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 as many monumental challenges.

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

Attaboy, Jim. Nearly home, mate.

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

on.

And our cameras are there to bring you every magic moment.

On this episode... Mika was born around about 11 months ago.

The difficult business of breeding.

I'll just set up my ultrasound teeth. As these keepers do everything... We're

going to crack that open, get some nice fresh stuff from in the middle. To

produce three little rhinos. Five mil.

And hopefully in the next few months, that will tell us whether she's pregnant

or not.

This team... Bobo, the breeding male, has done amazingly well. Yep. ...are

all they can to stop Bobo from becoming a dad again. We're giving him a bit of a

break from daddy duties for 12 months at least.

Hello, my big boy. And as Charlie the sea lion struts his stuff... Okay,

Charlie, say goodbye to the girl.

...his son, Toray, gets ready for his... Big adventure.

You like getting out and about, don't you, mate?

Here they come. From the meat to the macho,

Taronga has 105 primates across 11 species.

including these really special little guys.

The Francois Langer is one of the rarest monkeys in the world.

It's found in China and Vietnam.

It's identifiable by its peaked crest.

They have a very distinct white line that runs through their face.

Their whole body is really designed so that they can move quickly and move

really well through the trees.

Their hands are really long for gripping.

They've got really long tails that they use for balance.

They're like acrobats.

Sadly, Francois Langers are critically endangered in the wild.

So Taronga has joined a worldwide breeding program aimed at boosting their

numbers.

We've been very fortunate to see quite a few babies born and baby Francois

Langers are actually born orange.

This is so that all of the other family members, in particular the females, are

able to see and help that baby. And the mothers will help raise each other's

babies.

Like many primates, They live in a female -dominated hierarchy, meaning

one male to many females.

And here at Taronga, the one breeding male is this nervous -looking fella.

Bobo, the breeding male in our group, arrived here with little experience of

living in a social group and a breeding group of females.

Once he did get the hang of it, he has done amazingly well.

In fact, Bobo's done his job so well, he has fathered six new Francois Langers.

But now, Bobo needs a bit of a break.

The vets have decided the best way to keep him with his family without growing

it is to give him a contraceptive implant.

So Amy, you're happy with this sling? To get Bobo to the hospital for the

procedure, keeper Amy needs to sedate him.

We're going to do a hand injection this morning with Bobo. Hopefully it goes

nice and smoothly. This will be the first time that Francois Langeau has

hand injected here at Taronga, so it's quite a big thing for us today.

No, that is absolutely perfect.

Yep, going on straight in.

Well done.

All right, good luck. Cool, thank you very much.

So I suppose a big concern for us is Bobo has a bit of a negative association

with needles.

We've been working really hard to make that really positive.

However, he doesn't enjoy, obviously, the stick of a needle.

Let's go, Lange.

Fire. hand -injecting our animals here at the zoo, it means that their lives

a whole lot less stressful.

So we don't have to introduce any nets to him and we don't have to get our vet

team to come in and dart them.

Just like for any of us, needles are really scary for our animals. So by

lots of training and preparing them means that on the day, the stress is on

it's not on our animals.

Good boy.

But Bobo senses something's in the air today and he's a little jumpy.

I'm ready.

Good boy.

Amy knows she must stay calm and follow her training if this is to work.

Good.

One of the many unique features about Taronga Western Plain Zoo in Davao is

it's home to three out of the five remaining rhinoceros species in the

today. Good girl. Come on.

Good girl. Good girl. The greater one -horned rhino that comes from Asia and

two African species, the black rhino and the white rhino.

These rhinos here are what we call the southern white rhinos, and they're the

largest of the African land mammals behind the African elephant.

Come on, Laquaisie!

Laquaisie!

White rhino is a square -lipped rhino, so you'll notice how the lip is quite

square. and quite wide.

These are what we call a grazing animal, so they eat grass.

They can go along and they can graze the grass quite easily.

Eight white rhinos live here at Taronga.

Less than a year ago, that number was seven.

This here is Mpani. Mpani's around about 32 years of age, and beside her is her

daughter Mika.

Mika was born around about 11 months ago.

Little Mika is very special because these guys are dwindling in numbers. And

it's sad to say when you look at Mika there and her horn, if she was in

she's got a good chance that she would have been poached for that horn.

So it would be lovely to think.

that one day the wild would be secure enough for us to return some of the

animals that we've bred here, young stock, to be able to go back to their

habitat and breed and live how they were meant to be.

And while the team is justifiably proud of the birth of baby white rhino Mika...

She's a black rhino and that means unpredictability.

..today... Senior vet Ben is focused on the harder to breed and more critically

endangered black rhino.

All right, I'll just set up my ultrasound gear.

Taronga Western Plains Zoo has a long -standing involvement in a global

black rhino cooperative conservation breeding program.

We're currently one of two institutions that have had the most success breeding

this species in the world and we have bred 14 calves to date as part of our

involvement in that process.

And the reason Taronga's team has been so successful is their hands -on, or in

this case, hands -in approach to managing their breeding.

Today we're conducting a transrectal ultrasound exam on one of our female

rhinos. You know, black rhinos being black rhinos, it is feasible that she

decide that she doesn't want to cooperate with us today and that we

an opportunity to get the job done that we want to get done.

Ben, if it's all right with you, it may be a bit short in five minutes, given

her temperament. The biggest hurdle today is the mood of the rhino itself.

Good girl. Come here.

And for anyone that's ever had anything to do with horses, you'll know that a

windy day can shift the paradigm.

You know, they're just on increased alert.

Good girl.

After a lot of coaxing, the rhino finally enters the chute.

Good girl. Come here. All right. You good?

Yep.

Oh, hello.

Hello, my darling.

You all right?

But success.

All right, Ben, do you want to see how you're going again?

Yeah, you're all right.

It's fleeting.

White rhino are very forgiving. They're pretty cruisy. Black rhinos, on the

other hand, are just a little bit more hair -trigger, and they're always on the

lookout for monsters behind bushes and potentially will respond explosively if

their instinct tells them to.

Good start.

She's pretty on guard because she basically thinks someone's going to get

She's just thinking, I've got such a strong feeling that I need to be really

vigilant right now and I can't, I don't want to focus on standing in that shoot

and doing nothing.

Despite the team's best intention, today Mother Nature has

other ideas.

So we're not going to proceed ahead with the session today, just given the

circumstance of the wind and she's nervous on edge.

The risk level is a bit high, so we're just not going to put ourselves in that

position.

But all is not lost.

Luckily, there's another way to find out if a female rhino is pregnant.

The relationship between keeper and animal is intriguing and complex.

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

Although they work alongside the animals for years, keepers are under no

illusion that they are pets.

Okay, Gunnar, there you go, mate. But nevertheless, every department is

different.

Clearly, the carnivore team must keep their distance from the animals in their

care.

But down at the marine precinct, it's a whole different story.

This is Charlie. He is our 11 -year -old Australian sea lion.

And it's interesting because a lot of people don't realise that when the zoo

not open, we like to take them out for a walk.

Hello, my big boy.

Hi, just letting you know that we're getting Charlie out for a walk.

Good boy.

Charlie and I have been working together for many, many years.

Ready for your walk?

Good. So if he's feeling uncomfortable, he'll give me certain cues or signs.

Come on. Yes, Michelle's coming with us.

And I will certainly take that on board because at a huge 303 kilos, if he

doesn't want to do anything, I can't make him.

As you can see, when we walk our seals, we don't put harnesses on them. They're

not like a dog.

So we have to have a very good relationship.

I want Charlie to remain with me and to feel comfortable at all times.

He is a good boy, aren't you, mate?

You can see that Charlie can walk easily on those front flippers.

He may seem like he's quite slow when we're walking along, but these guys can

outrun us over a short distance.

Oh, do you want to have a look at the penguins, Charlie?

Look at them in here. What do you think?

Can you see them? A vital part of Charlie's weekly enrichment routine is

stimulation.

And today he's taking in the sights and sounds of animals he'd normally come

across in the wild. Look out there.

Oh, what do you think? Do you like penguins?

Yeah.

Charlie's walk, it's really important, not just for mental stimulus, but for

physical exercise.

You ready to go for some more walk? Come on then. Good boy.

We're going over the bridge.

Good boy.

Oh, there's your girlfriend.

So we're going to take him to the underwater viewing area, and that's

girls are, his two girlfriends.

And, you know, it's good for him to get a perspective on how the public view him

on a daily basis as well.

Oh, look. Look who's there.

Surely there's Nala.

This your girlfriend.

Yes. Do you like seeing her?

Mmm.

It's interesting, he obviously recognises them because he's doing

clucking noises.

Hello, Nala.

So that's his way of communicating with his girlfriends and they obviously can

see him really well and go, what are you doing on this side of the glass and how

come you're not in here with us?

Over the years, Charlie has been an important breeding male at Taronga and

fathered two pups with a third on the way.

OK, Charlie, say goodbye to the girl.

We'll see you in the water shortly.

But, as in all families, now it's time for one of his sons, Tore, to step out

Dad's shadow and become a breeding male in his own right.

OK.

Bobo the Francois Langer is about to get a contraceptive implant and a health

check. That is absolutely perfect. Yep, going on straight in. To get Bobo to the

hospital for the procedure, keeper Amy must sedate him.

This will be his first ever injection by hand, so vet Rebecca

will stand by in case of emergency.

We always get a little bit apprehensive with anaesthetising animals, but the

fact that Amy is hopefully going to be able to hand inject really reduces the

risk of that animal getting worked up and stressed.

Good boy.

But if she doesn't, I might need to dart the animal.

So we're constantly thinking on our feet as to how to adjust to the situation

with animals and anesthesia.

Good boy.

Good boy.

Good.

I definitely got that in him.

Awesome. Good job, Legends.

I'm so happy.

So they're just still monitoring him and he's a little bit awake still.

Now it's an anxious waiting game for keepers and vets while the drugs slowly

take effect.

It's four and a half minutes. His coordination is not that great.

Francois Langers are social animals, and with alpha male Bobo absent from the

exhibit this morning, his family are unusually restless.

We've got some of our little ones hanging out in the exhibit up there,

what's going on over here. They know something's happening.

Something's happening to Dad.

Coming up for nine minutes now.

So we're about 16 minutes in since the injection and he's still quite awake.

You know, there is risk to us going in. He's got sharp teeth, he's got sharp

nails. We wouldn't want to sort of go into that space with him until he's

properly sedated.

It takes half an hour for the anaesthesia to kick in and now it's safe

moving Bobo to hospital.

I'm hoping he'll still be pretty groggy.

But the team quickly realise Bobo won't nod off without a fight.

He's just not quite anesthetised enough from the drugs to get him out yet, so

we're just going to give him a bit of gaseous anaesthetic just so we can get

out.

Let's keep him relaxing a bit now.

Now he's fully under, he'll need to be monitored closely.

Langers are a bit prone to regurgiting, so if he had a little vomit while he was

under anaesthetic, the potential is that that vomit could go down to his lungs,

which we really don't want.

Charlie,

the

gigantic Australian sea lion, has been a solid breeder for Taronga Zoo, and over

the years... had fathered two male pups.

Well, this is Moby. Moby is one of our young Australian sea lion males.

Good boy.

He's actually Charlie's firstborn.

Come over here, Moby.

Good boy.

Being a relaxed animal and being very calm with most situations is exactly

we want from Moby.

He's also very confident, which we...

We obviously thoroughly enjoy as well.

Just as they do with Dad, keepers now also spend long hours training Charlie's

son. You're going to jump off the big end. I knew you were going to do that.

Acclimatising them to all sorts of new sights and sensations.

We want to get him out, experiencing the areas where our public usually come in,

our visitors.

And at the same time while we're out here, we're doing some of his basic

behaviours.

Things that we get.

these guys to perform so we can better manage them.

Good boy, stay there.

Getting him to lay down, we can have a good look over the top of him, getting

him to roll over, the same thing. That's very nice.

He can expose his belly, be very comfortable about it. We can even get

open his mouth.

Just having a good look at his teeth there.

Good boy.

And while the key to training an animal is repetition... Easy does it. Going up

the stairs is a lot easier than coming down, isn't it, buddy?

Charlie's other son, Toray, is about to learn a brand new behaviour today, one

that will ultimately see him embark on his own journey to fatherhood.

We're about to do a training session with Toray. He's our young Australian

lion, he's a two -year -old.

He's going to be making the journey up to another zoo in Queensland, and in

order to make that journey nice and comfortable for him, we're getting him

to being inside a crate for periods of time, so he's really comfortable for

travel.

Good boy, mate.

In order to train him for his big journey, keepers start small.

That's a good breed?

Yeah. Good job, mate. Stay.

Do you want me to clip it shut for you? Yeah, thanks, mate.

He might go in there for one minute to start with, two minutes the next one,

eventually building up to probably half an hour.

Obviously, we can't replicate the exact amount of time he's going to be

travelling because that could be from six to 12 hours.

But sea lions are quick learners and Tore is keen to please.

Tore's done really well. He's been in the box now for a couple of minutes.

That was a really successful session for him.

Come on, mate.

Training sessions, like today's, will be conducted daily with Tore.

And although it seems like a long slog, keepers are confident the end results

will be worth it.

Charlie was originally from Queensland as well, so Tore then going back up to

Queensland and representing his father is a pretty big deal for us.

Back at the wildlife hospital.

Just had to take things nice and slow.

Bobo the Francois Langer is experiencing some problems on the table.

Come on, buddy.

Yep, perfect, thanks.

Let's just put him in right lateral, guys.

That's a happier breathing position.

Good boy.

We've got a tube down into his trachea, his airway.

And that way we're monitoring exactly how much anaesthetic and oxygen he's

getting. Makes me feel much more comfortable now that I've got him on the

under anaesthetic.

With Bobo breathing comfortably again... We'll just let him have a couple of

breaths and get that into his system.

The next step is to ensure the rest of his vital signs are normal.

But what's pretty far from normal...

is just where they attach the monitor.

It's like if you go into hospital, they'll put it onto your fingertip. But

guys, as you can see, it's all very black, so it doesn't pick up the amount

oxygen in his blood. So we need to find a nice pink area.

And genitalia works fine.

So we can start to give him a little bit of a physical exam while he's under.

But yeah, this is a really good opportunity for me and for the keepers

to sort of check out.

Every square inch of him, you know, check his little toes, check his

which we know are working well because that's why he's having the contraceptive

today. He's got too many babies at the moment.

So you can see these guys are primates, just almost human -like. It's like

holding a baby's hand, really.

And they use that to grip their food, and they're incredible swingers and

climbers. Look at these deltoids. They've been working out.

This certainly has.

We usually always like to do tests to extract primates when checking for

tuberculosis, really, to just make sure there's not sort of any early arthritis

or injuries like that.

Look good so far. So big stomach taking up most of the picture.

Beautiful big muscles in his arms. But yeah, everything looks good so far.

While Bobo initially seems to be in great shape.

It'd be nice if we could get him like that.

Things can change in an instant during any medical procedure.

And poor Bobo is about to go through a vet's worst nightmare.

When Bobo regurgitated, my heart skipped a little beat because we do always

worry that there's the potential for that vomited food to go down into his

and airway and that can be a real catastrophic event if they're under

anaesthetic.

Taronga Western Plain Zoo is proud to be home to three of the world's five

rhinoceros species.

All three species are part of breeding programs designed to boost their

You good? Yep.

While the team's first attempt to see if this black rhino is pregnant had

to be abandoned.

She's just thinking, I've got such a strong feeling that I need to be really

vigilant right now.

Come on.

Fortunately, there's another way to test for pregnancy, which Keeper Scott is

using today for black rhino barkita.

But this one is not for the faint -hearted.

You can see her midden over here. Midden's just a big pile of poo, which

return to whenever they need to go to the toilet.

In their natural environment, the poo is very important because that's how they

define their territory.

But from that, the male will be able to tell whether it's a female.

He'll go and rub his face through it, run his horn through it, and he'll know

whether that female's coming into oestrus, how close she is, and then it

gradually happens from there. So we're going to crack that open, get some nice

fresh stuff from in the middle. We've got a special technique how we don't get

it on our fingers with using a stick and turning our fingers around the bag.

Push it in about a golf ball size. That's all the girls need at the lab.

Now, from this poo sample, which we collect three times a week, we're able

confirm some very important information about the Keita when she's either due to

oestrus next or hopefully she's pregnant.

Over the past few weeks... Oh, boy, mate.

Tore, the juvenile Australian sea lion, has had daily crate training.

That's good, Ray.

To prepare him for his big adventure in a new zoo in Queensland.

Do you want me to clip it shut for you? Yeah, thanks, mate.

When we're crate training a seal like Tore, we're making sure that we're not

seeing any signs of stress. I want this crate to be a really positive place for

him.

Let's come back out.

And you're rolling.

That's so clever.

In the crate.

With each session, Tori is spending longer and longer in a stationary crate.

Shutting the gate, buddy.

So you've had him in here for up to three minutes? Yeah, up to about three.

But today, keepers are introducing a new sensation to Tori.

Turn around.

We've kind of upped the ante a little bit this week.

What he's going to do is go into his box from the exhibit.

He's going to be transported on a trolley, which he's done before.

But then we're going to lift him into the van and move him around the zoo in a

van. The duration of that trip is going to be about five minutes.

All right, bud. Good job, poor A.

Hopefully today he goes really well because it is just one of the steps in

getting him to move safely to another facility really comfortably.

We're going on a holiday.

Although it's only a short trip.

Good job, buddy.

Adriana has to keep a close eye on Tore for any signs he may be feeling

stressed. One, two, three, up.

Good job, Tore.

Alrighty. Thank you.

Let's go driving, Toray.

While travelling in the vehicle with Toray. Such a brave little guy, aren't

I was making sure that I was kind of talking to him, making sure he knows

I'm there.

And that's Sydney Harbour. You see that?

That's the big water.

I'm obviously reinforcing him, so giving him food while he's travelling, but I'm

looking for various indicators that he's not comfortable because then we might

need to take a step back.

Is he still looking around?

Yeah. But luckily, Tori handled it like a seasoned traveller.

Good job.

Usually if they're not taking food, they're too worried about their

surroundings. The fact that he just ate the whole way means that he's like,

okay, keep the food coming. What are we doing?

He loves adventures.

You like getting out and about, don't you, mate?

It's all right. You made it. Well done.

How did he go?

Yeah, he was really good. Yeah. Pretty calm? Yeah.

Straight down.

So Tore's move today in the van was just a part of his progression of being able

to move to this new facility in a crate.

Keen to get out, aren't you?

So we need to up the ante more and more so that by the time he needs to go, he

is ready to sit in a crate for up to 12 hours to get him to another facility

where he'll be going to shortly.

Good job, Ray Ray.

All in a day's work.

Back out at Dubbo. That's a good girl.

What a good lady.

Well done.

Keeper Taryn is attempting to breed Amala, the female greater one -horned

She's crucial to the breeding hopes here.

So she's pretty special. If you've already seen shots of her African

that we have here at the zoo, you'll notice that she looks quite different.

So they have a lip. It's called an upper prehensile lip. It acts pretty close

like a hand.

Can I open it for me? Good girl.

Well done.

So it's kind of like a finger or a hand, and she's going to use that to grab the

very best branches and leaves and pull them into her mouth. So it's very, very

muscular. It's very, very flexible.

And, yes, it comes in very, very handy for what they actually eat out in the

wild.

Good girl.

Greater one -horned rhinos, they are known as the armoured plating rhinos or

plated rhinos.

Those folds of skin, they behave very much like armoured plates. So it's all

about protection.

These species do bite each other. So when you put them together, it's pretty

full on. So you do see a lot of aggression, a lot of biting. And having

folds of skin just helps protect all the important things underneath.

And just as well, as a recent introduction between Amala and Dora

a fiery encounter.

So we're actually still treating some minor wounds on her. You'll see up on

shoulder here.

So that was created by Dora, our male, mounting her. She does have an identical

one on her right shoulder as well, and that's exactly where his feet would have

sat.

Despite Amala's injuries, the keepers are hoping the introduction was a

It's just so exciting to be doing these introductions.

They're a really, really big deal. They don't happen very often.

And if she is pregnant, we will hopefully have a calf on the ground in

16 months.

While keepers can start thinking of baby names, they must determine whether or

not Amala is pregnant.

And with greater one -horned rhinos, there's only one way to be sure.

So I'm just collecting a urine sample from our female greater one -horned

She's been in here overnight. This is what she's left behind.

I'm just collecting five mil. That's all we need. That's going to go to our lab

here to be analysed. We're doing this three times a week, and hopefully in the

next few months that will tell us whether she's pregnant or not.

The team will need to chart hormone levels over several months before they

the introduction between the two rhinos was a success.

Over the past few weeks, Tori's travel training has gone from strength... Ready

to go on an adventure?

All right, come on out, buddy.

..to strength.

In you go.

Nice.

And keepers are satisfied that he's ready for his big move to Queensland.

Good boy, Torre.

But Torre must clear a few more hurdles before takeoff.

So with Torre going in the next two weeks, it's really important that our

come down and they're really happy with what he looks like and how he's behaving

and everything else is normal so that when he leaves, he's in the best

shape for the long trip.

All righty, buddy. Good job.

Vet Francis has come down to the Marine Precinct to give him the seal of

approval for his boarding pass.

I'm just at the door to see Tore, thank you.

How are you, Ruth?

I want to do a good visual check of him, make sure that I'm happy that he's

healthy and that he doesn't have anything that would prevent us from

send him on. So can I come around behind you?

So I'm just having a look at his general body shape and so on. He looks to be in

really good body condition.

And he's moving certainly very well.

He's a chunky monkey, this one, Frances. Yep, he certainly is.

Will he do a mouth open? Yeah.

Excellent. That's pretty much it. That's pretty good. Yeah, no, that's fine.

Do you want to come down and let Frances see you walk around, mate?

If he will do a roll over so we can see his tummy.

Basically, part of my assessment is to make sure I don't see anything abnormal

at all on him. And when he rolls over like that, it's a good opportunity for

to see the opening where his penis will come out and also the underside of his

tail. So it's a really good behaviour for us.

in terms of assessing how he is. Good job.

Animals that move between facilities can often take illness with them, so it's

crucial for Francis to ensure Torres not only fit but also healthy.

And so you don't hear any coughing, sneezing, anything like that? No, never.

eats his fish really well, he doesn't regurgitate or... No.

Nothing you're concerned about with him?

Behaviourally, he's very well balanced. Yeah.

Okay, I'm happy with that. Great.

So that's a great result for Tore, who can now pack his bag for his big move

north. Francis seemed really happy with Tore's general check over, so he did

really well.

But for keeper Adriana...

It brings mixed emotions.

On one side, it's really sad that he's leaving because he's such an amazing

little animal. We've had him from when he was born here and he has a real

here. However, I've been in contact with the keepers at the new facility and

they're really excited to get him. So it'll be a bittersweet day when he

The team at Taronga's successful rhino breeding program is keenly waiting on

results of two tests. I'm just collecting five mil. That's all we need.

And the first result is back for greater one -horned rhino, Amala.

Unfortunately, after our extensive analysis, the data we have so far is

inconclusive. So we've asked the keepers to continue that sampling for another

four weeks. And hopefully we will...

By that period of time, have an answer.

But the results for black rhino barkita jump off the page.

Hey, Bec, what have you got? Hi, Ben. I've got the latest results from our

analysis. The mating that they saw was early December and really quite low

progesterone levels.

Yep. Post that introduction, the next set of fecal analysis, if I move down

here, you can see that... following March is just skyrocketed. So you're

me that Vaquita is in calf?

I'm prepared at this point to say that she's pregnant.

Fantastic news.

Fantastic news. Congratulations, Vaquita. You too.

It's still many months until the calf's birth.

But the team at Taronga have every reason to feel proud.

For many guests, a visit to the zoo, it's just the tip of the iceberg.

So many of the things that go on behind the scenes is actually what zoos are all

about. Good girl.

We are a breeding facility.

We are an arc for the future of so many of these species.

We are one of the only facilities that runs three different rhino species.

And to have success across those three different species is something which

makes this place unique.

With the Francois Langer exhibit at Taronga now reaching capacity, thanks in

large part to breeding male Bobo, keepers are striving for genetic

giving him a contraceptive implant.

I don't know how much of the other joke he's still got on board.

But mid -procedure, Bobo suddenly has an adverse reaction to the anaesthetic.

So he's just had a bit of a regurge, which often happens sometimes when

on their back.

We did have to use a couple of little treats to get him comfortable this

morning, and sometimes that can come back up when they're doing anaesthetics.

you want me to hold his head up?

It's breathing, okay.

With Bobo now stabilised, the team get to work to swiftly complete the

in case the problem reoccurs. So we're going to put the reproductive implant

It's going to go under the skin in between his shoulder blades.

So I get to give him a little extra haircut because we don't want to get any

hair in the wound.

Bobo has already fathered a lot of young babies, so we're giving him a bit of a

break from daddy duties for 12 months at least.

So this implant is actually a hormone, and once it's in his system, it'll

actually down -regulate the production of testosterone, which means he won't be

able to produce sperm, so he won't be able to father any of the children.

So we're just going to come under the skin here. It's a huge needle.

You can see why we do it under anaesthetic.

There we go.

And you can actually just feel it under there.

All right, buddy.

Just when the finish line is in sight, Bobo struggles to breathe

again.

We're just going to try and swab out his mouth because he's just regurgitated a

little bit of food up his... I know, mate.

While that tube's down his trachea, we know that none of this food can get down

into his lungs, but the minute we take that tube out, which we need to to wake

him up, there's the risk that any food that's still in his mouth, while he's

still anaesthetised, could go down into his lungs, and we really don't want

that. So we can get ready, guys, to sort of pop him back in the pet pack.

With his airways finally clear, the team begin the delicate process of waking

him up.

He's holding my hand. He's holding your hand.

He's saying thanks, Lee.

I'm going to give that reversal now. I'm going to put him into the pet pack,

take him back and wake him up.

And, yeah, hopefully he'll have a nice, smooth recovery, not too much of a

hangover.

Yeah, Bo -Bo, wake up, sweetheart.

Just not too quickly.

We're just going to make sure that he's able to hold his head up and sort of

swallow okay.

But the idea will be that once we're happy that he's breathing all right,

move him back up to his enclosure.

The girls are going to have him set up in a nice warm den and monitor him for a

couple of hours.

The others are all waiting for him. They're all looking to see him arrive.

So we'll just make sure he's fine waking up and put him back in with his family.

So today was a success. We were able to give him a really good physical

examination, and most importantly, we got that implant in. He's very healthy.

He's in great condition.

He's a very fine specimen for Elena.

The Marine Precinct has an air of sadness

about it today as months of preparation finally come to an end.

Today's the day that Tore's going up north to another facility.

It's really exciting for him, but it's also really sad for us to say goodbye

because we won't see him for a while.

But a lot of months of training have gone into today, so we're just hoping

it goes really smoothly.

I know he's going to nail it. This one looks good. I don't want to feed him too

much today because he's going to be sitting in a box for eight hours.

It's never easy to say farewell. Hey, little me.

But Adriana knows she's done everything possible to ready Tore for his journey.

Gonna miss you, mate.

Go.

Good, buddy.

Up you go.

Come on.

Let's get one last look at you, hey?

What are you doing with that flipper?

How are you looking today?

Oh, good. You want me to see your flipper, do you?

Right inside your mouth. You haven't gotten up to anything overnight?

Good boy.

Taronga's keepers cherish their experiences of watching animals grow

periods. So proud of you.

And for Adriana, Toray's growth has given her special satisfaction and

Happy birthday!

I was here the day Toray was born, and now to be here the day he leaves

You know, it'll be a sad goodbye, but, you know, he's going to be awesome where

he's going. You're going to love it.

You're going to love it, buddy.

But it's not just the keepers that Toray must farewell today.

Should we go say goodbye to Moby, Toray? Toray and Moby will definitely miss

each other. They've really had each other to kind of wrestle with and ruffle

tumble with. They are really best mates most of the time. In saying that,

because we know that Toray's leaving.

We've kind of started separating them in the last few weeks so that it's not

felt quite as hard, especially for Moby, who's staying behind.

Here he is.

Say goodbye to Moby, your best friend.

See?

Say goodbye, guys.

Say goodbye to your brother.

Goodbyes are so hard, yeah.

I'm sure.

That's such an important part of their role.

and the reason why we have this breeding program for Australian sea lions.

Good boy.

So that we can find out more about them here in the zoo, so we can look after

them in the wild, but also to educate people about how important they are.

Jose, can I get you to shut the door?

I'm so proud of you today, Torre.

See you, mate.

We're going to miss you.

Oh, Bondi's saying goodbye too.

Bye, Bondi.

Goodbye, Cisco.

Tore now has an eight -hour trip ahead of him and an exciting new life to look

forward to. Safe travels, buddy.

Cool.

But he leaves behind a legacy and in Taronga Zoo, a family.

Tore was perfect today. As expected, he went in there like it was any other day.

And I'm really proud of him.