All language subtitles for Taronga s01e04 Lemur Me Alone.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, he can't. ...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 breedable 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 exotics all the way down to
the weird and wonderful.

For instance, we've got the bats for
you. We've got ghost bats, which are an

Australian species of bat, very special.
And two of those animals are going to

have a full health exam in preparation
for them participating in a regional

breeding program at another wildlife
park.

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

anaesthetic gas in here so that the bats
get sleepy.

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

mask. All right, 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.

Yes.

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 he'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 wait 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, his body weight is 111 .9
grams.

Are you recording that, Rob? Yep.
Excellent. 111 .9.

Only a mother high goes back with love.
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, that man, that girl, to go off to
their new home, hopefully to make more

baby 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.

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 is 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 capybara 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 animal 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 up the

or they've cleaned up the urine now.

So these boxes will go into quarantine
as well.

So they're all clean properly.

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 of primates.
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 moves 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. And she was

concerned that she'd observed a big
fight in our ring -tailed lemur group,

the individual who seemed to come off
second best in the fight 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 lips are torn completely open and
there's a lot of blood from her vulva.

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

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

end up being a caesarean. OK, so just
surgery kits.

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 bash. I'll give you a hand.

Ordinarily, with a routine health exam,
we get the animals 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.

Still to come, it's showtime for the
world's largest rodent.

We're ready to roll.

And there's grave concern for the baby
Lima.

My main concern was making sure that she
still had the baby and she hadn't

dropped it somewhere and it didn't feel
anything like it did yesterday.

I can't hear the radio.

We're getting close to the zoo. Yeah.

Just over the water.

Five capybaras have arrived in Australia
from New Zealand.

Here we go, boys.

First big trip over that giant coating
up.

Welcome to Australia.

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

looking than New Zealand. Yes.

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.

The plan is we're going to offload them
from the truck, people listening out

here.

regular uniform.

We'll pass through the double green
doors to quarantine staff in gowns.

Beautiful. We'll put them on the scales
we have in quarantine, get away the

animal in the crate and then pet the
crate into then unload the animal. We're

going to check microchips on each one as
we go.

You got them?

Got that one.

Got my finger too.

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.

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 after they're
done.

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

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

Yep. 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,

it's a 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
anesthesia at this late stage of

in this case it's important that we
determine what's going on and we'll do

best to make it as quick and smooth to
her as possible.

Let's just check.

Now Noah's calm, Michelle can turn her
attention to the source of the bleeding.

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 Beau.

Yeah, I think it's a torn vulva.

It's 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?

Can you switch the lights off for me,
shall we?

Yeah, that's the one.

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 and

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 adults, the females get about that
size 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 four
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 going to look like.

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

Can you switch the lights off for me,
shall we?

With Noah now stabilized, Michelle turns
her attention to finding her unborn

baby 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 lost infants before, and it's a

pretty heartbreaking thing to see.

Got a heart pick.

Baby's still alive.

Do you want to see it?

We might try and 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

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 there's a

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

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 she's
going to do more damage taking them out?

No, 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?

It's a lot quicker to do this than try
and fix it.

And we can worry about trying to remove
them later.

Oh, goodness.

Just give it a little bit more gas,
Missy.

And we've got one.

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, my
small finger, so yeah.

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

doesn't, then maybe we need to
intervene.

Yeah. Do 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.

Yeah, I think so.

Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, I mean, I'd like to see it moving
a little bit more than it is.

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

All right, let's get her 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 um but anyway
they are what they are and we've given

the treatment she needs fingers crossed
that she gives birth 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

fact that the baby's currently alive
right now is hugely promising so we'll

have to see how we go you ready yeah

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

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 boot, and I want you to step

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.

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. There's
something about her. I find her pretty

cool.

Hey.

Bulging. Yeah.

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

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

animals are happy. Animals won't breathe
if they're not in condition or if

they're not, 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.

All right, 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 that are pretty good.

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

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

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

team on edge.

Okay, so this is number three.

Alright,

this will be exciting. 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
animals.

I know, I'm actually like 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.

Enjoy.

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

And Gabe and everyone, like... 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.

No, no.

Time to rise and shine, pretty.

Come on, boys.

Hi, everybody.

Big boys. Here's the first one coming.

How 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 behaviors 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.

I've got more.

Hey, you boys.

All right.

So Tim's still in there. We can't prise
him away from the capybara. He loves

them 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 wall over here which will
refresh uh 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 for
them here we have a couple of lean -to

shelters which will provide them with a
bit of shade and also a bit of

protection from the rain. And we've
installed a couple of heat mats

them as well, just to give them that
extra bit of warmth on the slightly

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

as well.

I think they're going to absolutely love
this as far as...

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,

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.

actually, like, a bit shaky.

Fingers crossed. OK.

Yes. 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?

Yes.

I knew it.

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

results with these guys.

Her eggs look fantastic.

Look how nice they are. A bit better
than mine.

Photograph that.

So you can see 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 the

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 you 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 little things. 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.

You've got to stop saying it's really
amazing.

Really amazing. I like to 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.

Hi Noah.

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 guess 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.

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.

Yeah, 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 this is her dad. That's Romulo.
Yeah, so he's just chilling. Yeah,

He's good.

And being a good daddy.

Hopefully in a week's time her injuries
will heal even further and we'll have a

baby who's feeling stronger and thriving
and reintegrated into that group.

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

So, yeah, she's doing all right. 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 for long enough that

not 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.

And 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 just makes it 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
the 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.

Wow, that's exciting. We've got 13
Bellinger River turtle eggs, which is

amazing.

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

chance to hatch.

And what's remarkable is we've still got
another five girls to lay eggs, so

potentially we have a chance of
increasing our wild population by 50 %

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 efforts
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 a 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 -point size.

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.

Yeah, a bit. A bit related to this
trickier part of the job done.

And that's how I get them in the exhibit
and get them the fresh air and sunshine

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

OK, Johnny.

Johnny,

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

A great Stephen 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 it 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 crate.

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.

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 Zoo's
capybara habitat officially open. There

go.

Go ahead.

They were very tentative. Some of them
were 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
behaviors. 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.

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 cappies do.

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. Like, it's a massive

at the moment. Like, we're so proud of
everyone. Like, the vet teams, our

the drivers. Grant did a fantastic job.
Yeah, we're over the moon. Like, I

couldn't have pictured this day going
any better.

You've never seen a wild animal this
tame.

This is incredibly rare for a wombat.
Next Saturday, this wombat goes from

to critical. Things here don't seem
quite right.

And a taronga first.

He's the first boy that's been born. Get
closer than ever before to your

favourite wild animal.

Good boy. Next Saturday on Nine.

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