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.

(LION 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.

(SEAL BARKS)

On this episode, love at first sight.

She has been with me 24/7 for at least 4.5 months now.

The special bond between Annii and amazing Gracie.

Even until you bet it now, like, gets me, quite choked up.

Rare surgery...

I have personally never done a graft in a lizard.

..for a colourful patient.

This is more of an emergency than anything else.

And daylight robbery.

I think a brushturkey's been back again.

The team restoring law and order at Taronga.

We've got to get a lid of some sort.

What do you reckon?

(THEME MUSIC)

In recent years, due to significant habitat loss,

the koala has been doing it pretty tough.

But Taronga Zoo is committed to ensuring the survival

of this treasured Australian icon.

Alright.

Where is she? Oh, there she is.

She's hiding in yesterday's breakfast.

So, when this four week old Joey

was recently left abandoned in the bush by its mother,

the staff moved heaven and earth to make sure she lived.

It's not even 6am in suburb in Sydney,

but for vet nurse Annii, the day has already begun.

Gracie's extremely impatient.

So, once she's had a bottle,

she pacifies a little bit and then I can remember...

Oi, oi, you know, it's coming, just let's get the temperature.

Now, would you like to eat indoors or outdoors this morning?

I might go to the balcony.

Can we go to the balcony?

Gracie, the koala joey,

stole Annii's heart from the moment they met.

So, Gracie was bought to us

from a beautiful nature reserve in Canberra called Tidbinbilla.

It's like a massive enclosure

where most of the wildlife is literally free-ranging.

The keepers found Gracie out of the pouch,

which was really unusual because she was so little.

She was definitely still pouch young.

Her mum wasn't quite well enough.

Her milk had dried up.

She wasn't getting any food.

So, that's when Mum Annii stepped up.

This baby koala, now, five months old,

is still too young to get by on her own.

But she's learning fast from Annie.

Sometimes she's like me

with a schooner on a Friday afternoon

after the very hot day, and it's very quick.

Other times, she mucks around with it,

but normally about five, ten minutes.

Gracie is bottle fed four times a day,

and while she's outgrown the pouch,

she'd still be hitching a lift with mum.

I think you've had enough

because she's just playing with it now.

It's like at this point now, she'd be back riding.

So, that's why she's always on the semi-surrogate,

me being her surrogate mum, of course.

This is the semi-surrogate,

but she always needs to be hanging onto something.

When the decision was made for her to be hand raised,

that was locking me into a 24/7 contract,

to dedicate the rest of my 12 months to Gracie.

Raising Gracie has been an emotional ride for Annii,

but so worth it.

Seeing her now, um, I'm just so...

I'm so proud that she's turned into,

you know, just such a strong,

sassy little girl compared to the tiny little joey that was,

you know, in my hand in the early stages.

And I tell you, it-it gave me about 40 ulcers and aged me a 100 years,

because every time I looked in the pouch

in those first eight weeks,

I felt sick because I was worried that she wouldn't be with me.

Even talking about it now, like, gets me, quite choked up

because she was just so little and unwell,

and you wanna do everything you can to give them,

you know, the best start in life.

Come on, you little girl.

Oh, come on, honey.

Right.

Baby Gracie is Annii's number one priority,

but she still has her day job.

Luckily, she can bring her along.

Ready for a hard day at work?

You ready for a hard day at work?

Down.

When it comes to the amount of care and attention

every animal receives at the zoo,

there are no favourites.

Good girl.

The keepers and veterinary staff all work hard to spot

and prevent any problem before it occurs.

Could be benign, could also be cancerous.

As long as they're happy, I'm happy.

Yeah. I wanna see an epitheliopathy.

The other thing I want...

But if there's ever a problem they can't solve themselves,

then, it's time to call in a specialist.

Here at the zoo, we work with a whole range of animals,

and we can't be specialists in absolutely everything.

And we're very lucky to have, um, Dr Cole,

who's a veterinary ophthalmologist,

come to visit today, and so, we're taking full advantage.

We've pulled out a few eye cases

that we've been managing ourselves,

but we want her expert opinion.

Oh, right.

First on Dr Sarah's list is Little Nick's, the potoroo,

who hasn't been responding to treatment for a sore eye.

For several months, it sort of waxes and wanes.

Sometimes he, uh, actually has an ulcer on his eye surface

and is treated for that.

And then, at other times, it-it appears like

he's just got some scarring,

but both eyes, I think, are a little bit cloudy.

Um, they are, aren't they?

Does this one get picked on or anything,

or is there any, sort of, active sort of playing or...

Not that...

Not that you're aware of?

..is reported. No.

There is some corneal changes, particularly in the right eye.

Yep, uh, in this left eye, there's this little corneal scar,

so, it sort of fits in.

He's been having on and off ulcerations,

and got some scarring of the cornea.

The cornea is like the window of the eye.

Any scarring or irritation there can cause painful ulcers.

So, I'm just gonna stay in the cornea...

Both eyes. Yeah. We'll do both eyes.

But Sarah needs to be sure.

It's just gonna show up any sort of changes to the cornea,

so, it's useful mainly for ulcerations,

but it may show changes in the tear film too.

So, it just gives us a good ability to look at everything.

And we use a blue cobalt light.

There's no speckle on tape.

It's not too bad.

I mean, it's not truly ulcerated at the moment.

So, you don't necessarily need to give an antibiotic.

So, maybe we could do some sort of misting.

Just like, you know, at a private practice,

the vet might dispense some medication

with instructions for your dog.

So, we will do that for the keepers with Nix,

and they'll follow those instructions,

and we'll follow-up in a few days' time.

It's the end of Nix's appointment,

but only the very start of Dr Sarah's day.

We're gonna head up the hill.

Next on her list,

a patient that would drive any lizard lover green with envy.

With over 5,000 mouths to feed at the zoo,

mealtime is a busy time.

Good boy!

But it's fair to say Taronga has pretty much perfected

the art of home delivery.

Good boy!

Whether it's high fibre, low fat,

or somewhere in between,

there's a menu tailored for every belly.

Whoa!

Large or small.

It's alright.

This is Myrtle and she is a squirrel glider.

Really gorgeous species and often one that the school groups

that we have coming through are very excited by.

Myrtle is hand fed three times a day

as she recovers from a close encounter

with a cattle fence.

She actually was brought into the wildlife hospital

about two months ago,

and she was found tangled up on barbed wire.

So, she had significant damage to her membrane.

And although, the hospital here did amazing work with her,

it was deemed that she wasn't releasable

just because of the damage that had occurred.

Since Myrtle can no longer forage for food in the wild,

keeper Clay is giving her all the nutrition she needs.

When I first met her in the hospital,

I took a syringe just like this.

She would never have seen something like this before,

and she basically came forward straight away

and lapped up that mix.

So, to me, that suggested she was maybe gonna do well here with us.

She's getting this glider mix,

uh, which was developed by our nutritionist here at the zoo,

and it replicates some of the important stuff

that she'd be getting in the wild, so, nectar and pollen.

So, essentially, I'm adjusting her diet

based on what her motivation levels are like

and what her health is looking like

and getting the right balance of diet,

that will all aid in her progression.

Slapping that up, loving it?

Meanwhile, over in the red panda enclosure...

Come on, handsome man. Let's go.

..the Taronga food train rolls on as keeper Georgia

delivers her custom cuisine to some very expectant animals.

Currently, our red pandas eat lots of bamboo,

but they also eat lots of fruit and what we call panda bars,

which is a bit of a panda mash or a bit of pellets mixed together.

Good girl! Yeah. There's a few.

These panda bars are dished out into small feeders

scattered around the habitat.

Problem is it's not just the pandas who are ready and waiting.

What our brushturkeys do, they come around,

they go and see the red pandas' food,

whether it's fruit or whether it's their panda bars,

and they go and steal it all.

Now, while Taronga Zoo loves all creatures, great and small...

It's causing a bit of a concern for us

that we're not sure how much food

our red pandas are actually taking in.

..this brazen daylight robbery

needs to be stopped and fast.

Coming up...

I think a brushturkey's been back again.

A couple of absolute turkeys cause trouble for Taronga's A Team.

We've had to figure out how we can solve this problem.

But have they met their match?

Back to this drawing board. Yep.

And a little basilisk called Miguel...

They're a really cool little green lizard.

..with an eye-watering injury.

We need to do something.

This is more of an emergency than anything else.

Yeah.

When you're ready, come on.

There are many, many happy, hungry mouths

to feed at Taronga Zoo.

Come on, handsome man. Let's go.

(GROWLS)

They're coming out now.

Alright. Here, she comes.

But in one particular habitat,

dinner time has become a bit of a battleground.

I think a brushturkey's been back again...

In the blue corner, the brushturkey...

Come, bubby. ..and in the red corner...

Well, the red panda.

(BELL RINGS)

Can you come down? Good girl.

Yummy.

Good job.

We currently have three red pandas here at Taronga Zoo,

and red pandas come from either the Himalayan or Chinese regions,

and we're having a bit of issues with our brushturkeys.

This Aussie native isn't shy when it comes to a free-feed.

You might think just moving the feeders would help.

Think again.

We've tried putting them up nice and high.

We've tried putting them low.

We've tried putting them on horizontal logs, on vertical logs,

in unusual places where the turkeys hopefully can't reach.

So, we've had to figure out how we can solve this problem,

still keeping our brushturkeys in the area,

but making sure our pandas get their full diet.

Oh, it's coming back for another go.

So, who are you gonna call to help pull these turkeys back into line?

There's only one answer, the zoo's A Team.

Enrichment volunteers, Fred and John.

Fred used to be an engineer

and John used to be an air traffic controller,

so, they're very used to doing lots of critical thinking.

Yeah.

Don't know about that.

This is gonna be quite a challenge for both Fred and John.

Um, the turkeys are very, very intelligent,

but, hopefully, we can get on top of this issue.

We know why it doesn't work.

(LAUGHS)

These are no good whatsoever 'cause the brushturkeys

are just feeding themselves.

So, we've got to get some ideas.

A lid of some sort.

Yep. What do you reckon?

Yeah. Try to get the lid to open.

And not stay open.

Yeah. Close.

If the lid is open,

the brushturkeys are just gonna feed themselves.

Step one, a lid that opens. Check.

So, it's gotta be a lid that goes up.

And self closed.

And self closes.

And then closes. Check.

So, what are we gonna make the lid off?

It'll have to be plastic. Plastic.

The plastic we've got. That's the only thing.

And plastic with a weight

because it's got to weigh itself down again.

Correct.

But how do we hinge it?

That's where the problem comes in.

Step two, a hinge.

Those brushturkeys haven't got a chance.

Yep.

So, we're probably gonna have to make a bracket

of some sort, bolt it to the bracket,

and then, put the lid on the bracket.

We-we make a prototype, see how it works.

If it works, fine. If it doesn't...

Back to the drawing board. Yeah.

We are so lucky to have our volunteers here.

They help us out with so many things,

and they play such an important role

and use their expertise in a way

that benefits our animals and their welfare.

It's all systems go for Fred and John.

This should be interesting.

It's just a short walk up the hill.

OK. Great.

Vet Frances and Dr Sarah,

an animal eye specialist, are doing the rounds.

Next stop, the reptile house to check on an eye watering problem.

So, we're gonna meet Chris,

who's the keeper that's looking after the basilisk.

There are several different species of basilisk lizard.

The ones we're dealing with today

are crested or double plumed basilisk.

They're a really cool little green lizard

that occurs in Central America.

Miguel arrived several months ago from a zoo in the USA,

but this little lizard is having trouble with his vision.

Our males, who we are hoping to go on to breed from,

it's quite important that they do have that vision

to be able to see where their food is,

see where their mate is,

and we like to think that they'd like to see

where we are as their keepers.

Chris has been giving Miguel, a course of antibiotics.

So, one of its eyes, the iris, changed from that yellow colour...

Yep.

..to quite a deep orangey red.

So, the vessels at the top are quite dilutive like

and that just changed the colour.

The term we give that is something called rubeosis iridis.

It just means red iris effectively because of all the vessels.

There certainly is an area of corneal dystrophy,

you know, how long that's been there,

and that might be why you're seeing that bulging.

Actually, I'm quite worried, about it.

Corneal dystrophy is a genetic condition

that can weaken the eye,

and Miguel's is now straining to stay intact.

Now, we have an open wound effectively

for bacteria to get into the eye.

And Dr Sarah can see an even bigger problem.

The anterior chamber's collapsed.

So, we've lost the fluid or the chamber itself?

Lost the fluid.

The question is how big the hole is, how easy that is to fix.

With a collapsed and leaking eye,

Miguel's sight could be irreversibly lost.

I think vision will be quite effective right now.

Because it's now bulging slightly forward as we blink,

we almost get this rough-rough surface,

so, it's causing the epithelium to-to struggle to hear properly.

The antibiotics could still work, but it's too soon to tell.

The last thing we need is for this to become infected,

because that will mean that we have to act pretty quickly on that eye.

It's really important we get on top of the antibiotics,

which we're doing now.

So, the keepers have done a really amazing job

by coming up with new solutions to try and medicate the eye.

It's a little atomizer. Oh, right.

Just said that they don't actually have to touch the animal.

It's. .. I'm gonna say hit and hit

rather than hit and miss, because these guys are...

Sure.

..guns.

It's only Sarah's second patient for the day,

but for the moment, any others will have to wait.

When we've got open corneas, we-we need to do something.

This is more of an emergency than anything else.

Yeah.

(GROOVY MUSIC)

At Taronga Zoo,

today is Bring Your Child to Work Day.

Another day, another eucalyptus leaf.

And for vet nurse Annii,

who's recently taken on the role of surrogate mum,

her little one just happens to be the amazing Gracie,

a recently abandoned koala joey.

Looking after Gracie has definitely been a labour of love.

She has been with me 24/7 for at least 4.5 months now.

So, I'm a full-time mum as well as a full-time vet nurse.

And just like all working mums,

juggling a job and a baby is a handful.

Alright. Let the fun and games begin, Ms Grace.

Right. Do you wanna have a climb?

Do you wanna have a climb?

Oh, I get it, girl.

So, this is her jungle gym for the day.

I try and like, move the furniture around,

so, she's gotta climb,

she's gotta learn how to use her arms,

and little by little, even grabbing onto the bars

is helping with her hands.

So, it's an agility course, um, and it's ticking all the boxes

as far as her-her physical improvements go.

This jungle gym is a crucial tool

for teaching Gracie all the motor skills she'll need

before she returns to the wildlife sanctuary.

I'll get you some fresh breeze after my meeting.

See you at lunch, beautiful girl.

An adult koala's diet is pretty much one thing,

eucalyptus leaves,

but they can be fussy.

Luckily for Gracie, Taronga Zoo caters for all tastes.

You walk in,

and it's like an all you can eat buffet for koalas,

which is very exciting

because she has the range of so many different things.

Like bringing up any young baby,

Annii makes sure she has a constant supply

of Gracie's favourites.

So, her favourites, oddly enough,

with all the stuff that we've had here at Taronga,

her three favourites, uh, apple box, uh, peppermint, and Robusta.

So many varieties, and they're her top three.

So, my main, um, focus now for Gracie

is to get her to the point

where she's on a 100% eucalyptus leave,

so, she won't be on a milk diet anymore.

So, once Gracie gets to the-the stage

where she's about 2kg,

she'll be released back to Timboon Villa Nature Reserve.

You're going back to bed.

You're going back to bed?

Gracie has been putting on nearly 200g a week.

She's not big enough yet, but it won't be long.

There's so many smells, baby.

Hey? So many smells.

So, I'm going to tear the teddy first,

because she needs to be hanging onto something all the time.

So, this is her security blanket when I'm not around.

So, I tear the teddy first, get a waiter on it,

and then I put her back on the teddy.

And it's just less stressful

because if I put her straight in that tub

she's got nothing to hang on to.

I can't get in the tub with you, you need to get back on your teddy.

Yeah, she would be quite stressed just sitting in that tub

without having anything to hang on to,

so, this is a routine that she's very used to.

My goodness me!

1.29!

(CHUCKLES)

1.29!

Seems all of Annii's love and care is working.

Pull my finger.

Gracie has put on 4kg since Annii has been caring for her.

Hi, buddy.

So, it gives me a good indication that whatever I'm doing is good.

She's putting on weight literally each day now.

So, her leaf intake has significantly increased,

which is great.

She's still on four bottles a day,

but, yeah, keeping an eye on her weight is super important

because if she was losing weight for any reason at all,

I'd be flagging that straight away with the vets,

but I'm really happy with her progress.

We're on the right track, little one, aren't we?

As each of Annii's busy days draw to a close,

she knows that means its one day closer

until Gracie goes back to her own home.

(LAUGHS)

I'd never drop my baby.

I don't even wanna think about

when Gracie goes back to Timboon Villa, but I...

Look, it's gonna be a very bittersweet feeling.

It's gonna be way easier for her than it is gonna be me.

I'll be the blabbering mess and she'll be like, "See you, bye.

Thanks for the eucalyptus."

(LAUGHS) Alright.

You ready to go home?

Alright.

The anterior chamber's collapsed.

Actually, I'm quite worried, about it.

Two weeks ago, visiting specialist, Sarah,

had a close look at Miguel

and discovered this gorgeous green lizard

was at risk of losing his sight.

We've lost the surface layer,

and that's a really important barrier to prevent infection.

Yeah.

This is more of an emergency than anything else.

Yeah.

We can put some of the medication into the eye now.

Since Sarah's visit, Taronga vet Frances...

Either do it with a drip

or do it from the syringe with a drip.

..has been overseeing Miguel's twice daily treatment.

We have increased the frequency of treatment

that I'd already started on Sarah's advice,

and we have a couple of other drugs that the lizard will take by mouth.

But how do you get a lizard to swallow its medicine?

That's reptile keeper Chris' department.

They're primarily insectivores, but they will eat some vegetation,

some fruits and flowers and some soft leaves,

but certainly their favourite is insects.

So, we've got a couple of medicated crickets

that we're gonna have to feed specifically to our male

and a little bit of pain relief

just in case he's experiencing some discomfort.

It's always hit and miss with animals,

but generally, he's-he's reasonably good.

So, I've got a bit of confidence about me today.

Chris has learned a trick or two

when it comes to coaxing Miguel to open his mouth.

The movement of that insect,

that really tempts them into feeding.

Got him. He took that.

Today, he did everything right, and he wasn't too flighty around us.

He was pretty accepting to us offering him food on a set of tongs.

Today's the end of his course,

so, we'll just book him in with the vets

and see what his recovery's like and see what the next steps are.

Chris to Frances.

As Frances heads Miguel's way,

she's expecting to see

some big improvements from the medication.

Otherwise, emergency surgery may be the only option.

His left eye's looking a bit washed out today.

Yeah. It's really lost a little bit of colour, hey?

Yeah.

Oh, well, off to the doctor.

Morning, Chris.

Good day. Thanks for coming up. Kayla.

Morning. Oh, that is...

So, he's been maintaining weight.

He's been feeding quite well.

So, his weight is tracking well,

but that's where the good news stops.

The changes in the front surface of the eye

do seem to be progressing a little bit.

When Dr Sarah came out a couple of weeks ago,

Miguel had one eye that was not looking great.

His eyes deteriorated significantly.

Kayla, he can go in the bag now.

It's the worst possible news.

The treatment hasn't worked at all.

We wanna make sure that

we're doing the best we possibly can for him

and that we have expert advice on what's happening in his eyes.

So, the lizard is going for a recheck of his eyes

with the ophthalmologist.

Sarah's the expert and she's the one who can hopefully help.

Animals and people can lose vision in their eyes very quickly

as changes happen within the eyeball itself.

So, in terms of trying to maintain the animal's vision,

these things can be an emergency.

And that's exactly what this is as Frances and Kayla

urgently race Miguel across town

in a last ditch effort to save his sight.

Can you come down?

The red panda enclosure at Taronga Zoo

is under siege by a pesky resident

who's worked out there really is such a thing as a free lunch.

One of our really awesome native species is the brushturkey.

They're really cool, they're really smart,

but they also can be a little bit difficult to work

with in terms of red pandas.

So, what our brushturkeys do, they come around,

they go and see the red panda's food,

and they go and steal it all,

which means there's not that much left for our red pandas.

Taronga's A Team are on the case.

They're confident,

but they're not underestimating their opponent.

I would hope that we are smarter than the brushturkey,

but they have a sneaky brain in them.

John and Fred have designed a new feeder with a hinged lid that,

you guessed it, opens and closes.

It's called the red panda friendly brushturkey proof fixed tree feeder.

At least, that's what I'm calling it.

If this one works, it'll be fine.

We can make them, but it's up to the keepers.

Hmm.

They're not the only ones that get a say.

Game on. It's feeding time.

And as red panda keeper Georgia loads up the new feeders,

she has an unwanted audience.

Hi, baby.

Hi, bud.

While Georgia is focused on red pandas, Daiyu and Zeya...

Good boy.

Hi, baby girl.

..the brushturkeys have already started to make their move.

The turkeys have actually worked out

how to open this.

So, they were pecking at it.

They ended up 'cause the lid's quite light,

they lifted it,

and they were able to take the food out.

Not only that, they were also able to pull it off.

The turkeys win again.

Because the turkeys have pretty much outsmarted us again,

it's back to the drawing board for Fred and John.

So, our dynamic duo are upping their game.

They're very resourceful brushturkeys.

They will find a way if they can.

So, what we're gonna have to do is manufacture a new one

and also that the frame of it will not come off the tree.

All that will be removed is the shell of the coconut.

If this doesn't work,

I think we will be able to outsmart them eventually.

Sighting words, the battle of the birds versus the blokes

just got personal.

Brushturkeys, they just create so much work for us,

work that we could be doing for other departments.

We have got to-to manufacture, projects

to stop the impinging food from a lot of animals.

And they learn from each other naturally like most animals do.

So, once one works out how to resolve a problem,

it goes pretty quickly how the others will follow.

So, our problem is to outthink them and outwit them

and come up with something that

will prevent them from accessing the food of the animals,

particularly the red panda in this case.

Miguel, the basilisk lizard has a serious eye condition.

Kayla, he can go in the bag now.

And despite constant care, it's now an emergency.

So, he's being rushed across town to the eye specialist.

Just a bit concerned that he's a bit painful,

not eating as reliably as he was.

And we have that left eye,

looks like the iris is almost bulging forward.

Miguel's been receiving intensive treatment

for a small hole in the front of his eye.

The iris is sort of bulged forward like you say

and I think it's actually plugging the hole.

We've got a little bit of fluid swelling

and because of that we need to consider surgery.

We have to re-stabilise the eye.

The iris, which is the coloured part of the eye,

is trying to plug the hole,

so, we need to try and replace that back into the eye.

It's gonna be fun.

With Miguel close to losing sight in his left eye,

Sarah is considering a radical option,

a surgical procedure to help seal or graft his damaged eye.

But there's a catch.

When we talk about ocular surgery in lizards,

grafting for corneas is fairly reported,

and there are very few people, not just in Australia,

but across the world who have even done surgery on a lizard,

let alone a basilisk.

So, it's pretty unusual.

I have personally never done a graft in a lizard

and neither has my colleagues,

so, this will be a very exciting day for all of us.

Good job, buddy.

So, I've had to pull out

all of the smallest microsurgical instruments I have.

Everything we do is under the operating microscope.

Everything is very, very small, but particularly on this lizard,

it's even smaller than usual.

So, it will be, definitely a challenge.

Looked like he's relaxed a bit?

Yeah, definitely.

While Miguel is sedated,

he'll need the smallest of tubes inserted in his airway

to help him breathe

during this incredibly rare operation.

That worked nicely, Fernando.

So far, so good.

What size tube...

Look at the size of the tube. That's the one.

Geez. It's tiny, isn't it?

I got my smaller scissors out.

This is groundbreaking microsurgery.

Can you turn me to 0. 5m...

0. 5 litre of medical aid?

Alright.

That's just so it doesn't bite down onto the tube.

Remember, this isn't only a first for Miguel,

but also his surgeon, Sarah.

Kayla, you're gonna go behind his crest.

We want the best outcome for this lizard.

Our primary thing is to make sure that those eyes are not painful

and we don't want the animal to lose an eye,

so, it'll require great technical skills

and, you know, that's Sarah's expertise.

The stakes couldn't be higher.

Let's do it.

Coming up...

Quite challenging, isn't it?

Will a surgical first...

The degree of difficulty is definitely high today.

..save the day.

I'm a little bit worried

just because of how tiny everything is.

Inside Taronga Zoo's red panda enclosure,

the time has come.

It's D-Day.

That's D for dinner.

Kaboo!

These fancy new food containers...

Come on, guys.

..created by zoo volunteers Fred and John

are the next generation in brushturkey busting design.

So, over the recent few months,

we have seen an increase in the turkeys

taking the red pandas' food,

and we're trying to figure out different solutions.

After a few failed attempts, hopes are high.

Question is will the red pandas

actually be able to crack the code...

Here it comes. Yep. Yep. Yep.

..with these flash new feeders?

Oh, yeah.

Open straight up. Yes.

Easy. Easy-peasy. Yep.

Oh, good work.

Oh, that's-that's good 'cause she can get in there

and the brushturkeys can't.

It's pushed their imagination to the limit,

but Fred and John have finally beaten

the wily brushturkey.

This is the design we've come up with.

The material's a lot heavier and more robust,

and we think this one will probably last longer

than the than the previous model

and will work better, more importantly.

Much larger lid that covers the whole of the coconut feeder,

so, access is all the way in,

so, they can put as much food in there as they like.

A bolt to slip this out, so, the cooper just takes that away

and brings in a new bowl, slips it back in.

Worked like a charm.

Yeah. Good. Yeah.

She's enjoying that.

All good.

That worked really well.

The turkeys didn't get into it,

but the pandas opened it and then closed it nice and gently,

so, it was perfect.

Fred and John have done

such an awesome job with these feeders.

It's fantastic.

The pandas are getting their full amount of food,

and we don't have to worry about those turkeys.

So, red pandas win the day.

Or to be fair...

And here we go. Yeah.

And then it will work. Yeah.

..let's give this one to Fred and John.

But you're not going to get any.

We've got the best job in the world.

You guys have done such an awesome job

and no turkeys as well.

No brushturkeys. It's fantastic.

That's the best. Yeah.

That's the beyond end of it. Yes.

So, they're working really, really well.

So, I'm gonna be a bit of a pain and ask for ten more if that's OK.

Yeah. Right.

Sorry, guys, but thank you. The pandas are loving it now.

Wouldn't do it for everybody, but we'll do it for you.

(LAUGHS) Thank you, Fred. (LAUGHS)

With their patented panda feeder production line

now up and running, Fred and John's mission is complete.

And while these birds

might never be far from a free snack,

this inventive duo will always be ready and waiting.

The coconut feeder, number one priority.

That's complete.

That's complete. Next on there?

Right.

(INTENSE MUSIC)

So, his temp is 24. 1. Yeah.

We want him between 27 and 29.

At the eye clinic for animals in Northern Sydney, Miguel,

the Central American basilisk,

is being prepared for incredibly rare microsurgery.

This small area here, that's quite bad.

So, I was planning on grafting a little bit around it.

Part of Miguel's left eye has collapsed

and if Sarah can't repair it,

this little lizard will almost certainly lose his vision.

The tool's gonna be a little bit of a tight squeeze.

Dr Sarah has never performed this operation before

or operated on such a small lizard.

Problem is a small lizard, means an even smaller eye.

To put it in perspective,

the microscope goes up to 50 times magnification

and I was maxed out at 50 times magnification.

So, very, very tiny.

This is quite challenging, isn't it?

It's very, very, um, unusual tissue to be dealing with.

The degree of difficulty is definitely high today.

What I'm actually noticing is there is a small hole appearing,

and there's a very slow leak of the fluid

from inside the eye coming out of the cornea.

What I'm effectively doing is putting a thick jelly

to support the internal structures of the eye,

otherwise it would just collapse.

So, it's allowing me to prepare the defect

without the eye collapsing.

The surface of the eye is so thin and damaged,

Sarah has to strengthen it first before she can plug the hole.

'Cause of the corneal hole,

we need to create this little scaffold.

It's gonna provide us

with a bit more thickness to work with.

So, effectively, I need to suture this in

and it's quite challenging

when you're using such tiny suture material.

The suture thread less than 0.5mm wide

will keep the scaffold in place.

That's a bit better, isn't it?

And with the eye now, more secure,

Sarah will use a graft to repair the hole.

The harvesting of the graft will be from his own eye,

so, the pink tissue of the eye will be used

to plug the hole that's there.

The graft is like a living band aid.

That thin tissue will now sit over that

and provide some blood vessels

and that's gonna help with the healing.

But Sarah hits a snag.

I'm a little bit worried.

The graft and the surface of Miguel's eye

are both thinner than tissue paper and just as fragile.

We've actually created a small hole in the cornea,

um, close to where the graft is

and the iris has started to prolapsed out.

What I think I'm gonna do is spread

the load of the suture through the cornea

over two different points instead of one single point.

It's really, really challenging

just because of how tiny everything is.

Even the smallest instruments

are a challenge with such a tiny eye.

But after nearly three hours, success.

I'm just tying the suture here,

and that's just basically plugged that hole and closed it up,

pushed the iris back in.

So, I'm really happy with that.

And for now, everyone can breathe again.

That was fun.

That's one way to describe it,

but at least Miguel is finally on the mend.

This will just break.

Eventually, all just...

The eyelids will just pull it, break it down.

Well done.

Overall, very happy with the result.

Yeah. That was impressive.

I've done hundreds and hundreds

of grafts at this point,

but it's definitely the hardest one I've ever done.

I think, guys, we can wake him up.

In a little while, when he's not so groggy,

Miguel will start heading back home to Taronga Zoo.

Beautiful lizard.

We have been working with basilisk

for a very long time here at Taronga,

and we've never actually seen this issue happen with them before.

So, we're really hoping that he recovers well

over the next couple of weeks.

Only time will tell.

At the Taronga Zoo reptile house, specialist vet, Dr Sarah Cole,

has arrived to check on her jolly green patient, Miguel.

Two weeks ago, she performed emergency microsurgery

on Miguel's damaged left eye.

And after a fortnight of devoted care,

it's the moment of truth

for reptile keeper Kayla and the team.

So, Miguel does have one eye stitched up.

It does look quite confronting for us to see him like this,

but it's actually the best thing for his welfare.

We're very confident that the care that he received

was up to our standard.

But Kayla has to first catch Miguel

before Sarah can see

if the operation has actually worked.

Yeah, I can't actually reach him.

Oh, I just can't reach him.

I am just this close, but he's just too far away.

Oh, you have long arms.

This enclosure? Ah, this enclosure.

He's in the furthest corner on top of the waterfall.

The pros and cons of this being built

for everyone who's 6ft or longer.

So, it's long arms and longer legs to the rescue.

Yay!

Just slacking.

Thank you.

Yay! Thank you. (CHUCKLES)

I just was... Just that little bit too short.

We'll look at the other eye first. Yeah.

Back to business and Kayla has a lot of Miguel updates

to share with Sarah.

Uh, so, he's going really well, actually.

OK. Great.

He's been trying to court the female.

He's been eating really well.

Um, he's navigating the exhibit really well also.

Good.

And he's a really nice beautiful green colour.

He doesn't seem too bothered kind of walking around the exhibit,

um, which is nice,

and he's been taking his medication really well.

These are all good signs that Miguel isn't in pain,

but what about that eye?

His anterior chamber's really nicely inflated.

The graft's in place.

The sutures are there.

Miguel is doing really great today.

There's actually some blood vessels

that are growing in to help with the healing,

which is really, really positive.

From post surgery perspective,

this is as good as we could have hoped for.

Yay.

Not bad for a first time.

The eyelid sutures that are placed to help protect the graft

are actually gonna leave them in for a little bit longer.

Lizards heal a little bit slower.

Obviously, we can't get him to wear an E-collar

or a cone of shame like we would a dog or a cat.

So, it...

It's a nice sort of protection

while everything's sort of settling down.

Keep it up, bud.

Good job, Miguel.

Yay. Thank you. Alright.

Miguel is finally on the mend.

And for Sarah and the team at Taronga,

this now, lively little lizard has made a pretty big impression.

It's been wonderful working with the team from Taronga.

Been really exciting to sort of share this case with them

and, yeah, we're all trying to get the best outcome.

So, they've been absolutely wonderful.

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