.

We estimated we lost close to 4 ,000 odd
turtles in a matter of weeks. Just

gone.

Thankfully, the deadly virus has never
returned.

We know that they're disease -free. We
haven't detected any disease in these

locations. History shows that there are
Bellinger River turtles in these

particular locations, and these animals
can just go off and live their life as

natural as possible without human
disturbance.

Five years on, and Taronga's dream to
rebuild the species is one step closer.

Do you want to let it go?

No, you let it go. You're already in
there. All right. Okay.

I get anxiously nervous for them because
I want them to do so well.

So as I let them go, you just have this
connection because I spend so much time

with them. And now I'm letting them go
to the wild so they can repopulate and

live a life that we didn't think of a
few years ago. Go, buddy.

He's going, no, I don't want to go. No,
you're not.

It's okay with you.

It's all right. You can do it.

Amazing.

I think.

It was really cool.

It's just like edging in, edging in,
edging in.

Imagine what's going through its head.

It's like all this new stuff around me.

It's the biggest pond you've ever been
in, mate.

Amazing.

Look at him, he's so happy.

That's it. That's way better, isn't it?
That's what I love to see.

Look at him, and he's just like,

you know, if you didn't know he was
there, you probably wouldn't even notice

him. He'll blend in there so well.

And that's why I like this.

because there's a lot of life.

Even just looking around, there are so
many little fish and tadpoles. There's

heaps of food here for them.

Hi. Just think, it's the first time
they've seen algae like this and those

and little fish in the past.

It's like tasting this water would taste
so different from the water back in

Sydney. Absolutely.

taste and smell their home now.

But look, now he's just disappearing.

And then you've got one over here who's
like foraging.

He's like looking, having a bit of a go.

And then remarkably, right on cue, up
swims a turtle from last year's release.

I'm stoked. It's unreal. This is what we
all work towards, you know. We've been

working on this project for so long and
we're putting them out there and, you

know, we're out into the wild. It's
amazing.

The last one.

Lucky love.

This is Taronga to me, and I'm so proud
of the work that we do.

We always talk about conservation. We're
always talking about trying to, you

know, do it for the wild. And we
literally are.

To me, it's like a privilege that we
actually get to give back.

And, you know, as an animal person, you
couldn't ask for anything more.

He's home. Look at that. He's just
hanging around. He doesn't want to go

anywhere. I will miss him. Now we've let
him go.

But now they're here.

It's a worthy miss. It's like that
they've gone off to live their lives,

that's a really good reason to miss
them. I prefer missing them because

now swimming around here in this, just
how it should be.