Original subtitles

NARRATOR: They say don't ever work with babies or animals.

But what if they're baby animals?

It was only born this morning.

On this all-new season...

welcome back to the ever-changing world of Taronga

where you'll witness things you never thought possible.

You can actually hear her breathe.

And meet new faces...

Oh. Hi, buddy.

..you'll never forget.

So good.

It's time to discover...

Oh, my God.

..exactly who's who in this zoo.

On this episode, Taronga seal team launches.

We're going to have a drone team fly over and count them.

Hitting the skies...

The thermal camera on the drone actually shows

the temperature of the animal. ..and the sea...

They really blend in with the rocks.

..in pursuit of their target.

There's one just there.

Project Pinata.

So we've got some large balls.

Relax, relax. It's not what you think.

We are going to pop some kangaroo mince

in each of these balls.

Can you let the lions out now, please?

And what's got two legs...

Hungry, buddy? ..two hands...

Luke to Miles Wheeler.

..and is a truly rare species?

Alrighty. Let's go.

Did you guess Luke?

Keeping is a bit of a side hustle for me.

Beneath the tranquil waters of Taronga Seal Cove,

something fishy is going on.

Something very fishy.

So this is basically food prep 101 at Taronga's Marine Department.

Here at Taronga we've got 16 seals.

So these are each of our fur seals diets for the day.

The variety of fish that we have

obviously specific to that particular seal.

April over here and Bondi.

And up above, some seriously hungry seals

are patiently waiting,

including one of Taronga's favourites.

That's Bondi.

He's one of our rescued New Zealand or long-nosed fur seals.

So these guys are a native species to Australia.

Go.

Specifically these guys are found here on the east coast.

Bondi, here.

He was found on Bondi Beach.

So obviously that's where he got his name.

And when we found him he had a very severe injury

down his left hand side.

These are the remnants of the scar all the way from

down there, back up to here.

The wound was consistent with a large shark.

It was touch and go for quite a while with Bondi,

but the main thing is he obviously survived.

Bondi was just a three-month-old pup when he was rescued.

Bondi.

But the extent of his injuries prevented him from ever

being returned to the wild.

It's over ten years ago now that Bondi came to us

and since being here, he has become a dad for a few times.

Bondi is doing his bit for a fur seal population

that was once heading towards extinction.

Back in the early 1900s, these guys were

actually hunted, but they have banned seal hunting.

And as numbers continue to increase, we're more likely

to see these guys breeding in the Sydney, in the Sydney area.

So obviously we're going to have more interactions with people.

These guys, although cute and cuddly and usually quite

relaxed, will inflict injury into people, especially when

backed into a corner.

To better understand these interactions,

Taronga is keeping a very close eye on the seal populations

in Sydney and beyond.

It's a really big, important focus of ours to try and make sure

these guys are in and around our environment for,

for not only now, but obviously a long time to come.

Isn't that right, buddy?

So, armed with Bondi's seal of approval, Taronga is sending out

one of their team on a statewide high-tech seal counting excursion.

The animals are the stars of Taronga's two zoos.

But they can't shine without the massive team of volunteers.

You want to drill another hole around the other side.

And today's mission, Project Pinata.

I'll give you a bit of a demonstration.

Liz, a 15-year volunteer veteran,

and youth-at-the-zoo volunteers Renee and Camilla

are perfecting the art of papier-mache.

Smooth it out.

The more layers, the better because it'll take them a lot

longer time to destroy it.

If you only do one or two, they'll just flick it and it'll be gone.

Sure, they might not be wrangling a rhinoceros,

but perfect pinata preparation can be just as hairy.

These are for the lions.

It's their birthday soon.

And Taronga's pride of lions can scarcely

contain their excitement.

We have a beautiful family of seven lions here at Taronga Zoo.

Atto is the dad. Maya the mum.

So she's our oldest lion.

Then Atto and Maya had five beautiful cubs.

They've actually just turned three years of age.

When we first opened this enclosure, the lions absolutely loved it.

And it took them quite a few months to really get used to

all the little nooks and crannies, the different terrain

that we have. But over time they come out

and it's the same enclosure.

So it's our job then to make sure that we're providing

something new and different to them every single day

to keep it interesting.

So today we're going to give them pinatas.

These are fantastic.

This is going to be a really exciting day, particularly

for the younger ones. So we've got some large balls.

We've got a watermelon because of course lions

have watermelons in the wild.

We've got ibis as well. Good old Australian native.

Uh, not those ones.

These ones, also affectionately known as the bin chicken.

OK, so now we are going to pop some kangaroo mince

in each of these balls.

They've got lovely holes at the top already made for us.

So we're going to pop some food in there.

And that'll just add to the lions' joy this morning.

Not only do they get to play with these, rip them apart,

but then they're going to find some food inside them.

I think I'm going to use about that size.

That way it's a nice amount for a lion.

And maybe just should we just do one per ball and I'll do...

And any leftover roo mince, we can hide it around the exhibit.

Pulling the balls apart, ripping them open

and then finding some food inside.

That all mimics that kind of hunting, stalking, chasing

prey behaviour and which is so important for our lions.

That mince doesn't stand a chance.

We've got two more to do.

Well, that's if those lions make it through

Liz's papier-mache packaging first.

It's such an important part of our jobs,

just as important as the all the cleaning and feeding that

we're doing is providing our animals with things that

they would do exactly like they would do in the wild.

Over at the new Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Centre,

there are more than 40 scaly and slithery species

to care for.

Hello, everybody.

And with all those bellies to fill,

feeding time is always a performance.

So this is our food prep room.

This is where we make all of our food for our animals.

So chopping salad and collecting bugs.

Crickets and wood roaches are on the menu.

It's not a bad office.

We get to play with all these amazing species

and learn new things about them each time we come to work,

which is a real buzz.

I've been a casual reptile keeper here at Taronga for nearly

three years now.

As a reptile keeper, my job is to look after different parts

of the reptile collection.

I look after all the animals that we've got off-display.

These are our breeding pair of red-barred dragons.

This is a male here with all of his bright blues

and yellows and oranges.

And this is a female here.

The, you know, dull grey brown.

And these guys have actually just finished their breeding season.

So the last couple of months, there's been a lot

of head bobbing and dancing around from him, trying to

get her attention. And it paid off.

We got a little clutch of eggs out of 'em the other week,

which is really exciting.

Yeah, so this is five-year- old Luke's dream job.

If you told him you'd be standing here being a reptile keeper

for a living, he'd be pretty stoked.

A new day...

Luke to Miles Wheeler. Go ahead.

..heralds the start of a new shift for Luke.

Hey, Miles. Just leaving the hospital now to come down

and check out the gecko.

And while the uniforms the same, today's job

couldn't be more different.

If we've got some time, we'll do the basilisk as well.

I'm pretty lucky I get to wear two hats here at Taronga.

Keeping is, you know, a bit of a side hustle for me.

I've graduated uni a couple of years ago and now I'm working

as a vet as well, which is, you know, an even bigger dream.

Alrighty. Let's go.

We're just here to do a bit of a recheck on

a rough knob-tail gecko who's got some skin issues.

Hello, Luke. How are you doing?

I'm good, thank you very much.

Now, while Taronga is known for caring for so many rare species...

I love this room.

..this time the rare species is Luke.

Taronga's only keeper-cum-vet.

So there's our little one that's been having

a slight issue, as you can see underneath.

Yeah. So it's a decent abrasion she's got there.

So this is our female knob-tail gecko.

She's got a bit of abrasion and ulceration

on her belly.

I think we're dealing with a bit of a local infection there.

Definitely hollower in the belly. Last time I saw her,

she was sitting quite deep.

We'll definitely stick with the Flamazine.

Yep.

But I might throw pain relief in the mix as well.

One of my favourite animals to work with.

They're just full of personality.

I think we're on the mend.

The amazing thing about working at Taronga is the fact that

it's such a big, diverse collection.

And right on cue, keeper... uh, vet Luke

is about to be faced with a much bigger challenge.

Got a few lesions around his neck.

It looks like some sort of strangulation or crushing injury.

Yeah, definitely very critical.

Louise to Georgia, can you let the lions out now, please?

A wild birthday surprise.

This is going to be a really exciting day.

And the mystery injury...

I'm not convinced we've still got a heartbeat.

..threatening an Aussie icon's life.

Wildlife conservation is one of Taronga's highest priorities.

And today's mission has Taronga's animal behaviour expert

travelling to the sparkling waters of

Sydney's northern beaches.

We're here at Barrenjoey to do a survey of the fur seals.

This is the first time we've ever surveyed the entire

population of fur seals in New South Wales.

For the last few years now, there's been a growing haul out

of seals here at Barrenjoey.

A haul out is where you get seals coming and resting,

and while it's great to have them here, they can be hauling out

on places like boats or on people's front lawns,

and so there's potential for them to come into conflict

with boat strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.

Hey, Ben. Jamie, good to see you.

Ready? Yeah, let's go.

It's great weather for it.

Taronga has teamed up with the Department of Environment

to learn more about seal and human interactions.

So now we need to know how many seals there are

and where they're coming out along the coast so that we can

manage those interactions.

This high-tech seal team are testing a new piece of kit

designed to zero in on these hard-to-spot creatures.

We're going to have a drone team fly over and count them.

And then another team, including myself, are going to count

the seals using binoculars so that we can compare the results

that we're seeing from the drone and from the boat. If

the results match, the drone will get the green light

for future surveys.

But before they can count them, they're going to

need to find them.

We're up here at Pittwater, which is about an hour north of

the Sydney CBD, and it's around here on Barrenjoey Headland

that the seals haul out, isn't it?

You find them here at the western end of the headland.

And the reason for that is that they get protected from

the predominant southeast swell, and they're also

protected from the wind.

It's a fantastic spot for them.

Million dollar view.

These million dollar views come with

a multi-million dollar price tag.

So do you reckon we actually start from this end

or and work our way around?

It's where Sydney's elite come to relax.

And supposedly so do the seals.

Yeah. We've got two main focal areas

with this Shark Rock.

We may as well go in and have a look.

They're really cryptic, aren't they? They really blend in with the rocks.

Well, I did say supposedly.

They can also get in under the ledges sometimes.

Yeah, the brown of the fur seal, it's a bit hard to tell.

Here we go. There's one just there.

And from the Pacific Ocean

to Taronga's great Southern Ocean habitat...

Hey, buddy.

..keeper Ben is paying a visit

to one of Australia's iconic ocean birds.

Pelicans are found in most areas of Australia,

especially along the coastline.

Pelicans were never my favourite birds back before I started

keeping, but the first animals I ever really worked close with

was these two boys.

Out of the way. And the more I got to work with them,

the more I got to see their incredible personalities.

Good boy. Um, yeah,

so in the morning when I'm coming in, when you do see

that wing flapping behaviour, it's an anticipation behaviour.

Come on, buddy. You look hungry.

It's them just getting really excited that they're about to eat.

Hello, handsome.

And who wouldn't be excited about a fresh seafood feast?

This morning we're just working on some tactile behaviours.

Being able to check his entire body condition, especially

around his chest where his keel is, so he can make sure that

he's not going underweight.

Come here, buddy.

Touch. What we're really working towards with these guys

is those cooperative care behaviours.

Touch. Good.

At the start, they didn't trust me as much

and I got to build through that rapport with them.

Having that trust and having that rapport with their trainer,

it removes stress from their environment. Good boy.

And an environment free of stress...

Touch. ..means these pelicans can live a very long.. Good.

..and fish-filled life.

Both our two boys were born in human care in another facility

and relocated to us about 16 years ago now.

But here at Taronga, being on the harbour, we do get

quite a lot of rescues coming into our wildlife hospital,

especially pelicans and seabirds in general.

Taronga is Sydney's largest catchment for

seabird rehabilitation.

We do quite often get them coming in after being

hit by a boat or caught in awkward positions.

And across at the wildlife hospital...

Just trying to hear the heart.

..that's exactly what has happened.

I'm a bit concerned he might have a neck injury.

With his vet hat firmly on today,

Luke is treating an injured pelican

brought in by a concerned member of the public.

He's had an accident fairly recently.

He was struggling to stand before.

There's a bit of swelling here. And he's got this lesion here, too.

This is a pelican that's found stuck between a few wharves.

So he's got a few lesions around his beak and the base

of his neck there.

And given the lesions we're seeing around his face

and neck, it looks like some sort of either strangulation

or crushing injury.

Yeah, definitely very critical.

I'm just going to induce his anaesthetic now.

The wing itself feels OK.

The true extent of the pelican's injuries aren't obvious.

I don't think his pressure is very good.

And Luke is concerned the bird might now be in shock,

which can cause dangerously low blood pressure.

Just trying to hear the heart.

Yeah. It's hard to get anything.

Yeah.

I'm not convinced we've still got a heartbeat.

In Taronga's African savannah,

plans are underway for a very big, very proud pride party.

Well, that's about all I can take.

Three.

Oh, look at you, legend.

Alright, so we have pinatas today for our lion family.

Now, how are we going to get through the door?

Well, I've got fingers. I've got fingers!

The lions are going to get very excited

the moment they see us walk past them with these toys.

Hey, guys. Look what you guys have got.

Yep. Those lines look pretty excited.

They're literally beside themselves.

Alright.

We have to work out where we're going to put them all.

The lions love this. They love these activities.

They just have to be spaced apart enough so that

all the lions can separate. Yeah.

Once we've put them out, we're going to see running,

playful behaviours.

That's for Mr Atto, our daddy lion, who generally doesn't

partake in enrichment, he just usually goes and sits

and watches out for his family.

We're going to see if we can stand the ibis up.

With every one of these pinatas stuffed full of juicy meat...

Oh, awesome. Love it.

..this ibis is now technically a sitting duck.

We want to try and make this a little bit interesting for them.

Our cubs are three years of age.

And while they look like they're fully grown,

they still are young at heart.

So enrichment activities like this really get them excited.

And they're the ones that I expect are going to...

Oh, is that going to stay?

They're the ones that I expect are going to get the most benefit

out of what we're doing today.

Well, certainly more than these papier-mache birds.

Oh, there we go. Mr Ibis is up the tree.

Alright, I think... Are we ready to go?

Can you let the lions out now, please?

Off the northernmost tip of Sydney,

Taronga's animal behaviour expert Ben

is on a seal counting mission.

They can also get in under the ledges sometimes.

It's the first step of a massive project

to count the Australian fur seal population across

the entire state.

This time of year, we're just about reaching the time

the big males start heading south to the breeding colonies.

Problem is, so far he hasn't found any.

Really cryptic, aren't they? They really blend in with the rocks.

Here we go. There's one just there.

Oh, and another. There's several.

You can smell them as well. You know they're here by the smell!

A bit whiffy.

So yeah, we've got probably two slightly

older individuals and one or two slightly younger ones.

While the seal's natural camouflage does make them hard

to spot among the rocks, Ben's seal team have come prepared

armed with the very latest in surveillance technology.

We need to do a little bit of set up on the drone.

I'm a drone pilot.

My job is to use this drone here, which is a thermal drone,

and what we can do is put it in vantage points

that you can't see from the ground or on a boat.

If the thermal technology works, it will be a game-changer,

making it much easier to keep track of

Australian fur seal populations along the coast.

There's a couple of cool tricks to help us find seals.

It can synchronise a colour image with the thermal image.

We can zoom in where a seal is camping out.

We're able to look and find seals that might be in the nooks

and crannies around the rocks.

I've found another seal here on the rocks, and it's just

hanging out, having a snooze.

And the thermal camera on the drone actually shows

the temperature of the animal.

It's currently 21 degrees.

And once we've confirmed an identification of

the seal, we can drop a pin on the drone just like this.

And the team in the boat can confirm if they have sighted

the same seal or not.

So there's five there.

While the boat team are making their own count...

These two are definitely New Zealand.

I haven't seen the face of the other one.

..they spot a problem.

Three fishermen are heading straight towards the seals.

The seals are here. The seals are here.

Don't want to disturb them because we won't get our drone shots

if they jump in the water.

They can sense him.

Guys, you're going to disturb them.

Just go that way.

At Taronga's Wildlife Hospital...

We're just going to induce his anaesthetic now.

..vets Luke and Naomi are examining a critically injured

wild pelican that's just been rushed in.

It was found stuck between a few wharves.

Before they can treat the bird's injuries,

they need to assess its heart rate.

Just trying to hear the heart. Yeah.

But there's a problem.

His anatomy is not our friend today. Mm.

They've got a bunch of air sacs that sit under the skin

above the bone and muscle, and they're basically giant floaties

that keep an otherwise giant heavy-bodied bird afloat

when it's sitting on the water.

Those giant floaties are making it difficult for Luke

to find the bird's heartbeat.

It can be a bit tricky to hear.

I'll be happy once I get a decent trace.

The pelican's heart rate will help Luke determine whether

the bird is in shock, and just how injured it might be.

We can always try a Doppler on the wing.

Yeah, actually, that'd be a good idea.

There's a vein here and this is a Doppler machine.

So basically, we'll turn the heartbeat into a noise that

we can track his heartbeat with.

That's so difficult. Yeah.

I can't hear anything. Yeah.

I'm not convinced we've still got a heartbeat.

Might have just been a bit too compromised.

Yeah.

Luke tries to locate a heartbeat one last time.

Finally, some good news. OK.

Yeah, I'm getting a steady 200 now.

The ocean bird's heartbeat is consistent and back in

the normal range.

We'll take an X-ray, at least of that neck.

So now the team can get on with the job

and fully investigate the pelican's injuries.

I'm a bit suspicious we might find a dislocation

or fracture there.

We'll see what we can find on X-ray, just to see

what's going on in this region.

Transfer him to the gaseous circuit.

While an X-ray will give Luke a much clearer picture

of the pelican's long neck,

he'll first need to sedate it more deeply

with an anaesthetic gas.

Normally, we'd like to advance these tubes a fair way

down there, but right at his glottis here, there's a bit

of a membrane that pelicans have that's going to stop us

going too much further.

The membrane stops water from passing down the pelican's throat,

but now it's stopping the anaesthetic tube.

Oh, it's already slipped out again.

Yeah. They'll need a plan B.

On the Barrenjoey Peninsula on Sydney's northern beaches.

Guys, the seals are here.

Some wayward fishermen are getting too close

to a herd of resting fur seals.

The seals are here. You're going to disturb them.

If they jump in the water, we won't get our drone shots.

And for Taronga's Ben and his partner agencies

who are trying to count this seal population,

it's going to make a difficult job even more difficult.

Down here, there's no seals.

The fishermen sit on that flat rock just up there.

There must be a path sort of back on that flat rock.

So you're better off being here

otherwise you're going to disturb them.

There's a track over that way apparently.

It's pretty steep. Be careful.

Come down this way. But just go that way.

Hey?

He's found the track. Yeah.

As the fishermen move away, the skittish seals

can finally relax.

(COUNTING)

And so can Ben and the team.

And that gives nine.

Yeah. They've being quite active at the moment, which is.

There's one in the water.

I've been looking.

It's important to keep your distance away from seals.

As the population is recovering, one of the biggest pressures,

particularly around places like Sydney,

is people loving seals to death and getting too close.

So when there is a seal hauled out, it's really important

to keep your distance.

And 40m is a good distance to stay away.

And also if you're walking your dog and there's a seal

on the beach, you want to keep your dog on a lead and keep it

away from them as well.

Their time on land is a really important time for them to rest.

10, 11.

There's two further down as well.

I've counted 16.

We'll have to see whether the drone picks up stuff

that we're not seeing.

Fur seals are experts at camouflage

on land and in the water.

Oh, there's one in the water, is there?

But the drone's thermal camera

is giving Ben and the team an unfair advantage.

And so if we zoom in here, we can actually see a seal

that's currently in the water.

And so we can click on the map there and it tells me

the temperature of the seal.

It stands out quite obviously in the thermal imagery.

The seals are so well insulated from the cooler water

their body temperature makes it near impossible to hide

from this eye in the sky.

Drone technology's really become quite a valuable tool

for scientists.

The beauty of having eyes in the sky is that we're able

to map quite a large area in locations where it's not

feasible to bring a boat in, enabling us to more accurately

count the populations of seals in New South Wales.

While the drone continues to locate even more seals,

Ben moves on to phase two.

While we're here counting the seals, we've also got

a great opportunity to check out their general health

and potential injuries and see whether there's any that might

need some more attention.

And if they do find any injured fur seals...

They're definitely adults.

..this survey mission might just become a rescue mission.

Oh, look at this one on the top of the rock.

He's got an old bite or something like that.

On the shores of Sydney Harbour,

Taronga's African savannah is teeming with bird life.

No, not those ones.

These ones.

Louise to Georgia.

Stuffed full of minced meat,

the papier-mache is in position and the lion pride are primed.

Can you let the lions out now, please?

Let the enrichment games begin!

Here they come.

So they're all running out exactly as I hoped that they would.

Excited. Running straight for the balls that we've put around.

What I love about Maya the mum, even though

she's 12 years of age now, she's running. She's playing.

Actually, I thought one of the cubs might jump up there,

but she's showing them how to do it, how to reach out,

how to grab those things out the tree.

And that's another behaviour that we want to encourage

because it's like mimics that catching prey in the wild.

And then them having to, you know, open the hide of the prey

to be able to get to the meat.

Putting out enrichment like this, it really taps

into a lot of those wild instincts that they retain.

They don't ever lose. And they're showing us that right now.

And with their lookalike paper cousins

getting all the attention,

I'd say these guys are winning too.

Luzuko, he's one of our young males and he's just spotted that

ibis that's up the tree.

So what I'm expecting now is that they've expended lots

of energy, and they'll most likely do what all cats do,

and they'll go and sleep the rest of the day away.

In the wild, they would do the same thing.

They would hunt, they would feed, and then they would rest.

And that's exactly what our lion family are all starting to do now.

So this has been a really, really successful day.

And as you can see, the lions have had

an incredible amount of fun.

So actually there is an ibis still sitting there.

So they haven't even noticed it.

But I guarantee by the end of today it'll definitely be gone.

But for now, this particular bin chicken

lives to fight another day.

At Taronga's Wildlife Hospital,

a very sick wild pelican has been brought in

to treatment room one.

I'm a bit suspicious. we might find a dislocation

or a fracture there.

And Luke, a part-time Taronga keeper,

and vet is investigating its injuries.

It's definitely a unique approach to be

both a keeper and a vet.

Right at his glottis here,

there's a bit of a membrane that pelicans have that's going to

stop us going too much further.

The bird's anatomy is preventing Luke from passing

a tube down its throat so they can administer

an anaesthetic gas.

Oh, it's already slipped out again.

Next door there is a pelican mask. You want to do that instead?

That might be the go.

Wow! That's awesome. Yeah, right.

Exotics medicine 101!

While it does look a little exotic,

this homemade mask is perfect for this long-billed native bird.

It's a nice big, deep breath there. Yeah.

Get him on his side.

Yeah, sure. Great.

Help his air sacs.

Turning the pelican on its side helps keep the bird's

airway clear, making it easier to inhale the anaesthetic.

Turn the house lights off.

X-ray.

You can see a bit of what looks like possibly

bruising on the X-ray.

This kind of increased whiteness here.

It's just an indication there's more fluid in the site.

So it's pretty consistent with bruising.

Bruising has shown up on the pelican's neck muscles

close to the skin.

And that bruising we're talking about.

Given that he was found not really being able to use

his hind end, I'm pretty suspicious we do have a spinal cord lesion.

A spinal cord injury can be difficult to assess on the X-ray.

Do you want to come down slightly?

But the bruising and the bird's difficulty walking

suggest the delicate cord has also been damaged.

The thing about prognosis with spinal lesions is that

in a bird this size, the nursing care will be quite difficult,

particularly given his anatomy.

We're not going to be able to immobilise that neck and keep it

safe, say like a cat or a dog.

Luke... (UNCLEAR)

Luke radios vet Cresson for a second opinion.

Not seeing a lot of displacement of the spine,

but I don't think that rules out a spinal cord injury.

Yeah.

We've definitely still got that soft tissue swelling.

Yeah.

What we say with any spinal injury, it can take a few weeks

to months to years to sort of come right.

And unfortunately with this guy, the kindest thing

to do would be to...

It's gonna be euthanasia, unfortunately.

Sorry about that. Yeah.

The pelican's injuries are too severe for it

to make a recovery.

Yeah. It's not an easy call to make.

It's not something we take lightly.

But we're really lucky in veterinary medicine

that we have euthanasia as an option.

It's, you know, essentially an anaesthetic overdose.

So he will just drop into a really deep sleep

and eventually his heart will stop.

And, you know, it's a very humane and peaceful process.

It doesn't get easier, but I think

we'd all feel worse if we didn't have it as an option.

It's in his best interest if we put him to sleep

rather than letting him suffer.

Next, the results are in.

I wouldn't have been surprised today

if we'd only found half a dozen to maybe ten seals.

And it's not what anyone expected.

On Sydney's beautiful coastline,

Taronga and its partners have begun the state's largest ever

fur seal survey.

Counting and assessing the health

of this seal population from the air...

The seal is a lot hotter than the water around it.

..and from the sea.

We can see them over here resting in the water where

they lay on their side, and they stick their flipper up,

and they sometimes grab onto their rear flipper as well.

And that's really important for them because they swim

incredibly long distances, thousands of kilometres

at a time without going back to land for a rest.

And so they need to be able to rest on

the surface of the ocean.

It also lets them regulate their temperature,

their body temperature as well. By sticking their flipper up,

they can get a nice breeze across that and they can

bask in the sun.

So they're really, really well adapted to being at sea

for almost all of their life.

Oh, and look at this one on the top of the rock.

It looks like a bite or something like that.

A little youngster just here, too. Yeah.

It's a one-year-old. Yeah.

A little juvenile on the main rock.

Yeah.

I think there's three of probably this year's pups.

On the rock?

Yeah, like the one right up on the very top. Yeah.

That's this year's pup. OK.

They all look like they're in great condition.

Their coats look really nice.

Really good body condition.

They're all looking fairly plump, which is nice to see.

There was one animal that had a small, old, cookie cutter shark bite

on it that had healed up nicely, but all the seals

are in tip-top condition.

They've obviously been foraging quite well over the winter.

The size and health of this particular seal herd

has surprised even this salty skipper.

Six years ago, there were none here.

We've got two more animals up here.

Actually three more.

And with the new addition of the drones, Ben and the team

have really sealed the deal.

We collected lots of great information.

So we'll be rolling out this drone technology at multiple

seal colonies so that we're able to get more of a spread

of information of how many seals are visiting different locations.

That'll help us really understand what pressures

they might be under and what their populations are like

at the moment.

And as we move to other locations, the drones will really

provide a lot of value, enabling us to more accurately

count the populations of seals in New South Wales.

Now it's time to process some of the images that we've captured

and try and confirm some of the counts that the team on

the boat were able to capture.

Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised today

if we'd only found half a dozen to maybe ten seals.

We actually counted 27 seals.

27 seals accounted for, just a few thousand to go.

But that's a survey for another day.

Yes, that was a good day. Great day.

Yeah, we counted a lot of seals.

This survey today is the first of many to come.

With seals returning to the coastline in New South Wales,

we're going to be seeing them on our beaches all the time.

So the best advice for people is if you do see them,

keep your distance, stay that 40m away from them.

If you're walking your dog, keep your dog on a leash.

But if you do see an injured or entangled seal, call through

to the authorities and people like National Parks and the zoo

will be able to go and assist that seal and hopefully rehabilitate it

and get it back out into the wild.

More than what I was expecting to see.

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