Original subtitles

Taronga, the zoo with the head -turning view.

But dig a little deeper.

I just planted that.

And you'll discover there's a lot more to Taronga's two zoos than meets the

Hello. What's it doing?

From their devoted keepers. Look out. I watched him being born, so him and I

have an amazing relationship.

To their first class vetting.

So just here, that's the lump.

Taronga's passionate staff.

To be laying on that dirty floor, it was so worth it. Are themselves a special

breed. A lot of slobber there, bud.

Ensuring nothing but the best for the animals in their care.

So impatient.

Good girl. Hang on.

On this episode.

There's a new man in town.

We've got five females out there, so he would be picking up on so many different

smells right now. A big welcome for Lion King Luazi.

Luazi has arrived.

He's one cat. I have to say, he's an incredibly polite lion. I know that

sound odd.

Who's definitely out of the box.

A very big day. This is our first opportunity to do a full health check on

The little MJ.

He is the life of the party. MJ can be quite a handful.

And when it's dinner time, you don't have to ask Ed twice.

Yeah, hello.

Would you like some food?

Taronga Zoo is all about families.

The human ones who come to visit and the animal groups who live here.

But whether it's a pack of wild dogs, the meerkat mob, or the magnificent

pride of lions, there's always some sort of drama unfolding.

Until recently, the zoo was home to two young male lions, Ato and Luasi.

They were brothers and best of mates.

But when female Maya chose Atto as her partner, brother Luazi discovered the

meaning of three's a crowd.

Being the unpaired male, Maya decided, Luazi, you're not welcome here anymore.

While Maya and Atto set about producing five perfect cubs, Luazi found himself

on the move.

We want to do everything in our power to make it.

The least scary it can be, because he's obviously very scared. He doesn't know

what's happening to him. We know what's happening to him. He has no idea.

Bye, guys.

Lazy's destination,

Taronga Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo.

It's bittersweet. We love this cat. He's gorgeous. We've only had him for a

year. But, I mean, he's just a beautiful, really lovely cat.

So it's sad, because we're not going to have him here anymore. But for him, this

is an incredible opportunity to have his own pride.

Sydney's loss was Dubbo's gain.

And six hours west, the keepers nervously await their new arrival.

Taronga staff slowly and gently manoeuvre the crate to position it at

entrance of Luazi's holding pen.

As careful as the keepers are, The journey is daunting, and even once the

gates are opened, some lions have been known to remain in their crate for

Yeah, good to go.

Hello.

There he goes.

But not Luazi.

Luazi. He's not that sort of cat.

You were keen.

Hello.

Hey, Louise, it's Megan calling.

Just wanted to let you know that Luazi has arrived and he's come straight out

the box just in the last 10 minutes.

It came out quite quickly.

But now he's just taking his time wandering around.

A few processes went into making sure today went nice and smooth for humans as

well as life.

Loise was very quiet through all of it. Sometimes you find once they start to

hear the voices and the movement again, after having that in the morning, they

can get worked up again and start roaring. But he just remained nice and

bit like when you take maybe your pet cat to the vet and they just kind of sit

in the bottom of the pet pack and go quiet.

He was very much doing that, just staying nice and calm and quiet until we

opened that slide and he came out straight away.

And now he's moving around the holding yard very, very calmly. And for him at

the moment, it would be very much a sensory overload.

We've had a male living in these holding yards. for the last few years, and at

the minute on our two exhibits, we've got five females out there.

So he would be picking up on so many different smells right now.

As I said, a little bit of a sensory overload.

Oh, gosh, he looks so young.

He does look so young, doesn't he?

He's so little.

Hello. At just four years old, Luazi is not the most imposing lion ever to strut

the savannah.

But there are grand plans for this lion, who, with a little luck... is about to

make a big contribution to his species.

Taronga keepers are a tight -knit family too, and they are all hopelessly

devoted to their animals.

I've been at Taronga this year.

It'll be 27 years. There are some who could be described as fanatical.

And... I've been looking after Fiordland Crested Penguins probably for 20 of

those years at least.

Then there's Jo.

It's no secret around Taronga Zoo I get called all sorts of penguin names

because I love penguins. They are my most favourite animal in the world.

And they're a species that I have almost seen every single one of them out in

the wild. And that's been my life dream, is to see penguins, every single

species, all of the 18 species in the wild. I have one more left to go.

The species Jo sees most of is the Fiordland crested penguin.

Hello.

Hello. They all have very individual personalities.

Eh?

Yes, hello.

Hello, Mr. Ed.

Yes, hello, Dusky.

You might just notice here that Ed's got a little hooked beak.

He was injured out in the wild. We don't know what happened, but you can see

that he has what we call like a scissor beak. It doesn't stop him from doing any

of his normal tasks, especially eating.

So Dusky's molting at the moment, so she's just come out of her burrow to

investigate what's going on.

There's six species of crested penguin in the wild.

Our Fiordland crested penguins are really easily identified. They have

white stripes on their cheek.

And because Ed has just molted, it's really obvious with him.

They ultimately go through this molt once a year where they get a whole brand

new coat of new feathers.

And then they get a beautiful oil sheen and they're ready for life back in the

water and getting ready for next season.

Ed has just malted. He's completely finished. He looks beautiful.

Dusky, however, she's still got a little way to go.

Ed's beak injury means he cannot be returned to the wild in his native

of New Zealand.

He's one of the rarest penguins in the world, with fewer than 3 ,000 breeding

pairs left due to habitat loss and predators like dogs and rats.

As we keep overfishing our oceans...

The penguins will have to go further afield to get their food. This can also

impact on their breeding.

Taronga is the only zoo in the world with a Fiordland crested penguin

program. The plan is to pair Ed with one of Taronga's three females.

And he's making his mark in his new home already.

We've had Ed the least amount of time, but it seems like he's going to be the

ruler of the roost.

He likes his territory. He doesn't like us being in his territory for too long.

And certainly he'll let us know if there's a problem.

He might vocalise.

Or he might chase us as well.

Dusky here, she actually quite likes people.

She'll hang out with you, find out what you're doing. She's very curious. So I

think... The two of them together make a perfect vat.

And zoo staff will soon see just how perfect.

Never is the family dynamic of who's the boss more obvious than with the troop

of gorillas.

Here at Taronga Zoo, we have eight Western lowland gorillas. The Western

gorilla is from West Equatorial Africa, and they are critically endangered.

So here at Taronga Zoo, we are part of the international breeding program, and

the troop is led by our silverback, Kabali. He's the one who decides what

they're up to for the day. He's the one who, you know, dishes out the

discipline. Kabali is the boss.

Of Kabali's children, our oldest infant is Emuku. We call him MJ for short.

And he is the life of the party. He's the biggest. He's the oldest.

He's the king of the kids. So he's the one who is wrestling. He's throwing the

straw, trying to get a reaction.

And then he'll have periods where he's quiet and then he's on the go again. So

MJ can be quite a handful.

At six years old, MJ is still a juvenile, but is more developed than a

-year -old.

So, old enough to face his first big test alone.

It's important for us to do health checks on them to ensure that they're

tracking as we would expect them to track as they grow.

And it's MJ's turn now. He's now at an age where he's independent enough from

his mum, so we can take him out of that group for a short period of time and do

that health check.

For gorillas, it's not that straightforward to do a health check. So

gorilla needs to be trained for a hand injection.

And so on the day, I'm going to give him that hand injection. So fingers crossed

that everything goes smoothly.

It's always an anxious time for us. We can control as much as we can in

preparation for that anaesthetic, but on the day it's up to how he reacts. It's

up to me controlling my nerves. It's up to the other troop members doing what we

expect them to do. There's quite a lot of anxiety in the lead up to this

anaesthetic. We are a little bit concerned about how Kabali will react.

Coming up.

While Ed is a little slower out of the gate. It did take several months of

introductions for Dusky and Ed to get used to each other.

The main game. The darker a mane, the more likely they are to attract the

attention of the ladies.

He's mating right now. That was the sound of him mating.

Kicks off for Luazi.

At Taronga Western Plain Zoo in Dubbo, it's fair to say Luazi is loving his new

life.

After being separated from his brother in Sydney, his fortunes have taken a

for the better.

Luasi has been with us now at Tarong Western Plains Zoo for four months and

settled in really well. I have to say he's an incredibly polite lion. I know

that might sound odd, but he's very well -mannered, well -socialised and just a

lovely cat to work around.

Polite maybe, but he's also becoming more confident and imposing.

He's growing into his new role.

He's now quite happily moving around our facility. And physically, to look at

him now, he's really flourishing. Now that there's no other male within his

territory, we're really starting to see his mane develop.

So not only is it getting longer, but it's extending further down his belly,

under his front arms as well.

And it's starting to darken up a little bit too. And that's all signs that we

would expect to see of a dominant male.

There's been studies to show that the darker a mane, the fuller a mane, the

higher the testosterone and the more likely they are to attract the attention

the ladies.

Here's our main man now out here in Dubbo and our breeding program is

solely on his shoulders.

No pressure, Luasi.

Fact is, over the last 50 years, the world's lion population has fallen from

more than 100 ,000 to less than 20 ,000.

So, if it's to survive, the species needs every new lion cub it can get.

He came into a facility here that had five females.

So he's gone from living with his brother as a young three -year -old,

out here on his own, five new females to get his head around.

So there was lots of new sights, smells and sounds.

There are two females in particular that keepers are keen for Luasi to hit it

off with, Marion and Evelyn.

Now, they came to us all the way from San Diego Zoo over in America, and they

are highly valuable to our breeding program here in Australasia because, as

their genetics are not represented in the region.

So Luazi's the main man. He's got to step up to the mark.

The attraction between Marion and Luazi is instant.

Long, lazy walk, dozing in the grass.

But when it comes to the finer points, it's fair to say for a young lion with

breeding experience, the learning curve is steep.

She would get a little bit too full on with him, circling him. She was showing

all the perfect behaviours and when it got a bit too much for him, he'd just

down, have his paws out in front and put his head down between his front paws.

Kind of almost saying, oh no, she's a bit too much now, I just need some time

out. But while he struggled to keep up on his first attempt...

Second time around, it's apparent Luasi is a fast learner.

He's mating right now. That was the sound of him mating.

Hi, you pair.

So Luasi's in there at the moment with Marion.

Marion is the one he's preferring at the moment. He's certainly much more calm

and relaxed around her.

What you're seeing right now is Luasi, you can see, sniffing the rear end of

Marion. And that's all very natural. See how he's flemmoning? He lifts that top

lip, almost looks like he's smiling in a way.

That is actually his way of finding out as much information as he can about

Marion and where she is in her breeding cycle.

That is the exact textbook behaviour that we are wanting to see, where Marion

presenting, lowering herself, crouching down.

Luasi is mounting.

And that really interesting vocal you just heard is what happens after the

mates. That's quite a natural sound to hear. And that signals to us that it's

been a successful mating, for want of a better word. And then just on cue,

Marion does that roll onto her back in submission as well. So everything we're

seeing here is perfect textbook lion breeding behaviour.

They've done everything by the book.

The question now is, has it worked?

Back in Sydney, there's hope the colony of five Fiordland penguins will also

soon add to their number.

Hello, you two. How are you feeling today?

It's not been an easy matchmaking process here either, as newcomer Ed took

while to bond with resident female Dusky.

It did take several months of introductions for Dusky and Ed to get

other. So what we did first...

is we let Ed into this area and to own this as his territory.

And then we introduced Dusky into the area.

Dusky and Ed certainly have got a wonderful relationship together.

However, we do have another female called Gary.

And Ed was quite interested also in her.

So it was very interesting to see that he had established this area, but he was

going off and investigating her burrow as well.

Now, the commonly held belief is that penguins mate for life.

Turns out, not so much.

They will only have one partner, but that's not to say it's always the same

Penguins out in the wild tend to stick to the same mate because they want to

pass on their genetics.

And if all's going well and they're raising chicks, they will seek out that

partner year after year.

However, the divorce rate is high.

So this surprises a lot of people, but it is because if they lose their partner

and their partner doesn't come back for a season, they're certainly going to go

looking for someone else because they need to pass on their genes.

Gary's a very special bird and has not been able to produce eggs.

And so, therefore, we didn't want Ed pairing with her because we knew that

was never going to be viable for egg production.

At first, he was quite... He didn't really know what to do, it seemed like,

which is probably what happens in the wild. They sort of, you know, they have

learn how to be gentle with the eggs. They have to learn how to be gentle with

their partner.

Fiordland crested penguins lay two eggs.

and hopes were high for checks.

Unfortunately, this time, that wasn't the case.

They weren't fertile.

We're not worried because we saw lots of mating with these guys, so we just

figured that he is this young and practising year one, and we're looking

to what's going to happen in year two this year.

He's just called her back in the burrow now.

The oil and crescent penguins are really close to my heart because you cannot

see them anywhere else.

You can only see them here at Taronga. So I feel really grateful and very

blessed to be able to look after such gorgeous birds.

Hopefully there will be good news in the next breeding cycle and Jo will have

even more of her precious penguins to fuss over.

Back in Dubbo.

Things looked promising after Luazi and Marion appeared to successfully mate on

her second breeding cycle.

But it's taken several weeks to confirm just how promising.

So really exciting news out here at Taronga Western Plains Zoo. We are

lion cubs hopefully in the next few weeks with Luazi and Marion, our male

female lioness.

It was very obvious that...

Marion is Loise's favourite.

We've noticed over the last couple of months as well that there's been a

in her belly and also in her nipples. So those are two very obvious signs for

us.

Marion's behaviour has changed quite a bit and it has fluctuated. So a couple

weeks ago, we were not her favourite people, neither was Luazi.

And then a week later, she liked us a little bit more and the same with him.

she is a hormonal female at the moment.

The news is caused for celebration.

It's been five years since we've had Cubs here at...

Taronga Western Plain Zoo. It's also the first for Marion and Luazi, so it's a

very exciting time for both of them as well as for us.

But it's also important that we make sure and manage Marion as she is a first

-time mother. So lots of firsts that will be happening this time around.

And lots of potential risks for both Marion and her litter.

There's a long way to go before there are new lion cubs prowling the Dubbo

Plains.

Coming up, it's survival of the fittest. They'll give birth to about 30, only

four generally survive.

For Taronga's born fighters.

And then the rest, they actually get eaten up by mum.

It's the big day for little gorilla MJ.

Just like with human kids, the vet team needs to know he's healthy and

developing well.

But today will be anything but child's play.

This is our first opportunity that we've had to do a full health check on him.

We're also going to give him some vaccinations and test him for a few

diseases like TB, for example.

Anesthetising any animal can be challenging, particularly a gorilla,

a dangerous animal, so we've got to take all the precautions to prevent any

risks, injury, escape, obviously. The last thing we want him to do is wake up

and get away or anything like that.

The really important aspects of any procedure such as this is preparation.

So what we have here is a stretcher that we're going to put young MJ on.

We've got a pulse syringe and we've got the dart gun.

Because he's a dangerous animal, we're going to have to put some hobbles on him

just to secure him. We always have secondary restraints such as also the

we'll put over him.

Most of these things are just in case he rouses or stirs while we're

transporting him or during the procedure. We always put these secondary

restraints on.

The first part of the process is the most nerve -wracking.

MJ needs to be anaesthetised.

Primate keeper Nat will do it by hand and they've been training him for months

for this moment.

Alright, thanks guys. See you soon.

Bye, good luck. Bye, thank you.

Okay.

To avoid spooking MJ, only the keepers head to the gorilla habitat while the

vets hang back.

Nat, the keeper, has the injection with her and so she is preparing and going to

be injecting little MJ soon.

So we are waiting here about probably 50, 75 metres away from the gorilla

facility. We don't want to get any closer.

You know, the gorillas are very sensitive animals, they're very aware of

going on, and we don't want to make them suspicious at all that something

unusual is happening.

They're always a little bit suspicious of the vets anyway, so if they sensed

anything unusual happening this morning, the whole thing could go pear -shaped.

MJ may not present for his injection.

MJ has had conditioning training to come to Nat at the rear of the habitat, just

close enough for her to inject him.

And all their hard work pays off. He's had the injection at 7 .55.

Excellent. That's great news.

I'll be up there shortly.

Okay, he's had the injection.

All right, so I'll head up there now and give you guys a call when he's down?

Yeah. Okay.

It's always great news to hear that call that the animal's received the

injection. So basically now Liz has gone up to just monitor him initially as

he's falling asleep, and as soon as she gives us a call that he's getting

sleepy, we'll drive up there.

and go in and retrieve him.

He's only 44 kilos, but MJ is already much stronger than an adult human.

He's firmly secured in case he unexpectedly wakes up.

The hardest part is over. MJ is safely sedated and transferred to the hospital.

But what will be revealed?

in the first ever medical examination of this precious young gorilla.

All animals at Taronga Western Plain Zoo deserve respect.

The big ones get it naturally.

But one of the most fearsome creatures here is one of the smallest.

The carnivorous marsupial, the Tasmanian devil.

They have a really strong bite force. They're designed to crunch on bone,

part of the animal's body.

They're scavengers, so they specialise in the animals that are already dead.

And they don't waste any bits. They'll eat fur, feathers, all that sort of

thing. These fierce creatures are born after a short 11 -day gestation, and

they're fighting for their lives from the moment they arrive.

They'll give birth to about 30 joeys.

Tasmanian devil only have four teats. So out of that 30, only four generally

survive if they're lucky.

And then the rest, they actually get eaten up by mum.

Yeah.

Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo has four Tassie devils.

While generally they're solitary creatures, they get along with others

push.

But these ones aren't getting on at all.

And everyone's pointing the finger at a feisty female called Bronte.

We just keep finding she's not being accepted into the group.

We see a lot of tasting and a lot of biting, which has resulted in a few

injuries.

To keep the peace, Bronte is being moved to a new home at Taronga, Sydney,

which seems like a good idea.

But there's just one problem.

They have to catch her first.

At Taronga, MJ, the young gorilla, has been anaesthetised ahead of his first

ever medical check -up.

He's well secured for his own safety and the staff.

Under the net.

In the wild, gorillas live up to 35 years old. In zoo care, it's north of

Tip the stretcher. Two, three.

Partly because of the medical attention they receive.

Let's get this connected quickly.

Just like a human operation, the first priority is to intubate MJ.

Popped a tube down his airway, so that will maintain his anaesthetic now on the

gas, his anaesthesia, and of course it's also much safer to have that airway

accessed in case it's an emergency.

We're going to collect blood.

We'll run a whole lot of tests on his blood. This is our first opportunity

we've had to get these samples from MJ, so all the information we get today will

be a baseline for him.

Because gorillas are genetically so close to humans...

they can catch nearly all the infectious diseases that we carry.

We're testing for various diseases like TB and viruses.

So just checking his teeth.

So we're on the right mandible.

Certainly that one's fallen out and there must be a permanent coming through

there and there.

So their first incisor is a tick.

The second incisor is just erupting from the gum.

Okay, his tonsils look good.

So basically now I'm just feeling all these lymph nodes.

So his lymph nodes under his arms, around his neck.

That can be an indication if they enlarge that there's infection.

Nice little wobbly belly. I'm just going to check his joints.

Again, being such a young animal, they really wouldn't expect any arthritis or

anything like that.

Just checking his feet and his toes.

Very similar anatomically to humans, with a nice big toe there, but it's a

digit that they can actually use to grasp things. Unlike us, we can't really

grasp things with our feet.

Just always good to look at the genitals.

I suppose gorillas are quite interesting in that they're very large animals, but

it's got quite a small little penis.

But it does the job.

Like a human child, MJ will be vaccinated against several illnesses.

So this vaccine is for EMC virus, encephalomyocarditis virus.

And this is the tetanus vaccination.

For primate keeper Nat, this is a rare moment to be so close to MJ.

MJ is a special gorilla.

As a six -year -old, he's really playful. He's never still.

So it's nice that he's still and we can actually have a really good look at him.

We never actually get our hands on them. They're in training and we have a great

relationship with them, but we never actually get our hands on the gorillas

we can when they're under anaesthetic.

Okay, there you go. So we put his microchip in now.

It's exactly the same as what a dog or a cat would get.

These days, wild gorillas aren't captured for breeding programs.

So zoo -bred gorillas like MJ will often be moved around the world to help boost

numbers at other zoos. For that reason, it's crucial they're clearly identified.

So he is now officially 7C7ACE.

Okay, so we're done.

It's always very, very special, I find, doing procedures on the great apes.

It's essentially like working on a very, very hairy human, especially the

chimps, but the gorillas as well.

And we're very fortunate here at Taronga. We've got a fantastic chimp

population, so we do a lot of procedures on chimps.

We don't get to do as many on gorillas, so today is very special. I feel very

privileged to be able to work with these guys, that's for sure.

Is everything OK? The van's ready? Everything's ready?

After a little over an hour, MJ's exam is over.

He's passed with flying colours and been given a clean bill of health.

It's time to return him to his gorilla facility and wake him up.

Back out at Taronga Western Plain Zoo, tension is high.

After gestating for 110 days, Marion's cubs want out.

But the vets and keepers could never have foreseen the tough 48 hours that

ahead. We saw her go into labour, lots of straining and quite a long labour for

what we were expecting. But we were watching very carefully and starting to

a little bit worried into the evening. She'd been in labour probably since

around the middle of the day.

A normal birth should last about three hours.

Marion's labour dragged on and on.

She was in trouble.

We had CCTV set up to allow us to be able to monitor Marion's progression in

cubbing den because we didn't want to disturb her.

She did struggle with the first one naturally giving birth and then the

one came pretty quickly afterwards.

She then had quite a substantial break between the second and the third cub and

after a certain number of hours our vets determined that...

the best thing for us to do would be to actually knock her out. Any time that we

intervene during the birthing process, we're causing stress.

And it's not uncommon for lion mums, particularly a first -time mum, if

stressed, they may...

abandon their litter or they may actually kill the babies and eat them.

not a decision you make lightly. You don't go and intervene just to check. So

had to give her an anaesthetic to examine her and quite quickly we could

from feeling her belly that there were still cubs in there. We weren't sure how

many so we took an x -ray to check and we could see that there were two little

skeletons still.

So we decided to bring her to the hospital and the best thing for her and

cubs was to have a cesarean and deliver those cubs because she was just so tired

by then.

Unfortunately, one of those cubs was stillborn and the other little girl

made it. She was okay.

We had two healthy cubs born naturally and then a third one by Caesar, so we

three little cubs.

As the third cub's airway is cleared and given oxygen, her sisters are brought

into the operating theatre.

Even though Marion is still asleep, it seems a mother's work is never done.

We knew that it might be a few hours until the cubs were able to have a good

drink from mum because she needed a few hours to recover from the anaesthesia.

So after she was all ditched up and all cleaned up, we gave the cubs an

opportunity to have a suckle.

So popped them on just gently on the teats and let them have a little drink

that they had some nutrition in their tummies for the next few hours.

But the big unknown for everyone...

It's just how Marion will react to her cubs when she wakes up and returns to

den. There's a risk she may not recognise them as her own.

Anything can happen at that point. Those cubs are very vulnerable.

If she didn't like the situation, she might abandon them, she might attack

she might eat them.

All sorts of things can happen.

MJ, the six -year -old gorilla, has come through his first ever medical exam.

It's been a stressful day, but at least he was asleep.

Keep a gnat has been a bundle of nerves.

It's such a relief it's all over.

It'll be more of a relief this afternoon when he goes back in with the others.

We'd like him back with the comfort of mum, back with his brother, you know,

back with Kabali. Kabali knows that he's safe and that he's fine. So that will

be the real relief this afternoon.

He had a great health check and he got a clean bill of health, so that's

excellent. And now we're just waiting for him to wake up.

With all the resilience of the young, soon enough MJ is back on deck.

A little subdued, but none the worse for wear.

This morning's work is a small price to pay for the promise of a longer,

healthier life.

At Taronga Western Plains Zoo, it's suspected a Tassie devil named Bronte is

disturbing the peace with the three other devils.

So she's being sent to a new home in Sydney.

And she's not going quietly.

When I caught up Bronte, I caught her by the tail because that's the safest way

for us keepers and for Bronte to catch her. It's not painful for her

She'll vocalise, but that's just because I'm in her space.

But just how much of a devil Bronte really is, is up for debate.

Turns out she might not actually be to blame for all the ruckus.

Bronte was born here at Taronga Western Plains Zoo in 2020, so she's just coming

up to her third birthday.

And when we introduced our girls, Bronte always seemed to be a little bit on the

out.

This is absolutely normal behaviour with devils. We see it all the time in the

wild. We're just lucky that between the two zoos, we do have the space to be

able to manage disagreements like this to make sure that the devils stay nice

and healthy.

Sometimes the only solution is relocation.

For a long -term thing, especially in a human care environment, we want to make

sure that all of our animals are quite safe.

So they've asked us to take her on.

We're really excited to welcome a new devil. It was a nice surprise. We

really planning on it, but we've got the space.

So, yeah, the team are quite thrilled that we get an extra one.

With Bronte safely packed and ready for travel... There's only one more hurdle

to be jumped.

Someone has to get this angry devil out of her box when she gets to Sydney.

As one animal leaves Dubbo, three more precious bundles have just arrived.

New mum Marion experienced difficulty giving birth to her last cub.

so was rushed to theatre for an emergency caesarean section.

This meant she was instantly separated from her newborns in the birthing den.

Now there's a real risk when she's reunited she may reject them or kill

And then there was the heart -stopping moment where the keepers opened the gate

and let her in with her babies who were in the den.

That's the point where we have no control.

You know, anything can happen at that point. Those cubs are very vulnerable.

If she...

didn't like the situation she might abandon them she might attack them she

eat them all sorts of things can happen um but she was the perfect mum she'd not

done this before this was all first time mum for her so adding that stress to

her it's a credit to her and her keepers of her mothering skills and how she'd

been conditioned to that den and she was very comfortable there that she took

those babies back exhausted stitched up and sore but at all times a Perfect

mum. Look, we are over the moon to have these three cubs born here with us.

It's been years of work coming together, a lot of behind -the -scenes activity

going on, many people involved, and we couldn't be happier.

After two weeks, their eyes were open.

Blue to start with, and then over the next two months, changing to gold.

About then, Marion was ready to show her cubs to Dad Luazi.

Turns out Lawazi is a natural -born parent too.

As a dad, Lawazi, he is super affectionate and he's just absolutely

besotted with his girls. He loves them to pieces.

Marion and Lawazi's first cubs and also the first litter here in Dubbo for five

years. It's the start of a new pride and a huge step forward for the breeding

program. Loise came out here as our new breeding male and he was paired up with

Marion and she was originally imported into us from San Diego Zoo. So a new

genetic bloodline into the region, which is really exciting.

Next, all grown up and on the prowl. So lots of good fun for them.

And is Bronte's devilish reputation fair?

She didn't eat her. That's always a bonus.

There's a new arrival at Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

The rowdy, tazzy devil, Bronte.

She's very much handle with care.

Keepers Rob and Mel... Knock, knock.

Has she arrived?

are preparing to let her out into her new home.

She's been nice and quiet since we brought her in. I don't know what she's

but our other female, I can go in there with a broom and a shovel and I'll be

using both to fend her off if she's having a bad day.

They're taking no chances.

It may turn out to be a complete overreaction, but I'd rather be

than having to put my first aid skills into use.

We just aim it straight up the hill. Hopefully she'll run away from it.

Okay, here we go. Release the bee.

Welcome to the devil house.

There's food up there if your nose is working properly, or you can just walk

straight past it.

She's like, I'm going to check out my new dig.

But Bronte...

doesn't live up to her reputation at all. In fact, quite the opposite.

She's cool, calm and collected.

Looks happy enough. She's found her first bit of food. She's found a hidey

to eat it in. So she didn't eat it. That's always a bonus.

I love that. I love that part. No paperwork for us on a Friday afternoon.

Yeah.

The next steps are just letting her settle in her environment.

Moving house is always hard and you need to get into that routine.

So she'll get to know the keepers, she'll get to know her food, how we're

to deliver that food and just get used to that environment. And then we'll

probably talk about introducing her to one of the other devils and then

eventually we might look into breeding them.

If Bronte doesn't get along with the resident devils Regina and Kruger...

she won't be forced to share a habitat.

Half the yard, half explored.

I'll open up the other side in a minute and she can find the rest of it and

hopefully she'll find her way into a den where it is nice and cool.

This is probably the most amazing animal in the zoo.

It's always reassuring when they behave like this. You think, I could go and

give her a pat and then you decide that that's probably not the best idea.

Here he comes.

It's now been a year since three lion cubs were born at Taronga Western Plains

Zoo and the family is heading out for the day.

They've just had their breakfast and now they're quite eager to head on out. So

we're going to move them through our raceway system.

They're over 50 kilos each now and play by stalking and wrestling with each

other under the watchful eye of mum and dad.

The cubs.

They're playing with Dad and some of the behaviours that we'll see is them

jumping on his rump area, also smooching up under his chin and it's just

establishing bonds.

Jumping on the rump of Mum and Dad is also how they practise their hunting

skills. So lots of good fun for them.

By mating with Marion, Luazi has expanded the genetic pool of the

program.

It's hoped one day he will have another litter with Marion.

In the meantime, Luasi's little pride is thriving and it's hard to ignore the

romance of a happy ending.

Atho found love down at Taronga Zoo and Luasi came out here to Taronga Western

Plain Zoo and found love himself with our lioness, Marion.

So delightful to watch. It was a great thing to watch every day.