Original subtitles

Sydney Harbour is home to one of the world's most iconic zoos, Taronga.

Everyone stand as far apart as possible.

But never before... Make sure you've got your mask on. ...has it faced a year

with its many monumental challenges.

It's really hard to see because I'm fogging up.

Atta boy, Jim. Nearly home, mate.

The teams across both of Taronga's zoos... Open. ...meet every challenge

on. And our cameras are there.

Every step of the way.

On this episode, Introducing the sounds of thunder.

He gets his name because of his bellow.

But this koala karaoke is not to everyone's liking.

I'm nervous already.

Round two of spider training for Dani.

I don't know why I'm back, really, because I'm just as scared as I was

This time she's brought a friend, but will it make any difference?

Is there not something smaller?

And as happy as an elephant in mud.

Inside the world's most exclusive bar.

It's just their time to put their head in neutral, have a bit of fun and just

turn off for a little while.

Taronga's two zoos are without doubt amongst the most beautiful in the world.

But when you come to visit, chances are the first thing that will captivate you

won't be the sight.

It'll be the unique symphony of sound.

It's basically, you know, saying we're here, this is our territory.

They'll hear it all the way over into the domain. We certainly hear concerts

from the domain, so now they're going to hear our beautiful lions roaring all

the way over there. From dawn till dusk, the zoo resonates with a chorus of

creatures from all over the world.

But one native animal makes a chilling sound that can be heard from miles away.

And it's not an animal that you'd expect.

This is Thunder.

He's a very special koala.

He's still quite young. He's about five years old. And he's one of our breeding

males. And, you know, Thunder, he gets his name because of his bellow.

a really strong, powerful way that they can communicate.

Generally speaking, it's only the males that will bellow, and it's the way that

they can establish a territory, and in breeding season, it's how they will

search for a female.

It's very guttural, and it's very, very impressive. It sounds like thunder.

Even the most mundane sound can set thunder off.

Generally, that sound of the raking will stimulate him to bellow because it

sounds a little bit like another koala.

We do have another koala just across the way there, Baxter, and they'll set each

other off because they're both males and they're competing for females in the

area. So even if he hears Baxter, it'll set him off as well.

And this battle of the bellows has inspired more than just mating.

I'm pretty sure that the koala vocal has inspired a lot of sounds in movies,

like the Lord of the Rings, for example. I know that the orcs was a bit of a

combination between koala and some other animals.

I think if you were out in the bush and you heard that sound, you would be

terrified.

While the koala sound is indeed very strange.

It has nothing on the sounds that greet the keepers every day at Western Plains

Zoo in Dubbo.

Taronga is home to a family of five red pandas.

Our family is made up of Pabu, who is our breeding male, so he's the dad of

three cubs.

Their mum is Amala, so Amala's come from overseas, and that's why she's so

genetically valuable to the region. And she gave birth to two boys and a girl.

The little girl is Mishri, and then we have two boys, Rohan and Ishwar. Good

morning.

It's breakfast time.

Hello, Amala.

You want to come down, missus?

And Keeper Louise is making sure each day is an enriching experience.

We've put some nails strategically all over this enclosure.

And what we want to do is get them to climb, get them to use all of their

wonderful abilities.

You know, they've got incredible claws.

Using their sense of smell, their eyes, locating the food, doing what a panda

would do in the wild, which is spending their time.

Foraging. Good girl, Amala, aren't you, hey?

The trick in here is trying to find where all the nails are.

So I think it's as enriching for us as it is for the pandas.

All right, where am I going to put this last one?

There we go.

Girls have got all of their morning food.

Breeding male Pabu is currently living separately from his family.

Hello little man, how are you?

Red pandas by nature are solitary animals. They live alone in the wild, so

don't usually live in family groups like we currently have.

And so we needed to respect that. Dad's living separate at the moment because,

one, we didn't want to breed again because we have cubs. So there's only so

room that we have.

And we've got mum living with her three offspring.

That's a lot for her to have around. So normally, probably by now, they'd start

to think about dispersing in the wild. And certainly we've had that on our mind

as well, that it might be time for them to start to disperse. And because of

COVID, because of the restrictions on the transactions, we can't send animals

out. We're already full house here. We've got five red pandas, a beautiful

family. So that's one of the reasons why Pabu needs to have a contraceptive

implant. Because we simply don't have any more room for more pandas. But we

to have the flexibility of maybe being able to put mum and dad back together

again or mum, daughter and dad back together without any breeding.

You're going to leave me now.

And that's the life of a panda. They're solitary animals. So, you know, once

they've had enough, off they go.

That Francis is here to prepare Pabu for transport to the wildlife hospital.

Let me get this drawn up and then we're ready to go.

We're going to be anaesthetising Red Panda Pabu this morning.

Once he's asleep, we'll pop him in a pet bag and take him up to the hospital and

we're going to do his procedure up there.

Keepers have spent long periods training the Red Pandas to enter crates as

required.

And Pabu happily obliges.

OK, you can relax.

Francis to Liz.

Go ahead.

He's injected.

Thank you. So Francis has just given him the hand injection of anaesthetic.

Once he's asleep, we'll be picking him up and putting him into a pet pack.

I reckon we can probably just about take him out now. And driving him to the

hospital for a check -up.

Keepers grow to love all the animals they work with.

See, she's a very impressive species.

Just look at the hairdo on her. It's probably the best mohawk that I've ever

seen on any kind of bird.

While it's easy to see why they'd fall in love with a cuddly koala... You've

been eating dirt, haven't you?

...invertebrate keeper Paul needs to work a little harder to make sure his

animals get the same appreciation.

We're, uh...

Heading down to do some more ruck and furby with a couple of our staff

So we're going to have, Dan's going to come back and give it another shot,

I'm really glad to hear.

And she's going to be bringing along somebody else today to give it a shot as

well. See how that goes.

Last time, Dan didn't go as well as I would like to.

I'm not going to hold it.

Okay. Huntsman, favourite.

We've lost Dan.

Oh, yuck.

Yuck.

So gross.

Today, I'm pretty hopeful we're going to get a little bit further.

And the great thing is that she's the one that's actually said that she'd like

to come and do this again.

We have another keep coming down as well who's heard about this and wants to

come on down and give it a bit of a shot, Deb.

She has a bit of a thing for huntsmen, so we'll see how that goes.

Deb has no problem dealing with dangerous critters.

I started with reptiles and amphibians.

So I'm used to dealing with venomous snakes and then eventually made my way

carnivores probably about 17 years ago.

As a carnivore keeper, we work with a vast array of different sized animals

our African lions, bears, tigers, down to obviously our little guys like our

otters and meerkats and fennec foxes.

But none of those animals has eight legs and that's where Deb draws the line.

I don't like them.

I know they have their place and I'm not saying I want them dead. I just don't

want them in my space.

I'm going to go down and chat to Paul and see if he's got any tips or ideas on

what I can do to try and overcome it or at the very least be okay with them

being there.

But who knows what's going to happen.

Excited? No.

Deb, I had nightmares about this last night. I'm so scared.

Okay. I'm not that bad, but I just, yeah, I didn't have nightmares about it.

I've been stressing about this all morning. Okay. But you've done it

You didn't get very far. Okay.

I don't think I'll get much further today either.

Just in the room, barely.

All right.

I don't know why I'm back, really, because I'm just as scared as I was

I'd like to be a bit more comfortable in the room with a spider there.

Just not having to run out of the room would be a step forward. That would be

nice.

And I'd like to see how Deb goes.

Nervous already.

People love coming to Tooronga and listening to the melody of all the

animals.

But at Dubbo, there's one animal rock star that truly tests the limits of

hearing.

Simings, they're actually the largest species of gibbon in the world. So

not a monkey, they are a lesser ape, the way we tell that. Monkeys have tails,

apes don't.

They are arboreal, which means they spend most of their life living up in

trees. We've tried to replicate their home or their natural environment as

we can.

The island systems are fantastic.

Obviously, they don't have anything restraining them. They can go to the

tops of the trees if they wish.

So they have all the choice in the world when it comes to their enclosure.

The most distinguishing feature is their large throat sac. So when it is

inflated, so when they're calling, it actually enlarges to the size of their

head. So very, very impressive. That obviously just helps that sound to

I live a couple of kilometres from the zoo here and in the mornings, on

occasions, I can actually hear them, which is pretty cool.

Taronga's breeding pair, Peturi and Sadara, have been together for over 20

years.

And training sessions have long been part of their daily routine.

Now that these guys are in their 30s, they are getting older. So we'd love to

see them into their mid -40s, but at 34 and 33, they're definitely older

animals. So training them is going to go a long way to help us conduct very

basic health checks.

Keepers Taryn and Toby prepare meticulously for each session.

We always have these handy.

Cymengs are the second loudest primate in the world. So if they start calling

here, it is incredibly loud. So it definitely could damage our ears. So we

these ready to go in case they do call.

And both Toby and myself will be wearing masks for the session.

Obviously, this time in COVID, these guys are susceptible to that as well. So

we're just taking extra precautions there.

All right, Toby, you're good? Yep, I'm set.

Ready when you are.

You are such a good girl.

In today's training session, we're actually preparing Pateri for her

anaesthetic procedure, which is booked in for a week.

So what that means is she's going to present her shoulder and we're just

to hand inject her. She's going to be none the wiser. She's very used to this

their training sessions and she's going to go off to sleep nice and calmly.

Touch.

While daily training sessions are repetitive, they're also very quick.

Today's session went very well.

She's very, very calm. She's very, very used to this behaviour.

And it's testament to how well they're doing in their training sessions and how

hard the team have been working there as well.

What a good girl.

And male Sadara is keen to check on his mate, Peturi, straight away.

They do often...

That's the whole point.

They're just making sure we know that this is their home and so these are a no

-brainer. You can tell why we wear them.

I love working with the Sai Mengs. I don't know how you couldn't. There's

so much personality.

That call is amazing.

It's probably my favorite and my least favorite thing about them. Obviously,

it's amazing and fun to watch, but when they're very loudly yelling at you in a

confined space, it gets a little bit much. But overall, they just show their

personality every single day, and they're really fun to work with.

Now sedated, Red Panda Pabu is on his way to the wildlife hospital to be

with a contraceptive implant.

I might sit in there.

Okay.

Normally, Red Pandas are solitary and our three young ones would be starting

disperse. we would be moving them out to other zoos.

But we can't do that at the moment because of the travel restrictions due

COVID. So we need Pabu to be able to live with his partner and his daughter,

we don't want him breeding with them at the moment. So Pabu needs to have a

temporary contraceptive implant placed so that we can house him with those

females.

So I'm just going to warn everyone, he's got quite a lot lighter now.

Are you ready?

Yeah.

Pabu is still quite alert, so Liz needs to sedate him more so she can safely

remove him from the pet pack. We don't want to have to supplement him with more

injectable, so we're just being very quiet and calm, letting him breathe the

anaesthetic gas so he goes back to sleep.

I'll give you that and I'll shove the pet pack over there.

You got him?

Yeah.

He's now fully sedated, so it's safe for vet Francis to examine him closely.

He's a valuable breeding animal for us.

He originally came, I think, from Auckland Zoo.

So it's important to us that we know that he's healthy.

We want them to be in perfect condition, not too fat, not too thin. So it's a

good opportunity to actually feel his muscles and so on.

But straight away, this routine exam uncovers something sinister.

He's got a little unusual little lump that I wasn't expecting to feel. Because

feel this, I need to check and see what it is.

So I'm going to take some x -rays.

Australia's large desert centre generates intense heat.

Here at Dubbo in western New South Wales, every year the zoo and its

experience scorching summers.

We can reach temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius, which is equivalent

to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and that can be for a week plus at a time. So it

gets very hot for us as people, so we've also got to think about the animals

here at the zoo and how we can help keep them cool over the summer months.

One group of animals you don't want hot and cranky are the lions.

Luckily, the keepers have some treats in store to keep the big temperatures from

riling the big cat.

So we have a bloodsicle and a milksicle.

And then we've also got Malinzi's diet for today, which is chicken.

So a bloodsicle is the juices of things like chicken and beef, the blood that we

chuck in the freezer in containers, freeze that up for the lions. So it's

nice, simple, easy way to keep them cool because unlike other big cats like

tigers, which will hop in the water, lions don't like the water. So this

cool them down. And then the other one that we have is a milksicle.

So it's specifically designed for cat milk and the same principle as the

bloodsicle. Just different flavours.

Malinzy, I'm pretty sure he'll actually prefer the milksicle.

It is his favourite flavour compared to the bloodsicle, but it's nice to give

them options.

And, yeah, it's just a quick, easy way to keep them cool in the hot Dubbo

weather.

He'll eat all the chickens before he comes and tries it on with the icebox.

After making short work of the chooks, it's time for dessert.

Which one's he going to take first?

Milk, I'm guessing.

He's going for both.

After a big meal on a hot day, this king's going to do exactly what he

But on the other side of the zoo... Good boy, Mama.

There's even bigger animals that need a bigger commitment to keep them cool.

Is that it? No.

Back in Sydney, keepers Deb and Danny are confronting their worst nightmare,

arachnophobia. I don't know why I'm back, really, because I'm just as scared

I was before.

I'm nervous already.

And to help them overcome that fear, Invertebrate Keeper Paul is starting

something easy.

Hey. Hello.

Hello. Actually, dead easy.

I don't even like the exoskeletons.

Yeah, not alive.

Yeah, I know.

Now, there's definitely no venom there. Yeah. Okay, there's no muscles. There's

absolutely nothing that could cause that to move by itself or hurt you. No, I'm

not worried about...

It's been hurting me so much. It's just crawling up the sleeve.

I know that's not going anywhere, but it resembles something that can do that.

Just try hauling it and say counting to ten.

Even if you can't quickly, just give it a go.

And just keep telling yourself it cannot hurt you. One, two, three, four, five,

six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Last number was a bit quick.

So, we've got two heated shoes from both female Golden Huntsman.

Oh, God.

It's that big. Do you see?

Straight away, you can see she's sitting there. She's not reacting at all.

What about... Why don't you try touching... Oh, man, that is really big.

Like, you can see every hair on it.

Leg. Just keep it still and I'll come to you.

His hand is so close to it.

But already you were closer than last time. Yeah, I know. That looks closer to

dead than the other one did. The last one was running around the room.

Running? At one point.

Okay. Do they jump?

No. Okay.

But they can drop.

They can drop. Oh, my God.

Okay, well, Deb, why don't you come across a little bit closer then?

Oh, my God.

Why don't you try touching my hand?

There you go.

Okay, so there.

Now.

I don't want to see that.

Keep touching my hand. This is all happening very close to me.

And again.

It's not jumping off. It's not coming down. I'm going to bring it a bit

I'm just going to rest my hand there.

That was good.

That was good.

How are you feeling? Come on, Dan.

Oh. It wasn't moving.

I know.

It was moving a bit different.

Now, I do wish Dan would come a little bit closer, but the fact that she hasn't

made a vault out of rumours yet, I'm actually pretty happy with that.

Yeah, I think this is pretty good for me.

What I'd really like you to try this time is just put your finger there, OK?

the front end? At the front end.

And what's going to happen is I'm going to...

You're either to go over, just run over your finger.

That's risky.

Okay. That's risky.

She could go anywhere.

Is this locked?

Out at Taronga Western Plain Zoo in Dubbo, they're enduring a... searing

wave. This week we're looking at temperatures of over 40 degrees every

is obviously in excess of 100 degrees Fahrenheit for the entire week and it

looks like next week will be pretty much the same as well. So really hot weather

here in the central west of New South Wales.

It's so hot, keepers need to step in to help the animals cope.

Hippos like a good spray in the mouth from the hose.

But hopping into the water bodies that they have is the best way to keep

themselves nice and cool underwater, out of the direct sunlight.

Some, like the hippo, have a natural defence system.

Hippos have that special secretion which is called blood sweat, which if they're

out of the water during the hot sunny days, they also basically have their own

inbuilt sunscreen system. Looks like little red droplets of blood, but it's

But their larger neighbours aren't blessed with natural solutions, so they

to their keeper.

Elephants, we have to help out a little bit to keep cool. We'll hose them down.

It's actually really great for their skin.

It helps keep their skin nice and...

They obviously have pools that they can get into and submerge underneath and

play in to cool themselves off.

And like the lions.

they also relish their summertime treats.

Apart from getting them to get in the water or hosing them down, we can also

make ice blocks for them made out of all sorts of different flavours, cordials,

fruits can be thrown in there and it's different layers, so quite big.

While the team swelters in Dubbo, the heatwave has spread to Sydney

and keepers there, have yet another way to keep their elephants cool.

But this one requires a lot more effort.

Keep going, mate.

Keep going up, John.

What are we on, a right lateral abdomen?

That's okay.

Red panda Pabu is about to get a contraceptive implant to stop him

But vet Francis finds an unusual lump in his abdomen.

So the mass is sitting in about here that I can feel. So it's just a little

round lump in the lower part of his belly there. So it may be a bit of bone

he's eaten that's coming through.

So we're just going to take another view because an X -ray only shows you things

in one plane, so it's very two -dimensional.

So I'm just making sure he's lined up straight. We want a nice straight X

Okay.

Finding a lump or a bump where it's not meant to be, we always worry about is it

something like a tumour.

We want to have very early warning or something if it is going to be a

So we've got another view.

And again, we do have gastrointestinal material through his gut. But it's still

a little bit unclear whether that's something I need to worry about or not.

what I'm going to do is take a further look with the ultrasound to see if I can

actually say definitively what that little mass is.

While an ultrasound gives her a different perspective, Frances is still

uncomfortable with what she sees.

Like this is just a wee bit confusing, what I'm seeing here, so I might get one

of the other vets in second opinion.

Have a feel now.

Right there.

And we can confer.

So it's a mouse about that sort of size, like maybe a kind of a small walnut

size.

It seems to be fluid filled, doesn't it?

It's very interesting.

We don't get our opportunity to put our hands on these animals very often, so

it's good to rule out something sinister, a tumour or a cyst of some

There's a couple of masses like that.

It's a discreet fecal ball, yeah.

It's not in the position where you'd expect any other cystic sort of

It has to just be a ball of faeces, I would say. He's just got lumps of poo,

basically, in different parts of intestines.

That's good. Okay, no worries. Thanks, Larry. Excellent.

Anything like that, we make sure we're comfortable with it, that it's nothing

worry about, and certainly a poo ball doesn't concern me at all.

Now that Pabu has the all clear,

This is the implant that Pabu is going to get that's going to stop him breeding

temporarily. We expect this to last up to 12 months.

So it's quite a big needle.

It's a huge big needle.

We're just going to put a little bit of tissue glue to hold that site closed so

the implant has gone under his skin and it just sits there.

Keepers will now closely monitor Pabu as he recovers from this procedure and

they'll separate him from his family for another three weeks as the implant

takes effect.

Good boy.

The heat has taken a hold in Sydney.

As the city swelters, the elephant team has a strategy to keep their animals

cool.

But such a simple task takes a lot of effort.

Righto, we're away.

Righto. While five tonnes of top quality dirt may not be everyone's idea of fun.

For the elephant, it'll be like a heavyweight health club.

It's like a spa bath. It's almost like an exfoliating scrub.

It feels really nice, gets rid of some dead skin cells and it's also a great

moisturiser as well.

Every day we try to do something different for them to keep them active

stimulated. This is one of the best ways, you know, several tonnes of new

and they're happy.

This will keep them occupied, particularly with the warmer weather

Not only does the mud spa cool the elephants, but it brings other benefits

well. You can see she's struggling a little bit to get up. But again, that's

good muscle activity, gets her joints working.

I mean, it's physical as well as just relaxation. So when the elephants get

the mud wallow, it's just their time to put their head in neutral, let their

troubles melt away and just have a bit of fun and just turn off for a little

while and just enjoy the...

Enjoy the wallow and the mud and the sensations on their skin and the

It's just something that makes us happy and it ultimately makes them happy as

well. And that's what we're here for.

Red Panda Pabu now has his contraceptive implant and will spend three weeks in a

separate space.

before he can be reunited with his family.

Look at that. Beautiful, isn't it?

Meanwhile, the team has just heard that one of Pabu's offspring, Rohan, can

finally be transferred to another zoo.

So how long has this panda been here?

One year, eight months and 20 days.

Born here.

So Larry is on hand for a final check -up before he heads off.

So just get the injection ready while the keepers are going to get Rohan.

A lot of our animals that we have at Taronga are bred as part of a managed

breeding program.

In many cases, there are already plans even ahead of animals being born as to

where offspring may go.

So all these plans have been impacted by the COVID -19 pandemic because of

restrictions in travel and what have you.

And that's affected our red pandas as well. We've got these red pandas to move

to other zoos. And it's only now a little window has opened up to be able

move Rohan out of Taronga.

We've been training him for a couple of weeks to do this.

So each morning we're training him to go into this crush trap. He's been doing

it with food every day, so he's very comfortable going in there.

For Rohan, this is kind of what we've been building up for ever since he was

born. We knew that he was eventually going to go off to another home, so for

it's just been preparing ourselves to say goodbye to him and we've done pretty

much all we can. We've set him all up for success and we're pretty confident

he's going to have a great life in his next loop.

Already affected.

Going down.

Nice and sleepy. We'll just get him in here.

Larry has to be sure Rohan is perfectly healthy before he clears him to be

transported to his new home. 3 .99 kilos.

So I'll just look in his eyes first.

Two and a half percent. Check his ears.

He's going to connect him back to the hair.

So part of our exam, obviously, is to check their ears to see if there's any

evidence of infection, a little bit of dirty wax in there, but otherwise

beautifully clean. In little Rohan's mouth here, you can see his big canine

teeth, his sort of sharp -pointed molars, and you'd look at this and you'd

well, that looks similar to a cat's mouth, and, of course, cats are

animals, and you'd go, well, this must be a carnivore. These teeth are designed

to sort of cut through the bamboo.

That's not typical of a herbivorous animal, that's for sure.

Liz, let's get some blood.

Just a quick, nice, thorough physical exam. Just feel all his joints.

They've got these amazing pads, completely covered in fur.

That would be perfect for walking on snow.

And then this beautiful tail, big fluffy tail.

While the team are always there to farewell animals they care for, they

appreciate the overriding importance of the breeding program.

There you go. We're done with our examination on little Rohan.

So genetically, he's actually a pretty important animal. So hopefully he'll go

on to breed well and produce many little cubs.

Cuteness -wise, 10 out of 10.

I can 20 out of 10. 20 out of 10. Off the scale.

Invertebrates keeper Paul is running workshops for other zookeepers that want

overcome their fear of spiders.

Is there not something smaller?

Unfortunately not. And today's class is about to get extra hands -on.

What I'd really like you to try this time, okay, is just put your finger

okay? At the front end? At the front end.

And what's going to happen is...

I'm going to guide her to go over, just run over your finger.

That's risky.

That's risky.

She could go anywhere.

If it even looks like going up your arm, I'll straight away just block it. You

promise? I promise.

You just put your finger basically just there like that. So where's your other

hand going to go? Over my hand. Over your hand, and I'm going to use my arm.

Keep going.

I feel like you're moving in closer to me.

Okay.

Okay. Okay.

Yeah, okay.

I can feel it whip.

Yeah, but you know what?

I mean, that was really, really good.

Today wasn't a walk in the park.

It was a challenge, but obviously Dan's got more challenges than what I have at

the moment.

So how about you try coming over and just try touching my arm again.

If she's still.

Okay. Can you come over?

Yep. Is she going to stop me?

Maybe.

Yep. That's pretty good.

Try not looking at her.

No, I can't.

Look at the thing on the table in front of you.

Worry about that instead.

I can quickly look away.

But already, that's been proven on the last time you hit it. Yeah, that's

That's the best I'll ever do. Yeah.

Now, I'm not going to tell you to take your hand off. I'm going to see how long

you wait there for.

That's all right. That's good. That's good to me.

Yeah.

Door closed, leaning over the skeleton there.

I know.

So what? Again, it's a step forward.

Dan and Deb did really, really well today.

Big improvement for Dan.

It was easier because it was the second session, but it was harder because the

door was closed.

And I knew that the door had to stay closed, so I was worried that to get out

the door I'd have to step towards the spider and leave.

I'd already planned my exit.

After today, I don't think that I'll be able to grab one and release it outside,

but, you know, probably working my way towards that.

Wow. There you go.

Ta -da!

It's just the container. I know, but if she starts running around, it's still

going to freak me out.

Ta -da.

Okay. No way we could have done this last time.

Yeah, you're right. That's not too bad.

There you go.

Both Dan and Deb, massive steps, giant steps.

So we can get there. Just chip away at it bit by bit.

I'm glad it's over.

And if I can go, I'd be very happy.

Thanks. Thanks, Polly.

Thank you for not throwing her at me. I would. I think of a pretty name for her.

Bye, guys.

Pabu has been living apart from his panda family as he waits for his

contraceptive implant to take effect.

Today, he's out of isolation and about to rejoin his family in the main

Now that Pabu is implanted, it means that he gets to spend time with his

and his daughter without there being any unwanted breeding. So it means he gets

to rejoin the group and he'll be happy to see his partner again for a little

while. He'll also get his bachelor time alone.

So we'll be doing reintroductions once we know that that implant has fully

effect. And as a special welcome home treat...

Zoo nutritionist Michelle is preparing his favorite meal.

So this here is what we call red panda mash.

And you can see even some of the fibers that are in there. Some lucerne or

alfalfa hay and other different fibers that are just used to create the entire

complete diet for red panda. So it has all of the nutrients that they require

keep them healthy.

We have to be very careful with them because they want to eat things that are

certain size and shape. They like to eat things that are like bamboo.

You can see it takes quite a lot of effort just for this one species and

five animals in the zoo.

But the more effort that we take to make the diet appropriate for them, the less

waste there's going to be as well because they're going to be able to eat

of it, right?

good to start stretching anyway i always encourage people to stretch when

they're working so what i'm going to do is i'm going to now make them into about

40 gram bars that seems to be the size they like and no bigger than that

so now this is formed in the shape of let's say like a mature piece of bamboo

it's the perfect size and shape for their little paws so they can hold on to

and Eat off from the top, but the rest is not going to fall away. It's not

to crumble away.

And now we just need 98 more.

With everything in place, Pabu can now be released back

into the exhibit and reunited once again with his family.

I think he's going to be glad to be home.

Yeah. Hey, Pabu.

Hey, handsome.

Welcome home.

Yay!

Oh, so good. Good boy.

He's perfectly comfortable at home again, which is fantastic for us to see.

already spent marking everywhere. He's enjoying being back in that familiar

exhibit.

We're very happy to have him home, and we kind of forgot how handsome he is, so

we're pretty excited to have him again.