All language subtitles for Taronga s05e10 Savannah Elephants

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. 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.

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

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

You should always be watching who's who,
who's where.

On this episode...

Bars are essentially the foundation of
our relationships with elephants.

There's a science.

We're checking the foot pad, we're
checking the nails.

To bath time.

We check the mouth, we ask for their
trunk up. Well, an elephant bath time

anyway. The bath itself is not sort of,
you know, a bubble bath and a rubber

ducky.

I love him.

The clock's ticking.

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

As Taronga gets mobile.

Back to Tammy Haddon.

Injection at 8 .43.

For baby Mwamba.

Be prepared.

And silent but deadly.

Male ringtail lemurs will engage in
stink fights.

Just what causes a lemur. We can't smell
it. To deploy their secret weapon. It's

definitely very pungent.

Gorillas are one of our closest
relatives in the animal world.

She doesn't like the rain at all.

And for primate keeper Beck, her bond
with Taronga's gorilla community runs

pretty deep.

One of the highlights of my career still
to this day was that I watched the

birth of Mwamba.

Mwamba is the baby of our group.

We have seven Western lowland gorillas
here at the zoo. Our troop is led by

Kabali, our silverback male. We have
three adult females and then we also

Mwamba's two elder brothers who are nine
years old and eight years old.

Taronga's thriving gorilla group are
part of an international conservation

program to protect this species against
extinction.

Western lowland gorillas are found in
the Congo area in Africa.

They are classified as critically
endangered due to a few reasons, but

loss is a big one. They are taken for
bushmeat trade as well as poaching,

especially the young ones.

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

So this morning I'm just doing a bit of
a throw -over feed of some chicory.

Chicory is really high value, so it's a
favourite of theirs.

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

Because Mwamba is the baby of the group,
he still gets away with a lot. You

know, he's six years old. He might go up
and steal some food from mum or dad or

one of the others and they kind of let
it slide. He gets away with a lot.

Bec and the other primate keepers have
noticed Mwamba has been behaving a

bit differently after a recent illness.

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

on that left leg. So instead of jumping
straight down with both feet, he's kind

of holding his weight on his arms and
scooting himself down.

He's just a little bit more tentative
when he steps over that rock there as

well.

So it's Mawamba Gorilla.

You will hand inject him in the gorilla
house and then we'll do our usual safety

procedures.

Vet Frances knows there's only one way
to truly understand what's wrong with

Mwamba, and that's a trip to the
hospital.

So in terms of his actual procedure,
because there's quite a lot of...

X -rays, you know, we're investigating
his lameness, you know, a couple of

swollen joints that he's had over the
last few months.

We do have specialists coming in to
assist with this. Emma's going to help

the anaesthetic. Yes. And Andrew is
going to do all the ultrasounds and X

and so on for Mawamba.

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

The other thing I wanted to chat about,
we check that hernia that he has. You

can see sometimes it pops out.

Absolutely, and ultrasound in that will
tell us exactly what it is and whether

we need to do anything or not.

There are always considerable risks
involved with separating a gorilla

They are fiercely protective of their
own and incredibly strong, even six

-old Muamba.

The goal is to have gorillas well away
from that area, but obviously it's an

unpredictable environment, so we'll do
our best.

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

Buddy? Mealtime. It always gives the
keepers an opportunity for a much closer

look at the animals. Hey, Rosie!

But it works both ways.

Good. It also allows all the animals to
get a much closer look at their keepers.

Perip is a young western foal, also
known as a chudich.

He is a carnivorous marsupial. They are
related to Tasmanian devils, so very

sharp teeth, a lot of personality and
very, very curious.

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

people and a little bit more nervous and
cautious about what was going on around

him.

The species are considered near
threshing, if matters around 10 ,000

at the moment.

Taronga is determined to increase those
numbers and has thus far bred and

reintroduced 30 chudich into the West
Australian outback.

What do you reckon about this spot?

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

also planned in New South Wales where
these cute marsupials are currently

extinct.

OK, excellent.

And yes...

I did just say cute, but it does pay to
stay on your toes around these

inquisitive little carnivores.

So there are some risks to working with
that species.

Cheris is fantastic, but like I said, he
is a carnivore, so there's sort of a...

We do have that little bit of caution we
still need to have as well. At this

stage, he's only showing curiosity, but
we also do have that challenge of not

knowing where he might be in this
exhibit.

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

We do find him waiting at that door
because quite often that door does

oh, there's food coming into my exhibit
right now.

That's where I want to be.

Problem is, it's not where Laura and the
other keepers want him to be.

So this is an undesirable behaviour.

We want him active in the exhibit. We
want him moving around and not pre

-empting where things are going to
happen in that exhibit.

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

can get pretty boring pretty quickly.

So the big question is, how do you feed
a carnivorous Chittich

without opening the door at the same
time?

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

but it's actually triggered from outside
the glass. So we don't necessarily need

a keeper to go into the enclosure for
him to have a reward.

It's remote controlled. We use a laser
pointer that we can load those up in the

morning, so it's nice and safe.

And then at any point of the day, we can
go out front of the exhibit and trigger

them with that laser pointer.

The idea is just to get him to a point
where that exciting stuff is happening

without any interaction with the door.
All right, he's coming down.

He's just curious.

You all right? Yeah, he's good.

From the safety of her position outside,
Keeper Laura also uses a shaker to

signal to Perep that food is on the way.

He got it.

He worked so hard.

As soon as you did that shaker.

Straight away, turned around, came
straight towards us.

It's great that we can do it remotely.

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

We can even do it for insects as well.
So you can release it all over the

exhibit.

Give them something to do during the day
and keep them really busy.

We can look at changing up the schedule,
make it less predictable for them.

Keeper safety aside, it's keeping things
less predictable that keeps a chedditch

stimulated. He's really getting into the
mice today.

He certainly never has a poor appetite.
He's always ready for his snack.

Whether that snack is just a couple of
mice or something a little bigger.

Hey, girl.

At mealtime, an animal's natural
curiosity.

is usually partnered with a healthy dose
of caution.

She's not sure if she needs to eat this
or if this is going to eat hers.

TB2, TB1. So grey, green, yellow.

Over at the wildlife hospital, the
veterinary team are preparing for a big

with a relatively small but very strong
gorilla.

Got no oxygen cylinders out yet.

We've got our youngest male gorilla,
Mawambo, who's going to have an

and a full exam today.

He's had some issues, being a bit lame
and sort of having the odd swelling in

his joints, and so we want to
investigate that.

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

This time of the morning it's like
putting together a Rubik's Cube.

A lot of work getting everything
prepared.

And we are done.

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

From practising the moves to using a
blunted syringe

against Mwamba's arm.

Touch.

Touch.

Bec has also brought along a secret
treat, a favourite of Mwamba's, to help

the deal.

Gorillas don't really pet honey like
this.

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

So we've put some PPE on, and that's
more just to protect the gorillas.

so closely related to us.

So any sickness that we can get, they
can also get. So it's really important

that when we're in really close
proximity to gorillas, we're wearing

gloves.

So I think I'm ready.

So Mawamba is going to be hand -injected
by Bec.

Good boy.

Do you want to do waiting here until
it's done?

Absolutely. We're using Zolotil and
Medetomidine.

Touch.

Good.

843. Back to Tammy Hadlam.

Injection at 843.

Amazing.

Good work. Thanks.

Just six minutes later, Mwamba is
sleeping peacefully.

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

He will have all the usual restraints
and so on.

I need extra hands.

I'll go back and do that.

Righty -o. Oxygen on.

I can feel him breathing. It's really
hard to see when the van joggles.

The distance jaw turned tick -tock a bit
when we moved him.

His rate went up a little bit too, his
respiratory rate. Still only lightly

anaesthetised, the movement of the van
is causing some movement in this 55kg

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

Frances's experience is telling her she
needs backup.

Do you want to go and grab some proper
salt? Just in case we need it in there.

Coming up, a super -sized bird...
Although she's really large.

..gets a super -sized meal. She's one of
our more cautious animals.

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

If they're smiling, it indicates stress
and a threat.

But a chimp?

The smile is quite a threatening
display.

As day breaks over Dubbo, Taronga
Western Plain Zoo is already long awake

and in the thick of the action.

Good. In the elephant barn, even though
it's morning, a very important daily

ritual is in progress.

Bath time.

Well, the bath is not necessarily about
getting an elephant all clean and shiny.

And these baths are essentially the
foundation of our relationship with

elephants, you know, whose lifespan
spans 50, 60 years.

Asian elephants are endangered in the
wild.

There are seven at Taronga Western Plain
Zoo.

So they're pretty special.

And that's why every single one of
them... gets this pretty special

They're a social animal, and you can see
she's obviously enjoying the attention.

She's enjoying being rewarded for the
cooperation. And you can see when we put

the feet up like this, we're checking
the foot pad, we're checking the nails,

making sure there's no cracks in the
nails that may require attention.

And essentially the bath is a practice
of a number of different activities that

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

Phew, so much could be achieved with one
bath.

All right. Good.

All right. Just like we check the feet
and all this sort of stuff, we ask for

their trunk up, we check the mouth, make
sure the colour of the mouth, the

tongue is a nice soft pink colour.
There's no issues with her teeth.

There's no cracks or breakages in her
tushes.

Asian elephants can eat up to 150
kilograms of food a day.

So dental hygiene is also vitally
important for the health of an elephant.

So some female elephants have very small
tusk -like appendages there. You can

see with canolae, I've broken that one
on the right side previously.

That's starting to regrow through now.

So they're not a true tusk with Asian
elephants. It's only males that grow the

tusks. Very good.

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

but it's essentially a daily once -over
to ensure that everything's in running

order, all the elephants are moving
well, feeling well, and making sure that

a daily basis we're constantly building
and maintaining strong relationships

that allow us to work in such close
proximity.

All right, Tong Dee, let's go.

While Tong Dee and her herd finish off
their bath time inside, out... their

paddocks are being spruced up, ready for
a brand new day.

Look at that lot.

It's fair to say it's a pretty exciting
time for everyone.

Perched high on the slopes overlooking
Sydney Harbour is one of Taronga's more

curious but wary animals.

She's big, isn't she?

With a wingspan of up to three metres
and weighing in at around 12 kilos, the

Andean condor is one of the largest
flying birds in the world.

And Canira uses every bit of that
immense size to be the

undisputed star of Taronga's free flight
birds.

Vultures are facing enormous pressures
all around the world. Some species have

declined by as much as 99 .9 % just in
the last 15 years alone.

Kinera is one of the Andean condors that
was bred here at Taronga, and I've been

around her for her entire almost 13
years.

And although she's really large, we find
she's one of our more cautious animals.

Unlike most birds that rely only on keen
sight to find their food, Canira has a

very keen sense of smell, which can help
these cautious carnivores find food

from up to two kilometres away.

In the wild, they are a top -order
scavenger. They're nature's clean -up

They clean carcasses extremely well, so
there's very little left to decay.

Her diet is obviously animals.

It's a meat -based diet. A lot of that
is small things like mice, day -old

chicks, kangaroo mints that we can turn
into little riffsoles.

But today, mealtime will look a little
different.

So today she's getting a nice large
meal, the chunk of kangaroo. This is

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

And it'll be nice to give her a chance
to, you know, really pick that clean.

This supersized meal deal will encourage
Kinira to express her natural

instincts. And looking after this
particular fine dining feast.

is keeper Chris.

This here is the torso of an eastern
grey kangaroo. So our full -time butcher

the zoo has been able to sustainably
source kangaroos, a protein that we use

throughout the zoo for most of our
animals as well because it's readily

available. So we have the arms, we have
the rib cage that's been cracked open

and the organs have been removed. For a
bird that really needs to shape her beak

on bone, this is going to be really good
for her health -wise, but also really

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

the hair off those bones.

And then getting into all that nice
sinew and all the different rib bones,

there'll be bones in her forearms here
and here, and there's still a lot of

meat, which is good. So she'll get some
nice, delicious kangaroo meat. A very

rare steak.

All right, let's go have some breakfast.

Hopefully that is a good enticing
breakfast for her.

Not so fast.

So she's a little tentative of this.
Wings are out. She's ready to go.

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

What a good girl.

...it takes a lot of planning and
preparation to keep their paddocks neat.

This is one of our larger paddocks out
here in Dubbo and every morning we have

to come out and set that paddock up for
the day.

And so it involves raking up a bit of
sort of old hay and then, you know, it's

hanging up hay bags, putting our browse,
scattering some fruits and vegetables,

things like carrots that we scatter
around to encourage movement around the

entire exhibit.

And it really wouldn't be a day in an
elephant habitat without one unmissable,

unmistakable, ever -present ingredient.

You can see obviously there's a lot of
undigested material in here. So

only eat, elephants only digest 40 % of
what they eat. So a lot comes out the

other end undigested. And that's one of
the sort of ecological functions for

elephants. They're, you know, nature's
ultimate gardeners.

Incredibly. Elephants are instrumental
in keeping their forest rangelands

healthy, eating and dispersing seeds up
to 65 kilometres from their original

tree. By the time we're finished today,
this trailer will be very full.

Look at that light.

Keeper Brad clearly knows his stuff.

And who wouldn't when you're shoveling a
few hundred kilos of it?

every day.

But enough about what comes out.

Let's talk about what goes in.

The elephants here only eat about half
the volume of what a wild elephant

The food that we have, commercially
derived hay and things like that, are

higher nutritionally than wild branches
and grasses and sticks and so forth.

So we need to come up with novel ways of
getting the elephants to spend more

time eating less food. And one of the
hardest things to do with elephants is

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

And so we need something a little bit
more robust for the boys. The boys can

destroy the hay bags with their tusks.

And so this poly pipe does the trick,
and then the elephants can access it

through the holes. And obviously, by
containing it in there, it takes these

elephants a little bit longer to eat
that portion of hay than would just

it on the ground.

So in addition to the hay and the other
enrichment activities, we also use

these. There's a pineapple plant. So we
source these from southern Queensland.

They'll rip this off and then put it
into their mouth. And it's a good source

roughage in their diet, good for their
teeth, good for their digestive tract.

And then, yeah, we pick up the rest as
it comes out the other end. Well, I

we were bound to get back to the other
end eventually.

Taronga's Sydney vet team is
transporting six -year -old gorilla

wildlife hospital.

We're investigating a couple of swollen
joints that he's had over the last few

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

His rate went up a little bit too, his
respiratory rate. And that's the last

thing anyone wants to happen inside this
confined space.

Could we have the lifters, please? Any
movement? We'll come in straight back in

here.

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

intubated and under full anaesthetic
immediately.

All right, so we're going to bring him
in and we're going to put him head in

towards me. Ready? One, two, three.

Okay, let's get him attached because
now's the time where he's going to wake

That should be the right place.

Mwamba's up at the hospital. We're
getting all his monitoring equipment on

There's a lot of hustle and bustle and
so on. We want to get him stable on the

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

Andrew, a specialist at reading X -rays
and ultrasounds, has been called in to

help with the examination.

So we're going to start going through
his procedure now that he's stable on

table. He has, I'm pretty sure, has had
a slightly swollen knee and a swollen

elbow.

But his abdominal hernia is where Andrew
wants to start.

So Andrew's going to have a look at
Mwamba's belly button. You can see his

button just there.

He's going to have a look with the
ultrasound.

Sometimes the keepers are seeing a bulge
in that area and we're investigating

whether he's got a hernia or not. The
hernia is really just a gap in the

where there shouldn't be one.

If that gap is too large, Mwamba's
intestines could push through and

get trapped by the muscle wall.

We want to make sure it's not something
that he needs any treatment for.

So this is the abdominal wall.

Yeah. There's just like a tiny bit of
fat that kind of pulls up.

Yeah. Very small gap, like 1 .2
millimeters.

So very small, yeah.

So now it leaks the intestine around the
wall. So this is intestine right here.

So then that's the fat around it. So it
doesn't come anywhere near the wall to

extend to it, which is great.

With the hernia now ruled out as a
problem, Frances and Andrew turn their

attention to Mwamba's legs.

What do you reckon of that one?

I think these ones are also a bit
swollen compared to the other side, so

might indicate that there could be some
degree of arthritis.

So that would be likely the face of his
big toe, yeah. The face of the big toe,

and there's more fluid in that than
expected.

Yep. We might start with him on his back
and just take all the pictures, and

then we'll have to turn him over to get
ready for natural. Yep, I like it.

Everyone out.

X -ray.

I think that was in spirit tree, but...
I think still there's probably a little

bit more increased soft tissue opacity
compared to there, which is what you see

when there's more effusion.

Thankfully, Mwamba's bones are fine. X
-ray, everyone clear?

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

Oh, I'm going to be X -raying
everything.

And as for this young gorilla's feet...
It's not amazing, is it?

No one has the answer yet as to what is
causing the swelling and tenderness.

It's mealtime at Taronga, and today,
Kinera, the Andean condor, is

being served up a gourmet breakfast to
remember.

There she is. She's watching.

A specially sourced kangaroo carcass.

painstakingly prepared by her keeper,
Chris.

I think she'll mostly be interested
because it's a new and different thing

the environment.

Most of our animals, or most wild
animals, are overly cautious of new

the environment because they're not sure
if they're safe or not. So she'll

probably pick at it a little bit, and
then I think she'll get pretty excited.

Hey, girl.

Conera usually eat, well, like a bird,
just small portions.

So today's carcass feed is a real treat,
specifically designed to get those

carnivorous juices flowing. Cheers.

So we decided that we're going to put it
up here on one of her top higher

perching options.

mostly so that she can use more of her
habitat than just walking on the ground.

They do like to walk around, but when we
arrived this morning, she was perching

up high, so it's not uncommon for her to
be up in the air. But yeah, she doesn't

often get fed like this up here, so
hopefully that is a good enticing

for her.

They do say when it comes to fine dining
that presentation is everything.

Hey, release it!

It's a curious but cautious start.

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

that it even is a food item.

OK, maybe presentation isn't everything.

The cautious animal gets to live another
day.

When her wings are out, that was her
showing that she's a little tentative of

this. Wings are out, ready to escape.

She's ready to go.

But as we see, the more time that she
spends interacting with her, the more

brave she gets with that. And you can
see that she's going back for some more

now.

So this here is what we were really
hoping to see, that out in the wild with

full carcass, she'll be getting that
head deep inside to get all to the juicy

bits that are in there.

Yeah, Conera's really using her head
now.

So she's finally figured out that she
sticks her head in. It's a little bit

easier to get all to that meat.

In the wild, they would gorge feed and
then they might not eat for another day

or two while they're roosting up on the
mountain.

I'm really happy with how this has gone
as it's the first time that we've done

this for her, but she's figured it out.
So yeah, couldn't be happier.

I reckon she's feeling pretty good too.

Well, we could ask her, but really.

One shouldn't talk with one's mouth
full.

Got my code.

Here you go.

And speaking of mouthfuls... Well done,
buddy.

Over in the Great Southern Ocean's
habitat, there's another thirst on the

for another curious creature called
Kobe.

It only takes a minute inside either of
Taronga's two zoos... to be mesmerised

by the sights, smells and sounds of the
zoo's many residents.

Yes, they can be a shock to the senses,
but they're also the most fascinating

forms of communication.

While we're not at the Dr Doolittle
stage of being able to talk to all the

animals,

We've done a lot of research into how
different animals communicate.

Dr Ben is Taronga's resident animal
interpreter.

Animal communication has a huge bearing
on their life. It's about how they

do everything from raise their young,
find a mate, defend their territory.

It's quite often used to build
affiliation between individuals and we

chimps where they groom each other,
there'll be quite a hierarchy of who

who in order to establish those sorts of
bonds and relationships between

individuals. The great apes, the
gorillas and chimps, are our closest

relatives. In fact, we share 98 % of our
DNA with chimpanzees.

So we share a lot of traits, but smiling
isn't one of them.

Even amongst other primates, the signals
can be quite different to in humans.

The smile is quite a threatening display
with them as well. If they're smiling,

it can indicate stress and a threat at
an individual rather than a happy, let's

come and play.

These visual cues are used by the
primates to avoid things getting more

physical.

In the animal kingdom, fighting is
really costly and most animals don't

get into a fight. And so all these ways
of displaying and establishing

dominance, particularly amongst males
that we see, is a way to get the

information across without having to get
into a fight.

And one of the great examples that we
can see here in the zoo is our lemurs.

Ringtail lemurs are from the islands of
Madagascar. They live in small, multi

-male, female groups, and the females
are the boss. During breeding season,

ringtail lemurs will engage in stink
fights. For us, we can't smell it, but

another lemur, it's definitely very
pungent.

What they do is actually they bring
their tail forward in front of them and

they'll use these scent glands here on
their wrist to embed the scent onto

tail. They flick it around over their
head and then they start waving it at

another lemur.

Their scent is like a very complex
bouquet of smells and it tells a lot

that lemur in particular.

So if they want to be the best...

smelling, so they can attract those
females because females will only choose

highest ranking or the male that has the
best genetics.

All this communication, whether it's
sights, sounds or smells, doesn't just

happen between animals of the same
family either.

You might see a bird listening in to a
primate, for instance.

So they're actually gathering
information beyond their own species,

about the environment in general.
There's all these different adaptations

animals have found to be able to get
information across to each other and get

information from the world as well.

Unfortunately, some of the information
being gathered is not always music to

ears.

Oh, so peaceful.

Anyway, more about that later.

At the wildlife hospital, Taronga's
youngest gorilla has been undergoing a

series of x -rays to try and find the
cause of his badly swollen joints.

We're going to be x -raying everything.

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

It's not amazing, is it? There's no
significant obvious change.

I'm seeing a lot of changes with
arthritis.

But overall, it looks really good.

What's not really good is that there's
still no answer as to what's causing

Mwamba's swelling.

Andrew, we haven't done the medial of
the left stifle, but do you think it's

worth doing that? You've ultrasounded
it.

Yeah, I think it's fair that we could
hold off, yeah.

So visiting specialist Andrew moves on
to the ultrasound.

This is mostly fat, so I'm not seeing a
significant amount of joint effusion.

Again, no obvious problems with Mwamba's
knees.

Looks like everything's pretty smooth.

Or his feet, which means no nasty
surprises for Mwamba's keeper.

Beck. There's no horrible radiographic
changes in his joints. OK, so, like,

then causes, like, his lymph and stuff?
Well, he can still have soft tissue

changes. Yeah, right. So it would still
be painful. But it doesn't have to have

so many changes. Yeah, OK. Well, that's
good, then. There's no... Yeah, OK.

Everything is good news.

The verdict?

Like so many other six -year -olds,
Mwamba might just be experiencing...

Growing pains.

Mawamba's our youngest male gorilla at
the moment. He's only six.

He's got a lot of growing to do. He's
still immature in his body size.

Prepare the stretcher.

We will consult with the immunologist
again and just say, hey, here are all

blood results.

Got any other suggestions?

You know, where do we go from here if it
gets worse? So we'll just have to track

how he goes.

Everything looks great.

He's going to be a little bit groggy, a
little bit sleepy for a little while,

but otherwise he's looking good. Get
that in as far as you can. One, two,

I'm happy. He's back in the house. The
family's happy.

And like none of this ever happened,
Mwamba is soon back living his best

Are you guys good?

So Mwamba's just up the back there. It's
been about a week since his general

anaesthetic and his visit to the
hospital. He's doing a lot better.

He's much improved, walking around well,
running around with the boys like

nothing has happened.

He's definitely far better this week.
He's big and he's beefy and, yeah, it's

cool to see. He's a beautiful little
boy. He is. I love him. He's so cheeky

yeah, he's cool. He's a cool gorilla.

For Taronga's keepers, it's always a big
occasion when their newbies try

something new.

Come on, Kobe. Here you go.

Well done, buddy.

Oh, so cute.

All right, come on, little man. And
today, one little fur seal pup is

to take a big life step. So this is
Kobe, and he's just turned one, and he's

just starting to learn the ropes.

Kobe had just been weaned from his mum.
He's had to learn what it's like to eat

fish, which sounds silly with a seal,
but he'd had milk his whole life, so it

was a bit of a transition for him. But
he's now eating well. There you go, bud.

At the moment, his favourite fish is
whiting.

And he's also starting to learn that the
whistle means that he's going to get

fish. So that's some of the basic
training that we started with him, and

a really effective tool for us.

when we're teaching him new things.

You're a bit full.

Fur seals, by nature, are really quite
inquisitive. So as Kobe grows up, the

marine keepers like Ange are always
looking for fun new ways to keep them

stimulated.

We really want to get Kobe comfortable
because he has to be prepared to see new

people, new colours of clothes and
different size groups.

He's getting to the point where we think
he should be okay to come out and just

spend a bit of time with his trainer.

We'll try to make it a fun experience
for him, maybe with some toys and some

food, and we'll keep it really brief so
that it's really positive for him.

Kobe is about to make his first public
appearance, where he will experience a

whole heap of new sights and sounds.

I'm a little bit nervous. It's his first
time, and any new situation with an

animal can be a little bit...

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

But he won't be going it alone.

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

And a nice big good morning from Bondi
as well.

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

Bondi was one of our rescue seals. He
was found washed up on the iconic Bondi

beach with some pretty severe shark
injuries all over his body.

Luckily for Bondi, though, he does have
a second chance at life and also has

contributed to our very special breeding
program.

Nice work, mate.

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

dad's flipper step.

One of our most recent additions is
Kobe.

What's up, little man?

Then what we're going to be doing today,
something very special, is Kobe's first

time coming out here in front of all of
you. Should we go in the big pool?

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

For a first appearance, you could
forgive a little stage fright.

Kobe, what up?

What up?

Hey, for you, buddy.

That's awesome.

Kobe.

He's like, who has the fish?

Kobe.

Not me.

Mr. Hey, there you go.

But Kobe's debut goes swimmingly.

Oh, you're so brave, buddy. So brave.

That's awesome.

Experiencing these new sights and sounds
feeds the field's natural curiosity.

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

So I think Keeper, Ange and Kobe are
heading out the back. Now let's put our

hands together for Kobe. Didn't he do a
great job out here this morning?

Debut done.

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

Little seal coming through.

He was fantastic.

I'm so proud of him. He's done
everything that we were looking for, and

can just continue to build on that and
build his confidence out there even

Next, the symphony of sound. It's quite
uncanny.

That is Taronga. That's one of the ways
they show how clever and attractive they

are to a potential mate.

whether it's lions roaring or snoring or
gibbon singing.

All of the many animal behaviours on
display at Taronga are actually complex

forms of communication.

And when it comes to verbal
communication, there's one particular

Taronga that might sound very familiar.

Birds are perhaps one of the best -known
vocal groups in the entire animal

kingdom. Because of the competition
between individuals to attract mates, we

see the development of incredibly
elaborate songs in some species.

Possibly one of our most iconic
residents here in Taronga is Echo, the

Lyrebirds are mimics.

And so they listen to sounds in their
environment and incorporate them into

their own song.

By the sounds of it, this one's been
playing a little too much Space

and that's one of the ways they show how
clever and attractive they are to a

potential mate. The more different bits
that they can incorporate in and the

more complex they make their song, the
more attractive they are.

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

incorporated some really incredible and
what we would think quite complex

sounds.

It's quite a realistic baby cry that it
gives.

But also amazing things like the sound
of our fire alarm. It's quite uncanny.

Relax, everyone. Please stay where you
are. This isn't even a drill.

It's just Echo.

He's trying to build complexity in his
song, and so he's bringing in these

sounds and trying to sound interesting.

Like anybody, you want to be a bit
interesting and dashing, and that's

what he's trying to do.

Wow, mission accomplished.

You've won me, Echo.