Original subtitles

VIRGINIA GAY (NARRATES): You don't get named

one of the best zoos in the world by accident.

And a view as magical as this one

is only gets you so far.

Good boy.

No, this last year, Team Taronga have been busier than ever...

Boom! Whoo!

..with their two zoos now bigger than ever.

Come on, handsome man. Let's go.

So, this season, we're taking you closer than ever.

(ELEPHANT TRUMPETS)

And as their colourful residents get ready to make some noise...

(TIGER ROARS)

Oh, my goodness.

..let us show you exactly who's who in this zoo.

Just always be watching who's who, who's where.

(SEA LION BARKS)

On this episode...

(ELEPHANT TRUMPETS)

..who knew...

Baths are essentially the foundation of our relationship

with elephants.

..there's a science...

We're checking the foot pad. We're checking the nail.

..to bath time?

We check the mouth. We ask for their trunk up.

Well, an elephant's bath time anyway.

The bath itself is not, sort of, you know, a bubble bath

and a...and a rubber ducky.

I love him. The clock's ticking...

The nurses have got a hospital worth of gear packed into the van.

..as Taronga gets mobile...

Back to Tammy.

Injection at 08:43.

..for baby Mwamba.

Be prepared.

And silent but deadly...

Male ring-tailed lemurs will engage in stink bites.

..just what causes a lemur...

We can't smell it.

..to deploy their secret weapon.

It's definitely very pungent.

(THEME MUSIC)

Gorillas are one of our closest relatives

in the animal world.

She doesn't like the rain at all.

And for primate keeper Bec,

her bond with Taronga's gorilla community runs pretty deep.

One of the highlights of my career

still to this day was, um,

that I watched the birth of Mwamba.

Mwamba is the baby of our group.

We have seven western lowland gorillas here at the zoo.

Our troop is led by Kibali, our silverback male.

We have three adult females

and then we also have Mwamba's two elder brothers

who are nine years old and eight years old.

Taronga's thriving gorilla group

are part of an international conservation program

to protect this species against extinction.

Western lowland gorillas are found

in the Congo area in Africa.

They are classified as critically endangered due to a few reasons

but habitat loss is a big one.

They are taken for bushmeat trade as well as poaching,

especially the young ones.

It's one of Taronga's young ones that Bec has her eye on today.

So, this morning, I'm just doing a bit of a throw

over feed of some chicory.

Chicory is really high value,

so, it's, you know, it's a favourite of theirs.

Little Mwamba, he's just walking up the back there.

Because Mwamba is the baby of the group,

he still gets away with a lot.

You know, he's six years old.

He might go up and steal some food from mum or dad

or one of the others and they kind of let it slide.

He gets away with a lot.

Bec and the other primate keepers

have noticed Mwamba has been behaving a little bit differently

after a recent illness.

So, for me, what I can see is, yes, he's running around

but he is very tentative on that left leg.

So, instead of jumping straight down with both feet,

he's kinda holding his weight on his arms

and scooting himself down.

He's just a little bit more tentative

when he steps over that rock there as well.

So, it's Mwamba gorilla.

You'll hand inject him in the gorilla house

and then we'll do our usual safety procedures.

Vet Frances knows there's only one way

to truly understand what's wrong with Mwamba

and that's a trip to the hospital.

So, in terms of his actual procedure,

because there's quite a lot of X-rays,

you know, we're investigating his lameness...

Yeah.

..his, you know, his couple of swollen joints

that he's had over the last few months.

We do have specialists coming in to assist with this.

Emma's going to help with the anaesthetic.

Yep.

And Andrew is going to do all the ultrasounds and X-rays

and so on for Mwamba.

Bec has also noticed an unusual lump in Mwamba's belly.

The other thing I wanted to chat about,

when we check-in that hernia that he has,

you can see sometimes it pops out.

Yeah, you can see it. Absolutely.

An ultrasound in that will tell us exactly what it is.

OK.

And whether-whether we need to do anything or not.

Yeah.

There are always considerable risks

involved with separating a gorilla group.

They are fiercely protective of their own and incredibly strong,

even six-year-old, Mwamba.

The goal is to have gorillas well away from that area.

Yeah.

But, obviously, it's an unpredictable environment

so we'll do our best.

Be prepared that there could be strong reactions on the day.

Yeah.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

Hi, buddy. Mealtime.

It always gives the keepers an opportunity

for a much closer look at the animals.

Hey, Rosie.

But it works both ways.

Good.

It also allows all the animals

to get a much closer look at their keepers.

Perip is a young western quoll,

also known as the chuditch.

He is a carnivorous marsupial.

They are related to Tasmanian devils,

so, very sharp teeth, a lot of personality

and very, very curious.

(INTENSE MUSIC)

When he first arrived, we would see little glimpses of him

as he was very new to people

and a little bit more nervous

and cautious about what was going on around him.

The species are considered near threatened,

estimated around 10,000 individuals at the moment.

Taronga is determined to increase those numbers

and has thus far bred and reintroduced 30 chuditch

into the West Australian outback.

What do you reckon about this spot?

I reckon he's got a good line to that nice hollow there.

There are more releases also planned in New South Wales,

where these cute marsupials are currently extinct.

OK. Excellent.

And, yes, I did just say cute

but it does pay to stay on your toes

around these inquisitive little carnivores.

So, there are some risks to working with that species.

Curiosity is fantastic but like I said, he is a carnivore,

so they-they sort of, like,

you do have that little bit of caution, you know,

we still need to have as well.

At this stage, he's only showing curiosity

but we also do have that challenge of not knowing

where he might be in this exhibit.

So, he has shown a lot of interest in the keeper entry door.

We do find him waiting at that door because quite often

that door does signal,

"Oh, there's food coming into my exhibit right now,

"that's where I wanna be."

Problem is it's not where Laura

and the other keepers want him to be.

So, this is an undesirable behaviour.

We want him active in the exhibit.

We want him moving around and not pre-empting

where things are going to happen in that exhibit.

We want his day to be unpredictable because when we have predictability,

things can get pretty boring pretty quickly.

He's just watching.

So, the big question is

how do you feed a carnivorous chuditch

without opening the door at the same time?

What we've trialled is a feeder that's within his exhibit

but it's actually triggered from outside the glass.

So, we don't necessarily need a keeper to go into the enclosure

for him to have a reward.

It's remote controlled.

We use a laser pointer,

so, we can load those up in the morning,

so, it's nice and safe.

And then, at any point of the day,

we can go out front of the exhibit

and trigger them with that laser pointer.

The idea is just to get them to a point

where that exciting stuff is happening

without any interaction with the door.

Alright. He's coming down.

He's just curious.

Is he alright?

Yeah, he's good.

From the safety of her position outside,

Keeper Laura also uses a shaker to signal to Perip

that food is on the way.

(SHAKER RATTLES)

He got it. You work so hard.

As soon as you did that shaker...

Hmm, straight away. Yeah.

It turned around, came straight towards us.

It's great that we can do it remotely.

Mm-hmm.

So, we should be able to set up a few of these.

We can even do it for his insects as well so he can release

it all over the exhibit.

Mm-hmm.

Give him something to do during the day

and keep him really busy.

Mm.

We can look at changing up his schedule.

Mm. Make it less predictable for him.

Keeper's safety aside, it's keeping things less predictable

that keeps a chudich stimulated.

He's really getting into the mice today.

He certainly never has a poor appetite.

He's always ready for his snacks.

Whether that snack is just a couple of mice

or something a little bigger.

Hey, girl.

At mealtime, an animal's natural curiosity

is usually partnered with a healthy dose of caution.

She's not sure if she needs to eat this

or if this is going to eat her.

(INTENSE MUSIC)

TB two, TB one.

So, grey, green, yellow, third...

Over at the wildlife hospital,

the veterinary team are preparing for a big day

with a relatively small but very strong gorilla.

Got no oxygen cylinders out yet.

We've got our youngest male gorilla, Mwamba,

who's gonna have an anaesthetic

and a full exam today.

He's had some issues being a bit lame

and sort of having the odd swelling in his joints

and so we want to investigate that.

The nurses have got a hospital worth of gear packed into the van.

This time in the morning,

it's like putting together a Rubik's cube.

It's a lot of work getting everything prepared.

And we are done.

Keeper Bec has been rehearsing Mwamba's hand injection for months.

From practising the moves...

(TENSE MUSIC)

..to using a blunted syringe against Mwamba's arm.

Touch.

Good.

Bec has also brought along a secret treat,

a favourite of Mwamba's, to help seal the deal.

Gorillas don't really get honey like this.

They're not allowed a lot of food before the procedure.

So, we put, um, some PPE on

and that's more just to protect the gorillas.

They're so closely related to us,

so any sickness that we can get, they can also get.

So, it's really important that

when we're in really close proximity to gorillas,

we're wearing masks and gloves.

So, I think I'm ready.

So, Mwamba is gonna be hand injected by Bec.

Here.

Good boy.

Do you want us to wait in here until it's done?

Absolutely.

We're using Zoletil and Medetomidine.

Touch.

Good!

08:43.

Back to Tammy. Injection at 08:43.

Oh, amazing.

Good work. Thanks.

Just six minutes later, Mwamba is sleeping peacefully.

And just as importantly, the rest of the gorilla group are also calm.

He will have all the usual restraints and so on.

I need extra hands.

I'll go back and do that.

Alrighty. Oxygen on.

I can feel him breathing.

It's really hard to see when the van juggles.

So, just his jaw tone ticked up a bit when we moved him.

His rate went up a little bit too.

His respiratory rate.

Still only lightly anaesthetised,

the movement of the van is causing some movement

in this 55kg gorilla.

It's been about half an hour since that injection.

Frances' experience is telling her she needs backup.

Do you wanna go and grab some proper foam

just in case we need it in there?

Coming up, a supersized bird...

Although she's really large...

..gets a supersized meal.

..she's one of our more cautious animals.

And we've all been warned never to smile at a crocodile.

If they're smiling, it can indicate stress

and-and a threat.

But a chimp? (CHIMPANZEE HOOTS)

The smile is quite a threatening display.

(LIVELY MUSIC)

As day breaks over Dubbo,

Taronga Western Plains Zoo is already long awake

and in the thick of the action.

Good.

In the elephant barn, even though it's morning,

a very important daily ritual is in progress,

bath time.

Well, the bath is not necessarily

about getting an elephant all clean and shiny.

These baths are essentially the foundation of our relationship

with elephants, you know,

whose lifespan spans 50, 60 years.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

Asian elephants are endangered in the wild.

There are seven at Taronga Western Plains Zoo,

so, they're pretty special

and that's why every single one of them

gets this pretty special treatment.

They're a social animal and you can see

she's, obviously, enjoying the attention.

She's enjoying being rewarded for the cooperation and you can see

when we put the feet up like this,

we're checking the footpad, we're checking the nails,

making sure there's no cracks in the nail

that may require attention.

And, essentially, the bath is a practice

of a number of different activities

that we need to do with the elephant from time to time.

Who knew so much could be achieved with one bath?

Alright. Trunk.

Good. Alright.

Just like we check the feet and-and all this sort of stuff,

we ask for their trunk up.

We check the mouth, make sure the colour of the mouth,

the tongue is a nice soft pink colour.

There's no issues with her teeth.

There's no cracks or breakages in her tushes.

Asian elephants can eat up to 150kg

of food a day,

so, dental hygiene is also vitally important

for the health of an elephant.

So, some female elephants

have very small tush like appendages there.

You can see with Kanlaya. She's...

Very good.

..broken that one on the right side previously.

That's starting to re-grow through now.

So, they're not a true tusk with Asian elephants.

It's only males that grow the tusks.

Very good.

So, the bath itself is not, sort of, you know, a bubble bath

and a...and a rubber ducky

but it's essentially a-a daily once over to ensure

that everything's in running order.

All the elephants are-are moving well,

feeling well and making sure that on a daily basis,

we're constantly building and maintaining strong relationships

that allow us to work in such close proximity.

Alright, Tong D. Let's go.

While Tong D and her herd finish off their bath time inside,

outside their paddocks are being spruced up,

ready for a brand new day.

Look at that lot.

It's fair to say it's a pretty exciting time

for everyone.

Perched high on the slopes overlooking Sydney Harbour

is one of Taronga's more curious but wary animals.

She's big, isn't she?

With a wingspan of up to three metres

and weighing in at around 12kg,

the Andean condor is one of the largest flying birds

in the world.

And Konira uses every bit of that immense size

to be the undisputed star of Taronga's Free Flight Birds.

I see it!

(UPLIFTING MUSIC)

Vultures are facing enormous pressures all around the world.

Some species have declined by as much as 99.9%

just in the last 15 years alone.

Konira is one of the Andean condors,

that was bred here at Taronga

and I've been around her for her entire, almost 13 years.

And although, she's really large,

we find she's one of our more cautious animals.

Unlike most birds

that rely only on keen sight to find their food,

Konira has a very keen sense of smell,

which can help these cautious carnivores

find food from up to two kilometres away.

In the wild, they are a top-order scavenger.

They're nature's cleanup crew.

They clean carcasses extremely well

so there's very little left to decay.

Her diet is obviously, it's animals. It's meat based diet.

A lot of that is small things like mice, stale chicks,

kangaroo mince that we can turn into little rissoles.

But today, meal time

will look a little different.

So, today, she's getting a nice large meal.

It's a chunk of kangaroo.

This is probably at the bigger end of the meals that she's received.

And it'll be nice to give her a chance to, you know,

really pick that clean.

This supersized meal deal will encourage Konira

to express her natural instincts.

And looking after this particular fine dining feast is Keeper Chris.

This here is the torso of an eastern grey kangaroo.

So, our full-time butcher at the zoo

has been able to sustainably source kangaroos,

a protein that we use throughout the zoo

for most of our animals as well

because it's readily available.

So, we have the arms, we have the ribcage

that's been cracked open and the organs have been removed.

For a bird that really needs to shape her beak on bone,

this is gonna be really good for her healthwise

but also really enriching

because her beak is designed to tear all the skin and the flesh

and the hair off those bones

and then getting into all that nice sinew

and all the different rib bones.

There'll be bones in her forearms here and here

and there's still a lot of meat, which is good.

So, she'll get some nice delicious kangaroo meat,

a very rare steak.

Alright. Let's go have some breakfast.

Hopefully, that is a good enticing breakfast for her.

Um, not so fast.

So, she's a little tentative of this.

Wings are out. She's ready to go.

With seven Asian elephants residing at Taronga Western Plains Zoo...

Steady.

What a good girl.

..it takes a lot of planning and preparation

to keep their paddocks neat and tidy.

This is one of our larger paddocks out here in Dubbo

and every morning we have to come out

and-and set that paddock up for the day.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

And so, it involves breaking up a bit of, sort of,

old hay and then, you know, it's hanging up hay bags,

putting our browse scattering, some fruits and vegetables,

things like carrots that we scatter around to encourage movement

around the entire exhibit.

And it really wouldn't be a day in an elephant habitat

without one unmissable,

unmistakable ever present ingredient.

You can see, obviously,

there's a lot of undigested material in here.

So, elephants only eat...

Um, elephants only digest 40% of-of what they eat.

So, a lot comes out the other end undigested,

and that's one of, sort of ecological functions

for-for elephants.

They are, you know, nature's ultimate gardeners.

Incredibly, elephants are instrumental in keeping

their forest rangelands healthy,

eating and dispersing seeds up to 65km

from their original tree.

By the time we finish today, this trailer will be,

um, yeah, very full.

Yeah, look at that. Look at that lot. Yeah.

Keeper Bradd clearly knows his...

Should know "nose" his stuff.

And who wouldn't when you're shovelling

a few hundred kilos of it every day?

But enough about what comes out.

Let's talk about what goes in.

The elephants here only eat about half the volume

of what a wild elephant would.

The...the...the food that we have, you know, commercially,

you know, derived hay and-and things like that

are-are much higher, you know, nutritionally,

than, you know, wild branches and grasses and sticks

and so forth, so, we need to come up with novel ways

of getting the elephants to spend more time eating less food.

And one of the hardest things to do with elephants

is to find things that we can use that they can't destroy.

And so, we need something a little bit more robust

for the boys.

The boys can destroy the hay bags, um, with their tusks,

um, and so, this poly pipe does the trick

and then the elephants can access it through the-the holes.

And, obviously, by containing it in there,

it takes these elephants a little bit longer to-to eat

that portion of hay

than what it would just putting it on the ground.

So, in addition to the hay and the other enrichment activities,

we also use these as a pineapple plant,

so, we source these from Southern Queensland.

They'll rip this off and then put it into their mouth

and it's a good source of-of roughage

in their diet and for their teeth, good for their digestive tract

and then, yeah, we pick up the rest as it comes out the other end.

Well, I guess we were bound to get back

to the other end, eventually.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Taronga's Sydney vet team

is transporting six-year-old gorilla, Mwamba,

to the wildlife hospital.

We're investigating this couple of swollen joints

that he's had over the last few months.

But the movement of the van is starting to make Mwamba move too.

His rate went up a little bit too.

He's respiratory rate. Yeah. Yeah.

And that's the last thing anyone wants to happen

inside this confined space.

Could we have the lifters, please?

Any movement, we'll come in straight back in here.

Yep. Go. Yep.

So, we're going straight...

The team need to get Mwamba, the baby of the gorilla community,

intubated and under full anaesthetic immediately.

Alright.

So, we're gonna bring him in

and we're gonna put him head in towards me.

Ready? One, two, three.

OK, let's get him attached because now's the time

where he's gonna wake up.

That-that should be the right place.

Mwamba's up at the hospital.

We're getting all his monitoring equipment on him.

There's a lot of hassle and bustle and so on.

We want to get him stable on the anaesthetic.

With that, Emma, I think he's fine. Yep.

Andrew, a specialist at reading X-rays and ultrasounds,

has been called in to help with the examination.

So, we're gonna start going through this procedure now

that he's stable on the table.

He has...

I'm pretty sure he's had a slightly swollen knee...

OK. ..and a swollen elbow.

But his abdominal hernia is where Andrew wants to start.

So, Andrew is gonna have a look at Mwamba's belly button.

You can see his belly button just there.

He's gonna have a look with the ultrasound.

Sometimes the keepers are seeing a bulge in that area

and we're investigating whether he's got a hernia or not.

The hernia is, really, just a gap in the muscle

where there shouldn't be one.

If that gap is too large,

Mwamba's intestines could push through

and potentially get trapped by the muscle wall.

We wanna make sure it's not something

that he needs any treatment for.

(TENSE MUSIC)

So, this is the abdominal wall.

Yeah.

And there's just, like, a tiny bit of fat that kind of pulls up a...

Yeah. ..very small gap, like 1.2mm.

It's very small. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

So, now, loops the intestine around.

So, no, there's...

So, this is intestine right here so then that's the fat around it.

So, it doesn't come anywhere near the wall.

It doesn't extend to it which is great.

With the hernia now ruled out as a problem,

Frances and Andrew turn their attention to Mwamba's legs.

What do you reckon of that one?

I think these ones are also...

It's a bit swollen compared to the other side

so that may indicate

that there could be some degree of arthritis.

So, that would be like his...

Big toe. ..base of his big toe.

Yeah. Yeah.

Base of the big toe and there's more fluid

in that than expected.

Yep. We might start with him on his back.

Uh-huh. Yeah.

And just take all the pictures. Yes.

And then we'll have to turn him over to get ready...

OK. Yep. I like it. ..for naturals.

Everyone, out. X-ray.

So, I think that was inspiratory but...

I think still there's probably

a little bit more increased soft tissue capacity...

Yeah.

..compared to there, which is what you see

when there's more infusion.

Thankfully, Mwamba's bones are fine...

X-ray. Everyone, clear.

..but it appears there might be some fluid in his joints.

We're gonna be X-raying everything.

And as for this young gorilla's feet...

Yeah. It's not amazing, is it?

..no-one has the answer yet

as to what is causing the swelling and tenderness.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

It's meal time at Taronga,

and today, Konira, the Andean condor

is being served up a gourmet breakfast to remember.

There she is. She's watching.

A specially sourced kangaroo carcass,

painstakingly prepared by her keeper, Chris.

I think she'll mostly be interested

because it's a new and different thing

in the environment.

Most of our animals or most wild animals

are overly cautious of new things in the environment

because they're not sure if they're safe or not,

so, she'll probably pick at it a little bit

and then I think she'll get pretty excited.

Hey, girl!

Konira usually eats,

well, like a bird, just small portions.

So, today's carcass feed is a real treat,

specifically designed to get those carnivorous juices flowing.

There she is.

(LIVELY MUSIC)

So, we decided that we're gonna put it up here

on one of her top higher perching options,

mostly so that she can use more of her habitat

than just walking on the ground.

They do like to walk around but she...

When we arrived this morning, she was perching up high.

So, it's not uncommon for her to be up in the air

but yeah, she doesn't often get fed like this up here.

So, hopefully, that is a good enticing breakfast

for her.

They do say when it comes to fine dining

that presentation is everything.

Now, releasing!

It's a curious but cautious start.

Because she's not interacted with this food item before,

she might not be aware that it even is a food item.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

OK.

Maybe presentation isn't everything.

The cautious animal gets to live another day.

When her wings are out, that was her showing

that she's a little tentative of this.

Wings are out, ready to escape.

She's ready to go.

But as we see, the more time

that she spends interacting with her,

the more brave she gets with that

and you can see that she's going back

for some more now.

So, this here is what we were really hoping to see,

that out in the wild with a full carcass,

she'll be getting that head deep inside

to get all to the juicy bits that are in there.

Yeah.

Konira's really using her head now.

So, she's finally figured out that if she sticks her head in,

it's a little bit easier to get all to that meat.

In the wild, they would gorge feed

and then they might not eat for another day or two

while they're roosting up on the mountain.

I'm really happy with how this has gone

as it's the first time that we've done this for her

but she's figured it out.

So, yeah, I couldn't be happier.

I reckon she's feeling pretty good too.

Well, we could ask her but really,

one shouldn't talk with one's mouthful.

Come on, Kobes. Here you go.

And speaking of mouthfuls...

Well done, buddy.

..over in the Great Southern Ocean's habitat,

there's another first on the cards

for another curious creature called Kobe.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

It only takes a minute inside either of Taronga's two zoos

to be mesmerised by the sights,

smells and sounds of the zoo's many residents.

(LION ROARS)

(ELEPHANT TRUMPETS)

Yes, they can be a shock to the senses...

(GIBBON WHOOPS)

..but they're also the most fascinating forms

of communication.

While we're not at the Dr Dolittle stage

of being able to talk to all the animals,

we've done a lot of research

into how different animals communicate.

(LEOPARD ROARS)

(BIRDS CHIRP)

Dr Ben is Taronga's resident animal interpreter.

Animal communication has a huge bearing

on-on their life.

It's-it's about how they do everything

from raise their young, find a mate,

defend their territory

and it's quite often used to build affiliation

between individuals and we see in the chimps

where they groom each other,

there'll be quite a hierarchy of who grooms whom,

in order to establish those sorts of bonds

and relationships between individuals.

The great apes, the gorillas and chimps

are our closest animal relatives.

In fact, we share 98% of our DNA

with chimpanzees.

So, we share a lot of traits.

But smiling isn't one of them.

Even amongst other primates,

the signals can be quite different too in humans.

The smile is-is quite a threatening display

with them as well that if they're...if they're smiling,

it-it can indicate stress and-and a threat

at an individual rather than a happy,

"Let's come and play."

These visual cues are used by the primates

to avoid things getting more physical.

(CHIMPS HOOT)

In the animal kingdom, fighting is really costly

and most animals don't wanna get into a fight,

and so, all these ways of displaying

and establishing dominance,

particularly amongst males that we see,

is a way to get the information across

without having to get into a fight.

And one of the great examples that we can see here

in the zoo is our-our lemurs.

Ring-tailed lemurs are from the island of Madagascar.

They lived in small multi-male,

female groups and the females are the boss.

During breeding season, male ring-tailed lemurs

will engage in stink fights.

For us, we can't smell it but for another lemur,

it's definitely very pungent.

What they do is, actually,

they bring their tail forward in front of them

and they'll use these scent glands here

on their wrists to embed the scent onto their tail.

They flick it around over their head

and then they start waving it at another lemur.

Their scent is like a very complex bouquet of-of smells

and it tells a lot about that lemur in particular.

So, they wanna be the best smelling,

so, they can attract those females

because females will only choose

the highest ranking or the male

that has the best genetics.

All this communication, whether it's sights,

sounds or smells,

doesn't just happen between animals of the same family either.

You might see a bird listening into a primate, for instance.

So, they're actually gathering information

beyond their own species, actually, about the environment in general.

There's all these different adaptations

that animals have found to be able to get information

across to each other and get information

from the world as well.

Unfortunately, some of the information being gathered

is not always music to our ears.

(ECHO MIMICS BABY CRIES)

Oh! So peaceful.

Anyway, more about that later.

At the wildlife hospital,

Taronga's youngest gorilla

has been undergoing a series of X-rays

to try and find the cause of his badly swollen joints.

We're gonna be X-raying everything.

But the X-rays haven't revealed any obvious issues.

No. It's not amazing, is it?

There's no, like, significant osseous change,

like, you know, I'm not seeing, like, a lot of...

Yeah. ..changes with arthritis.

OK.

But overall, it looks really good.

What's not really good is that there's still no answer

as to what's causing Mwamba's swelling.

Andrew, we haven't done the medial of the left stifle...

Uh-huh.

..but do you think it's worth doing that?

You've ultra-sounded it.

Yeah, I don't... I think it's fair that we could hold off.

Yeah. OK.

So, visiting specialist Andrew moves on to the ultrasound.

This is mostly fat

so I'm not seeing a lot of significant

amount of joint infusion.

Again, no obvious problems with Mwamba's knees...

Looks like everything's pretty smooth.

..or his feet, which means no nasty surprises

for Mwamba's keeper, Bec.

There's no horrible radiographic changes in his joints.

OK.

So, like, what then causes, like, his limp and stuff? Like...

Although, he could still have soft tissue changes.

Yeah, right.

So, it would still be painful.

But he doesn't have to have bony changes.

Yeah, OK. Well, that's good then.

Yeah. There's no...

Yeah. OK.

Everything is good news.

The verdict?

Like so many other six-year-olds,

Mwamba might just be experiencing growing pains.

Mwamba's our youngest male gorilla

at the moment.

He's only six. He's got a lot of growing to do.

He's still immature in his body size.

Prepare the stretchers.

We will consult with the immunologist again

and just say, "Hey, here are all of blood results.

"Got any other suggestions?"

Yeah. You know?

"Where do we go from here if it gets worse?"

So, we'll just have to track how he goes.

Everything looks great.

He's gonna be a little bit groggy,

a little bit sleepy for a little while

but otherwise, he's looking good.

Now, get that in as far as you can.

One, two, three.

I'm happy he's back in the house.

The family's happy.

And like, none of this ever happened,

Mwamba is soon back living his best life.

Are you guys good?

So, Mwamba is just up the back there.

It's been about a week since his general anaesthetic

and his visit to the hospital.

He's doing a lot better.

He's much improved, walking around well,

running around with the boys like nothing had happened.

He's definitely far better this week.

He's big and he's beefy

and yeah, it's...it's...it's cool to see.

He's a beautiful little boy.

He is. I love him.

He's so cheeky and yeah, he's cool.

He's a cool gorilla.

(LIVELY MUSIC)

For Taronga's keepers, it's always a big occasion

when their newbies try something new.

Come on, Kobes. Here you go.

Well done, buddy.

Oh, so cute. (CHUCKLES)

Alright. Come on, little man.

And today, one little fur seal pup

is preparing to take a big life step.

So, this is Kobe and he's just turned one

and he's just starting to learn the ropes.

Kobe had just been weaned from his mum.

He's had to learn what it's like to eat fish which sounds silly

with a seal but he'd had milk his whole life.

So, it was a bit of a transition for him but he's now eating well.

There you go, buds.

At the moment, his favourite fish is whiting.

And he's also starting to learn that the whistle

means that he's going to get fish,

so that's some of the basic training

that we've started with him

and that's a really effective tool for us

when we're teaching him new things.

(WHISTLES) Little bit full?

Fur seals by nature are really quite inquisitive.

So, as Kobe grows up, the marine keepers like Ange

are always looking for fun new ways to keep them stimulated.

We really wanna get Kobe comfortable

because he has to be prepared to see new people,

new colours of clothes and different size groups.

He's getting to the point

where we think he should be OK

to come out and just spend a bit of time

with his trainer.

We'll try to make it a fun experience for him,

maybe with some toys and some food

and we'll keep it really brief

so that it's really positive for him.

Kobe is about to make his first public appearance

where he will experience a whole heap

of new sights and sounds.

That's it. Good boy!

I'm a little bit nervous.

It's his first time and any new situation

with an animal can be a little bit-bit nervous

for us too but sometimes that's a good thing as well.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

(APPLAUSE)

But he won't be going at alone.

He'll be joining another family favourite, his dad.

And a nice big good morning from Bondi as well.

Bondi is one of the zoo's many success stories.

Bondi was one of our rescued seals.

He was found washed up on the iconic Bondi Beach

with some pretty severe shark injuries all over his body.

Luckily for Bondi, though, he does have a second chance

at life and also has contributed

to our very special breeding program.

Nice work, mate.

And it's that breeding program that has brought Kobe here,

following in his dad's flipper steps.

One of our most recent additions is Kobe.

Good job, little man.

Then, what we're going to be doing today,

something very special, is Kobe's first time coming out here

in front of all of you.

Shall we go in the big pool?

Now, let's put our hands together for the beautiful Kobe.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

For a first appearance,

you could forgive a little stage fright.

Kobe, water. Water.

They're here for you, buddy.

That's awesome. Kobe.

Dunks. He's like "Who has the fish?"

(CHUCKLES) Kobe.

Not me. You start.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, there you go.

But Kobe's debut goes swimmingly.

Oh, you're so brave, buddy.

So brave. That's awesome.

Experiencing these new sights and sounds

feeds a seal's natural curiosity

and this little pup is taking it all in his stride.

So, I think keeper Ange and Kobe are heading out the back.

Now, let's put our hands together for Kobe.

Didn't he do a great job out here this morning?

(APPLAUSE) Debut done.

Come on, Kobe, stop.

It's fair to say Kobe has made a real splash.

Little seal coming through.

He was fantastic. I'm so proud of him.

He's done everything that we were looking for and now,

we can just continue to build on that

and build his confidence out there even more.

Next... (LION ROARS)

(ECHO MIMICS)

..the symphony of sound...

It's quite uncanny.

(CHIMP PANT-HOOTS)

..that is Taronga.

That's one of the ways they show how clever

and attractive they are to a potential mate.

(LIONS ROARS)

Whether it's lions roaring...

(LIONS ROARS)

..or snoring or gibbons singing...

(GIBBON WHOOPS)

..all of the many animal behaviours on display

at Taronga are, actually, complex forms of communication.

And when it comes to verbal communication...

(PEACOCK SQUAWKS)

..there's one particular animal at Taronga

that might sound very familiar.

Birds are perhaps one of the best known vocal groups

in the entire animal kingdom.

Because of the competition between individuals to attract mates,

we can see the development of incredibly elaborate songs

in-in some species.

Possibly one of our most iconic residents here

in Taronga is Echo, the lyrebird.

(MIMICS) Come on!

(CLICKS TONGUE) Echo!

(WHISTLES) Echo!

Echo! Echo!

Lyrebirds, uh, mimics.

(MIMICS) Echo!

And so, they listen to sounds in their environment

and incorporate them into their own song.

(ECHO MIMICS)

By the sounds of it, this one's been playing

a little too much Space Invaders.

And that's one of the ways they show how clever

and attractive they are to a potential mate.

The more different bits that they can incorporate in

and the more complex they make their song,

the more attractive they are.

(ECHO MIMICS)

Here in-in Sydney,

where Echo gets to listen to a lot of human noises as well,

he's incorporated some really incredible

and what we would think quite complex sounds.

(ECHO MIMICS BABY CRIES)

It's quite a...quite a realistic baby cry

that he gives.

(ECHO MIMICS BABY CRIES)

But also amazing things like the sound of our fire alarm,

it's quite uncanny.

(ECHO MIMICS FIRE ALARM)

Relax.

Everyone, please stay where you are.

This isn't even a drill.

It's just Echo.

He's trying to build complexity in his song

and so, he's-he's bringing in these novel sounds

and-and trying to sound interesting and...

Yeah, like anybody, you wanna be a bit interesting

and dashing and that's-that's exactly

what he's trying to do.

(CHUCKLES)

(ECHO MIMICS)

Wow! Mission accomplished.

You've won me, Echo.

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