Original subtitles

NARRATOR: 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.

MAN: Good boy.

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

Boom! Woo!

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.

(ELEPHANTS TRUMPET)

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.

It's just always be watching who's who, who's where.

(SEAL BARKS)

On this episode...

(TORTOISE GROANS)

Just heard some noises we like hearing.

If the walls are rocking...

Bit of naughty noises.

..you'd better be knocking.

She had a mating 11 days ago.

As Taronga prepares to welcome new life.

He started barking, she's been rolling.

So the signs are looking really good.

They're also locked in a battle...

He desperately needs food.

..to save it.

Every hour counts at the moment.

And could this be... Hi chimps.

..the happiest place?

Oh, Diego. Hey, buddy.

..on Earth?

Hello, elephants.

(ELEPHANT TRUMPET)

Some of the world's most vulnerable species

called Taronga home.

Come on, let's go.

And Taronga's two zoos in Sydney and on the western plains in Dubbo

have just one goal to save them.

The importance of our back of house work and conservation programs

are a huge part of Taronga's core and goals at the end of the day.

We're here to help species and give them a fighting chance.

And a surefire way to help give them that fighting chance.

Babies.

There you go.

So today, unit Supervisor Jake is doing the rounds

at Taronga Western Plains Zoo

to see if everyone's, well, doing their job.

So on our run arounds today and we're going down to see

one of our more quirky animals, they're pretty special.

Very charismatic.

You'll find them naturally on the Galapagos Islands.

The only place in the world you'll see them.

First up for Jake is an animal that might be a bit slow in speed,

but is strangely never far from the action.

We've just heard some noises we like hearing.

Um, a bit of naughty noises.

So as breeding behaviours is going on,

so we're just going to have a little stickybeak

and see how they're getting on.

(SEDUCTIVE MUSIC)

So I just got the Galapagos tortoise

doing what nature intends them to do. Uhm...

(TORTOISE GROANS)

So this behaviour happens pretty frequently

over the warmer months.

Uhm, to the point of sometimes we need to give the girls a break,

so we'll give them separate yards.

Let the boys have a rest. Let the girls have a rest.

But this season's been good.

We haven't had to give them too much time apart.

And we've just let them do what they need to do.

Living proof that slow and steady really does

win the race.

They're actually only young in their mid 50s.

They're not sexually mature until late 30s into their 40s.

And that's when all the action starts.

So they're pretty new at the game.

Not bad for a couple of rookies.

This behaviour is great

because our program's been going since the early 80s.

We've had three offspring now.

Going forward, I hope to see many more.

They've been good sports, so that's what we like to see.

(TORTOISE GROANS)

And this is where all that hard work pays off.

Hey, Caitlin. Hey, Jake.

I've just come down to see what we can do

weighing these little guys.

Oh, perfect. I've just got the little scales out.

Let's start weighing. OK.

Meet Pena.

Pena has just turned ten in January.

Our smallest one last month when we did our weigh in.

So we're just going to put Pena

on this little container I've prepared.

All right, Jake.

By regularly tracking their weight,

they can also track their health.

3. 458 kilos for Pena.

Put on 100g, which is good.

That's good. Righto.

Should we go get Turbo?

Yeah. Let's go.

Galapagos tortoise are pretty unique for such a huge animal.

They're born at only about 80g.

And then it will take anywhere from 25-30 years

to reach adult size.

So when the females reach their full size,

they're around 150 kilos.

The boys, though, they're double that.

They're anywhere from 280 to 300 kilos in size, once fully grown.

So I've got Turbo here.

Pena's sibling.

What did we have last time? 4.168.

So turbo usually is that 500g heavier than Pena.

All right. Let's see what today brings.

..keeps that going.

All right. You're good and ready?

Yep. All is good.

4.298 for turbo.

So 100g since last time roughly.

Which again is great. That's what we're looking for.

All right. Time to weigh the big ones now.

But, I can hear something in the background,

so we might go see what's going on there.

Too easy. I'll put him away.

I think we all know what's going on there.

For the keepers at Taronga,

providing animals with a variety of experiences

is always front of mind.

And if the animals can also do their part

to help achieve this, even better.

Chook chook chook chook chooks. Come on.

How many?

I'll take the lot. Thank you.

Beautiful. Thanks, guys. (GIGGLES)

Appreciate it. That's all good.

No worries. See you later. Bye.

For keeper Brook, nothing warms her heart more...

Hi, chimps.

..than a basket full of enriching goodies.

Hello, elephants.

(ELEPHANT TRUMPET)

Oh, Diego. Hey, buddy.

Today, Brooke is preparing a special treat

for a special species.

Bilbies are opportunistic feeders, so they're going to have a go

at anything they come across in their natural habitat.

So they might eat some small amphibians, small mammals,

as well as reptile and bird eggs and insects as well.

So providing them some eggs gives them the opportunity

to have a little bit of variety in their diet

and in their environment.

Mhm. Peanut butter and egg with a side of bugs.

Delightful.

The main threat for Bilbies is actually,

believe it or not, rabbits.

So rabbits are an introduced species here in Australia.

And they actually eat a lot of the grasses that bilbies

rely on to find their insects and their food.

Bilbies are super inquisitive.

They're always busy foraging for ants and digging.

They have really complex burrowing structures as well.

They actually burrow in a spiral fashion as well.

So really intelligent, really busy.

But you don't have to be a rocket scientist

to notice something pretty exciting has just arrived.

So we can definitely see them using their noses,

which is one of their main sensors, to sniff around and find out

where the treats are and to investigate those eggs.

I definitely think it's the first time the Bilbies

have come across an ostrich egg and by the looks of things,

big thumbs up or paws up, they're approving it for sure.

Oh, they're really cute.

So here in Australia, bilbies are extremely important to us,

and especially here at Taronga Zoo.

They are one of our legacy species here at Taronga Zoo,

which means that we are actively making an effort to understand

them in the wild and contribute to their conservation

and spread that education message.

Unfortunately, this species is doing it pretty tough

out there in the wild.

Bilbies are locally extinct in New South Wales

and classified as vulnerable in the rest of Australia.

The enrichment went amazing so it was super exciting

to see they were very engaged, very interested.

Um, so I'll have to report back to the ostriches

and the chickens to let them know that they did a great job

at enriching our bilbies.

Every year, Taronga's wildlife hospitals

care for over 1500 animals.

Hi, I'm Liz, I'm from Act wildlife.

We rang up about a baby platypus for you.

Thank you so much.

Many are brought in from far and wide

by concerned members of the public.

This little guy was found in a park down at Yarralumla.

It's a children's playground,

so it has all these water features in it.

Don't come out, buddy.

It has inlets actually coming in off Lake Burley Griffin.

So this little guy, they think, has come in off one of those inlets

and then contained itself in a little area

that it can't get out of.

That active little thing.

All right. Let's... do you want to pop him in?

I'm just going to have a listen.

Quite pale. Yeah.

This platypus may be little, but he's full of energy.

Bit of a wriggler.

Despite him seeming quite feisty.

I suspect he's using all of his energy

to try and pretend he's normal.

He certainly is an immature animal.

Not about to spur me. That spur...

See, the sheath is down just a little bit.

Yep.

A female has tiny little nubbins rather than spurs,

whereas the males have the more well-developed spurs.

And when they're really young, they have this sheath

covering over the spur.

He's a very young male platypus.

He's probably on that six month mark.

Deary me. This one is so skinny.

The fact that Francis can fold the platypus tail so easily

suggests that he is incredibly malnourished.

The question is why?

See all those little ticks around there?

There's loads of them.

He's got an awful lot of ticks on him.

Those ticks do feed on blood from the platypus,

and you know, that's going to be draining on him as well.

There's a special platypus tick, and we see them very commonly

and around that area, around the hind legs

where the spurs are.

It's also got them on the end of his tail.

He's not grooming himself so well because he's debilitated.

A healthy platypus would be able to remove

most of these ticks on its own.

You have to check up on here too.

Under his forearm.

Save some of these.

Just the big ones.

Pretty horrible.

So this is a really emaciated little platypus.

He's incredibly thin.

We need to give him a light anaesthetic

so he can't feel what's going on.

We're going to take some whole body x-rays.

We're going to collect some blood.

It looks like he's keeping that left eye closed.

Mhm.

It might be a little tick in there.

Oh, in the eye? Yeah.

Wow. It's the most emaciated little creature.

Hopefully we can provide him with the best chance.

Coming up.

It is very tiny.

A critical time...

He's gonna be taking it day by day.

..at the wildlife hospital.

He's really emaciated.

And no need to adjust your sets.

They're not known for their speed.

Yes. Franklin is actually moving.

You gotta have a lot of patience.

As Taronga's Galapagos tortoises have already shown us,

albeit in their own time,

in the animal kingdom, love makes the world go round.

From the feline

to the feathered,

at Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo,

everyone is keen to find out

if one very fast cat is doing her part.

Hello, Liberty.

I've got something for you.

Hey, you definitely know this bucket.

Cheetah are classified as vulnerable

to extinction in the wild.

The last time they did a census,

they only found about 7000 of them, which is a really low number.

So we really need a self-sustaining

population in zoos.

We need to crack the code.

How do we better breed cheetah

to make sure that we've sort of got, like,

almost like a Noah's Ark, I suppose, of a population.

And today, Taronga's code cracker is senior vet Alisa.

Today, we're here to take some blood from a five year old

female cheetah named Liberty.

She had a mating 11 days ago,

and we want to see if she's ovulated.

So far, Liberty has been a bit unfortunate starting a family so

vet Alisa and keeper Jordy are keeping a close watch on her

during mating season.

Liberty has had a couple of pseudo pregnancies.

She's also had a miscarriage,

but we do have all our fingers and toes crossed

that this year will be her year.

Is she hungry?

She's hungry.

She's impatient and she's hungry.

Unlike other big cats,

cheetahs don't have regular oestrus cycles.

Cheetah are induced ovulators, so often the act of mating

will stimulate ovulation.

If liberty has ovulated since her last mating,

she might fall pregnant.

You all ready, Alisa? Yep.

OK. Needle's ready to go .

Clip is ready. Alcohol swabs ready.

I'll just come behind you.

I'll open the gate, and then I'll come round with her food.

Mhm. All right.

OK, sweet girl.

All right. Are you ready, miss?

OK, Berty. Steady.

Good girl.

Although Liberty has been trained with food and a clicker

to sit for veterinary tests, she has the option to back out

at any time.

OK, are you good if I touch a tail?

Yes. You are all good.

She is happy.

We would love for Liberty to be confirmed pregnant.

She is a very genetically valuable animal.

She recently came to Dubbo from South Africa.

So she brings in a whole new genetic bloodline.

And with all the reproductive challenges

that she's had so far, she really deserves a break.

I'm just going to do a bit of clipping.

Alisa must first shave Liberty

to find a suitable vein to draw blood from.

But there's a slight problem.

Uh oh, my clippers are dying.

That's a very sad clipper sound.

With a hold up like this, Liberty could become agitated

and back out of the test.

OK. Hold fire.

While Alisa grabs another set of clippers,

keeper Jordy works hard to keep Liberty calm and focused.

Just feed you slowly for a minute.

They sound better.

Are you going alright for meat?

I'll slow down a little bit.

But with the food and Liberty's patience running low,

Alisa must now work quickly.

All right. I'm going to try a needle now.

No worries.

It is very tiny.

At Taronga's Wildlife Hospital, the vet team

are trying to save a critically ill platypus

found stranded in a children's playground.

So this is quite a juvenile animal.

It's a male.

He's got an awful lot of ticks on him,

so it's going to be taking it stage by stage

because he's very thin animal.

Still wriggling a bit.

Ready?

With the baby platypus now sleeping.

This is the eye that he was holding close.

It's so tiny.

Francis can commence a more thorough examination.

I am concerned about that eye and we'll have to watch it.

I might put a little bit of fluorescein in there.

Yep.

He's tending to hold that eye shut when he's awake.

I've put a little bit of a special stain in there,

which can help to tell me whether the surface of

the eyeball is abraded or not.

I don't think it is, but it's so tiny, it's really hard to see.

Ruth can take some blood.

It's very watery.

Heart rate's 180.

All right, I'm going to come out.

I would have liked to have got more than that, but what

we'll see is quite anaemic.

An anaemic animal struggles to carry vital oxygen to

its organs and body tissue.

Respiration 24.

I'm going to take some x-rays.

It's like hugging the...

It's pretty cute.

It is really cute.

He's a little dinky.

OK, let's try that.

Everyone out.

Gosh, there's not much of him.

He's really emaciated.

So it's going to be taking it day by day.

Love is in the air

and back at the Galapagos...

Uhm...love shack at Taronga Western Plains Zoo.

Two not too tiny tortoises, Albert and Audrey,

are still in the middle of trying to save their species.

So this behaviour we'll see pretty frequently.

Uhm, almost on a daily basis.

They just feel the need and they'll go about their business

as they need to.

While these two continue to get busy in this corner of the zoo,

Jake also needs to get busy with some weightier matters.

So I've got Franklin, our big boy, and Molly,

one of our females.

Um, they're both in their mid 50s,

so they're still young at heart and body for a Galapagos tortoise.

So, going to need to call in some extra reinforcement

for weighing these guys.

Uh, you're going to need a bigger scale.

Well, thanks for coming down helping Jordy.

Oh no worries.

Got the extender to make them fit on it.

This set of scales is a platform that we've got to

weigh our tortoise adults with.

Um, gives us more area to work with and to get them up.

They are a big animal, so we want to be able to

make sure we can give these guys the easiest chance to get on.

So we're getting Molly's weight now.

Um, so she's a bit smaller.

So she's being very cooperative at the moment, which is good.

Game of patience with these guys.

One more foot on in a minute.

There you go. She's all on now.

So Molly's weighing in at 149.5 kilos.

So that's good.

That's what we want.

So I'm going to help entice Franklin with some browse,

and then once he starts making his way over,

Caitlin's in position, ready to take the weight.

So working with these guys, you got to have a lot of patience.

They're not known for their speed.

It's a bit of a process and we just let them take their time.

So he's going to go a bit adventurous

through his water trough, but we'll get him there.

All right.

Uh, maybe we'll come back a bit later.

I thought we'd just leave him there

to let him get out on his own.

Three days ago, this adventurous

but badly malnourished baby platypus

was delivered to the carers at

the Taronga Wildlife Hospital.

It's so skinny.

This morning, vet Francis

is hoping he'll be feeling well enough for a good early feed.

For such a small platypus like this,

we need him to eat, so we've got some nice warm water,

and we've put a whole load of food in there.

So these big bloodworms that they like to eat.

So we're trying to be really quiet and give him the best

possible environment that, you know, makes you feel

comfortable to eat.

Don't lean on the rubber duckie. (GIGGLES)

It's not a pillow.

The platypus is so young,

he may not have a lot of experience eating solid food.

Come on, buddy.

But luckily, Taronga's own platypus whisperer Rob

is here to lend a hand.

Can you show me how you're doing the...

You're squeezing of the... You're just squeezing the tails?

Aw, that's too mushy.

He's had mealworms.

He just keeps grooming.

Rob has years of experience nursing platypuses

back from the brink.

Certainly a good reaction, at least.

He knows the signs to look for.

He's just done a big fart.

Oh that's wonderful.

You just had a tummy full of gas.

So you're going back to sleep?

Maybe if he's not going to have a lot now,

he might eat better at nine.

Yeah, he tends to eat better at those late scenes. Doesn't he?

We better go down then.

OK. I'll see you soon.

So with just a small meal in his belly, the little platypus

can leave the feeding bath...

I'll get a nice warm towel.

..and rest up for his next feed.

Three hours later, Francis arrives for the platypus

mid-morning check-up.

So he's been in here since after his 6:00?

Since about 7:00 or 10 to 7 this morning.

OK.

Libby, a wildlife rehabilitation expert has joined the care team,

bringing decades of experience with her.

We've treated a lot of young platypus over the years.

Every single time we learn and we get better.

We're really hoping that we can get this little guy through.

Have you noticed that before?

I mean, that looks quite different to me.

He's so wet.

And he's very dehydrated.

It's clear to the team his condition

is now quickly deteriorating.

His respiratory rate in character is different

to how it was last week.

So we'd get some warmed fluids.

Yeah.

I don't want to put him in the water.

So it's critical that he doesn't get any colder.

We could even turn that up to 27.

Emergency fluids are vital right now.

But Francis has more concerns for this tiny Monotreme.

He's got high burden of coccidia, which of course

could be contributing to his ill thrift.

I'm just going to stabilise him first.

Now, I think this animal is in really critical condition.

So back at Davos Galapagos habitat.

How's Franklin going with his weigh in?

We've almost got him here.

So now it's all about getting him at the right angle.

Right.

Clearly some more work to do here.

We might come back when you're ready, Franklin.

No rush.

Meanwhile, over on the other side of the zoo.

All right. I'm gonna try a needle now.

No worries.

You're OK, Berty.

She doesn't like that.

Vet Alisa is trying to take blood from Liberty,

a five-year-old cheetah,

so she can work out if she's ovulated.

Liberty's had a few difficulties with pregnancy,

so this is quite an important day today

to find out whether this,

we're on the right track, and we're hoping to have some results

back tomorrow to find out whether she has ovulated.

But it's been difficult finding a suitable vein to draw blood.

Now Liberty is losing focus and patience.

She is getting a bit full as well.

Is she? OK, I'll give it one stab in the dark where I think it is.

OK. No worries.

It's just not standing up really nicely for me.

The veins on each side can be a little bit different

and depending on the warmth of the day, sometimes they stand up

a little bit better than others.

OK, needle.

Go for it.

Oh, Berty. Berty.

No, she's not going to do it.

As Liberty calls time, the team respect her wishes.

They won't get any answers today.

Are you going to back out for us, love?

Back out.

You're nearly there. Back out.

One more step.

It's a big step, isn't it?

There you go. Good girl.

Good girl.

You know, she's quite reactive to the needle today.

Don't want to play.

Try again, Berty.

Hey, try again another day.

It's all on her terms.

She doesn't want to, then we come back another time.

First thing the following morning,

Alisa and Jordy are back in action.

OK, are you guys happy?

Are you guys happy? All right.

OK, Berty.

But this time they've brought some backup.

OK. Steady.

While another keeper distracts Liberty with food,

Jordy moves around to help Alisa.

I might just clip first.

Yep. No worries.

Good to clip? Yep. Clippers.

OK. Now a little wet.

Yep. All right.

Alcohol swab.

That's good.

This time, Alisa is trying the other side

of Liberty's tail.

Hoping the vein will be easier to find.

See if we can bring a tail around.

We might need to go...

Think her tail is just that little bit too long.

Oh, there we go.

Well done. Lovely.

Good girl, Bert.

Now, do you want to see if you can hold up?

Yeah.

Good girl, Berty.

It's not, it's not the greatest angle, is it?

No. It's hard, isn't it?

If Alisa can manage to draw blood,

the team will be one step closer to finding out whether Liberty

is going to fall pregnant.

All right. Going for the. .. ..needle.

Going for the poke. Good girl, Bert.

Good girl.

Good girl, Berty.

OK, blood's coming.

Good girl, Berty.

Could I get you to hold off a bit for me, Jordy?

No problemo.

OK. Ready? Yep.

And needles out.

Well done.

Good girl.

That was excellent.

It was excellent. Well done.

Good girl, Berty!

Back out. That's it.

That's it. Back out. Good job.

With today's blood test now in the bag,

the team have a nervous few days ahead waiting for the results.

And back at the Galapagos weigh in.

That corner is just lifting up a bit, Jordy, was all.

Franklin the tortoise is so close.

One more foot.

OK. He is.

This foot could come forward a little more, but...

Yeah. There's perfect.

Well, that's a relief.

Righto, hold him there, Caitlin.

So Franklin's tipping the scales at 258kg.

So here's where we like to have him at.

Good size. So, big boy.

We're happy with the tourists that we got today.

They're all trending as we like to see.

We'll leave the two lovebirds alone now.

So we're a bit different to probably your standard zoo

that might have just one species they have to manage.

Here, we have to be across all those different species

because it really does broaden our experience,

our skill set and knowledge.

Yeah, it really mixes up the day and gives us a good variety.

Next stop on Jake's rounds is three year old black rhino Sabi.

She's one of 30 black rhinos at Taronga, and in a year or so,

she'll also be ready to breed.

Hey Sabi girl.

Hey, Sabi. So we're coming down to Sabi now.

Black Rhino's currently have a status of

critically endangered.

Their numbers are around 5500 to 6000.

So we are doing our part.

And we've had 16 calves now.

Um, hopefully to continue that success.

Jake and the team are training Sabi for a...

..a rectal ultrasound,

which she'll need once she becomes fertile.

With black rhino conditioning in particular,

very nervous animal.

They're not wired up to trust or forgive.

So we put a lot of groundwork,

months to years of working to a behaviour.

Sabi.

So another thing with our shoot here, it's designed in such

a way that she has a choice to leave if she wants.

We never force her to do anything.

The ultrasound will determine if Sabi is pregnant

after she starts mating.

During an ultrasound conditioning session,

we'll have the main keeper up the front feeding and then

the middle keeper will be doing tactile on the belly,

and there will usually be a keeper assisting the vet as well

for their ultrasound machines.

So I'm just going to step in behind, gauge her behaviour.

Good girl, Sabi.

Good girl.

So this is the position the vet will be in during the session.

This position for her is a very vulnerable position.

We have to be very calm, patient and consistent

with what we ask her.

So she's doing it very well.

So I'm not going to ask anything more of her.

I'm just going to remove myself here.

She's going to get her jackpot up the front

for being such a good girl.

The team will do hundreds of short sessions like this

over the years before they try the real thing.

All right, guys. That was a very good session.

And only then will they learn if all their hard work,

theirs and Sabi's...

Finished. Good girl.

..has paid off.

Coming up.

He's tired. He's got a full belly.

Team Taronga, answer the call.

We'll be checking this animal constantly now.

And finally Dare to dream.

Really improved in two hours.

At Taronga's Wildlife Hospital in Sydney.

A critically ill baby platypus is now receiving intensive care.

Its skin and bones.

Its condition has dramatically worsened

over the last couple of hours.

Really sad to see a little plat in this situation.

Dehydrated and not dry, which is a really important

thing for an aquatic animal.

Once the animal isn't dry, that means it can't go

into the water for feeding, so it creates a knock on effect.

If the platypus can't repel water from its coat

and stay dry, then it won't be able to stay warm.

It's given 20ml.

Yeah.

At the moment, we're down to the basics now

warmth and fluids.

And just try and get him through every hour.

In any other animal,

we might consider giving this intravenously, but in a platypus

their access is difficult.

Every hour counts.

At the moment, we're just monitoring temperature.

Let's give him a few minutes back in the hot box.

We'll be checking this animal constantly now.

Especially today.

We need to monitor him very, very closely.

We're going to let him absorb some of those fluids

for the next 10 or 15 minutes.

We can then try and feed him if he's awake.

He desperately needs food, but he also desperately

needs to be in a reasonable position to be able to eat.

Otherwise, he's just in the water, not eating.

Yeah.

And and, you know, that doesn't sort of really help.

All right. Thanks, Francis.

Wake up.

It's now a little after midday, and the whole team

have gathered again to check on the tiny platypus.

He's a lot better than when we checked him at 9:00.

He certainly responded to the fluids and the heat

from this morning.

He's had seven little worms.

He's chomping and he's putting them in his cheek pouches,

which is the most important thing.

Really improved in two hours.

I love it when they do that.

With the combined effort of the Taronga team,

this platypus, critically ill only hours ago,

finally seems to have turned the corner.

He's tired, he's got a full belly.

And his relieved keepers are already eyeing off

their next move.

OK, I'm going to leave you to it.

So in three hours time, we need to feed him again.

Hopefully he'll sleep now.

Really solidly, little man.

But you never know, you know?

Ups and downs.

We'll see how we go.

Take each feed as it comes.

Recently in Dubbo, the team blood tested Liberty the Cheetah,

to see if she's any closer to falling pregnant.

Liberty had a mating about 12 days ago now,

so we took some blood from her a couple of days ago,

which was just to analyse her hormones

to see if she had ovulated.

For cheetahs, ovulation occurs after mating,

and if Liberty's tests are positive, pregnancy could well be on the cards.

Unfortunately, Liberty didn't ovulate,

which was a shame, but that's OK.

We're ready to go again.

We suspect that she's going to be in oestrus today, so

we're going to go investigate that and see if we can

pop her in with Ines again.

And they can have hopefully another introduction.

Ines.

Come on.

Good boy.

Berty. What's he doing? Hey?

Oh, she spotted him already.

I guess it's really good that she kind of ran

straight over to him.

As soon as the gates open, she bolted straight

over in his direction.

So that's a good sign.

The potential partners won't share a space straight away.

Jordy will want to see signs of feline friskiness

before the last gate is opened.

They obviously wanting to hang out together.

They're very interested in one another and obviously

he's started barking now,

which is always a good sign from the male.

They're obviously interested.

A couple cute vocals.

So the signs are looking really good with Liberty and Innes.

They're doing all the textbook signs.

He's started barking.

She's been rolling.

So we're pretty confident that we're in for a go today.

All right. You guys are happy.

All right.

Here he comes.

Innes may be an energetic partner,

but his technique probably won't win him any awards.

It doesn't look like he's in a great position,

but hopefully he'll readjust.

So typically, once he jumps off,

they'll sometimes have a little slap at one another

and they'll have a little shuffle, kind of tell him off.

Good girl, sweetie.

Good girl.

You're all right. You tell him.

So now she's rolling, which is great.

So immediately after the mating,

Liberty started rolling, which is always a good sign.

It typically means that hopefully you had

a successful mating.

And as you can see, he's hanging way back.

He's a very respectful male.

He's very reliable when it comes to introducing to the females.

He really reads their cues and he's never been any trouble.

Who said chivalry was dead?

Liberty.

You might want to keep this one around.

Happy days.

The next step for Liberty will be in another ten days from today.

We will take some blood again.

The vets can analyse the hormones

and the progesterone to see if she's ovulated

and hopefully fingers crossed this time she is actually pregnant

because we do think that she'd be a wonderful mum.

Ten days later and sadly, the blood tests were negative again.

But no one's giving up.

So Jordy will be on standby

to look for any oestrone signs

and we will definitely be trying again with another mating.

Despite the news, Liberty and Innes continue to show

interest in one another and the team remain

hopeful that they'll soon become proud parents.

Coming up.

Platypus take a team of people

all working around the clock.

A perfect example...

Come on, buddy.

..of the Circle of Life.

This puggle represents the next generation.

At the Taronga Wildlife Hospital in Sydney.

A rescued six month old platypus

has been in the fight of his short life.

Gosh, there's not much of him.

It's very little.

Hopefully we can provide him with the best chance.

Sick, emaciated and covered in parasites...

It might be a little tick in there.

..the vet staff have given him constant medical care.

I think this animal is in really critical condition.

While every few hours, the keepers hand feed

this tiny, tenacious baby.

He's a lot better than when we checked him at 9:00.

You never know, you know?

Ups and downs.

We'll see how we go.

Take each feed as it comes.

We're down to the basics now.

And just try and get him through every hour.

Sorry to say there's some terrible news.

Uhm, just found the little plat dead in the hot box. So...

Yeah. Just heartbreaking really.

Especially with platypus, because they take a team of people

all working around the clock.

Come on, buddy.

Yeah. You think I'd be used to it by now, but unfortunately, no.

It's every animal is...

You get emotionally invested, you, you know, look after them.

And it's just heartbreaking, really.

But, you know, the next one comes along, we'll try again.

We've just got to keep trying.

The Taronga staff work tirelessly to protect our native animals.

Respiration 24.

We're going to take some x-rays.

But while not every sick or injured platypus can be saved...

Quite pale. Yeah.

..the zoo's conservation team are also working hard

to ensure their numbers in the wild are growing.

Last year, we reintroduced platypus

back into the Royal National Park, and this was the first time

platypus have been seen there for over 50 years.

A year on from that translocation, the Taronga team

and their partners have returned to check on the population.

(LAUGHS)

And what they discover...

We got a platypus.

It is a puggle.

It is a first born animal in the Royal National Park

from this translocation.

(CHEERS)

For the first time in over 50 years, a platypus population

is breeding here again.

This puggle represents the next generation

for that population.

For now, seeing it viable and sustainable.

I'm really looking forward to seeing where it goes

and there's lots of work ahead for us.

Captioned by AI-Media ai-media.tv

Repair and Synchronization by Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0