Original subtitles

(UPBEAT MUSIC)

VIRGINIA GAY (NARRATES): They say don't ever work

with babies or animals...

(MONKEYS COO)

..but what if they're baby animals?

Oh, no.

It was only born this morning.

On this all new season...

(ELEPHANT TRUMPETS)

..welcome back to the ever changing world of Taronga...

(UPLIFTING MUSIC)

..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.

(TIGER ROARS)

On this episode...

You can even hear him purr every now and then.

(CHEETAH PURRS)

Who knew this cheetah is a real pussycat?

Hey, handsome boy.

But a trip to the dentist...

Can I have a look in your mouth?

..can change everything.

Hopefully, it's a straightforward thing.

Well, let's get him tubed, and then we can get him on the gas.

A rookie keeper...

Holy moly, how am I going to do that?

Feeds a ravenous python for the first time.

My mum's gonna love hearing about this.

Hmm. I wouldn't be so sure, Kayla.

And you've heard of a pain in the neck.

It wasn't what I was expecting. Amazing to witness.

But what about a baby in the neck?

One of the most exciting moments of my career today.

(THEME MUSIC)

(UPLIFTING MUSIC)

Taronga Western Plains Zoo

lays claim to some of the animal kingdom's

most impressive record holders.

There's the tallest land mammal,

the heaviest land mammal

and keeper Kaitlin has just spotted another,

the fastest land mammal.

Hello, Innes.

Innes is one of our more talkative cheetah. Innes.

He is always making noises.

Currently, we can hear him

what we would call a chirp or a chirrup.

(CHEETAH CHIRPS)

Which sometimes sounds like a bird.

And if you listen real carefully,

you can even hear him purr every now and then.

(CHEETAH PURRS)

He is a hand-raised cheetah,

so, this doesn't happen with all of our cheetah,

but Innes is very used to humans being around him.

Hey, handsome boy.

(CHEETAH YELPS)

Cheetah are renowned for their speed, 113km/h.

So, very impressive,

and they can get to that within seconds of taking off.

So, they can cover up to several metres of distance

with every stride that they take.

So, every part of that body is crucial to them

being our fastest land mammal.

And there is one particular thing

that will get chatty cheetah Innes up and running, breakfast.

(CHEETAH YELPS) Come on, Innes.

(INTRIGUING MUSIC)

Hello, big boy.

How are you feeling? Innes is 11 years of age.

For us, that is considered an older age for our cheetah.

Innes. (CLAPS)

Hello, handsome.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

Hi. Can I have a look in your mouth?

(CHEETAH YELPS)

Over the past couple of weeks,

we've just seen that he starts

to be extending his tongue from his mouth

or he's shaking his head in an odd way.

Good, boy.

And we're wondering if maybe something is lodged

in his mouth or if one of his, um,

teeth aren't right or something's going on in there.

So, at the moment, I'm trying to feed him in a way

that I can maybe get a little bit of a glimpse in his mouth,

so, I can see if there's anything in there, but it's quite hard.

Keeper Kaitlin suspects

Innes might just need a date with the dentist.

We do need to find out if something is going on, um,

that we can't see that's causing him grief.

We'd really like to get to the bottom of it.

There you go, handsome, yeah.

Now, we're finished. Yeah.

(BIRDS CHIRP) (GENTLE MUSIC)

Everyone at Taronga is wild

with excitement over the birth of a new baby.

Pygmy hippopotamus Kambiri

is a proud new mum to her five-week-old calf.

It's just thrilling watching

the baby splash around in deeper water.

That's it. Good girl.

And no-one is more excited about the zoo's newest bundle of joy

than her devoted keeper, Tracy.

Well, I've known Kambiri since she was born.

I looked after Kambiri's mother.

She is an amazing individual.

She is the best mother I've ever known in pygmy hippos.

She adores her babies.

She will stand guard over them day and night.

She will leave food if her baby needs her

and she is so protective.

The pygmy hippo is critically endangered in the wild,

so, every new baby is precious.

They're found in Western Africa.

It's estimated only around 3,000 are left in the wild.

And they are not to be confused with their bigger cousins,

the common hippopotamus.

A pygmy hippo is obviously the smaller of the two species,

hence the name pygmy hippo.

They're only about a fifth of the size of the common hippo.

They are solitary.

The female and the male have adjoining territories,

and they only come together to breed.

Which means the new baby hasn't met her dad,

Taronga's male pygmy hippo, Fergus.

Fergus is a very interesting boy.

Well, we only put them together when Kambiri is in oestrus,

which had happened on July 5 last year,

and immediately,

she led him to the water and they started mating.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

Early October, we decided to do an ultrasound on her,

and straight away the vets could spot a little backbone.

We were absolutely blown away by this.

We were very happy.

And then the very special day arrived.

Does seem to be in labour.

There we go. There's the sac.

It's very close now...

and she's straining, she's pushing.

While this particular baby was born in what you might call

the conventional manner.

There we go. We have a baby.

We have a calf, and it's moving, so, that's always good.

Not all of Taronga's new additions arrive

in such a regular fashion.

It was pretty crazy the first time

I saw the Norfolk Island snails being born.

The babies are born out of their neck.

The whole baby, shell and all, pretty much just crawls on out.

Ah...

Well, come back to that one later.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

At Taronga's two zoos,

there are more than 200 keepers caring for the resident animals.

Good boy.

And every single one of them had to start somewhere.

I'm a trainee keeper here at Taronga,

and I have been here for three years now.

And another one.

The majority of my work involves cleaning and feeding of the animals,

as well as some of the training aspects here

that we have with some of the reptiles.

You hungry?

Kayla is training on the job

to become a fully qualified zookeeper.

Hello, rattlesnake.

And that means learning how to feed the reptiles,

all the reptiles.

So, what we have in here is a corn snake.

Um, so, they're a North American species of rat snake.

Um, completely nonvenomous,

so, they are harmless and they move and act like a python,

but they're not considered a python.

(TENSE MUSIC)

With reptiles, they can be quite unpredictable.

Here at Taronga, we have a classification system

for all of our animals.

For things like a small carpet python,

they are harmless.

(TENSE MUSIC)

An anaconda or a freshwater crocodile,

they are listed as hazardous.

But Rachel, she is listed as dangerous.

Rachel is a reticulated python,

which is the biggest snake in the world.

An injury from Rachel could potentially lead to death.

And I'm working towards feeding her.

We're on. Whoo!

As a reptile keeper,

there's lots of steps that we have to take

towards working with dangerous animals.

Oh, do you wanna grab the shield?

I'm going through a sign off process.

I have to watch a senior keeper work with the animal ten times.

She's keen. Feeding her.

She might want you.

Servicing the exhibit around her.

I have to then do those things ten times.

So, and then my final sign off is feeding her.

One senior keeper in particular who is leading me is Chris.

He really is a wealth of experience for junior keepers like us,

and he's taught me pretty much everything that I know

about reptiles up to now.

So, we've only just pulled it out of freezer this morning.

And Kayla's next lesson?

Not how, but what to feed Rachel the python.

Some people might find it confronting

when we feed the whole animal, particularly rabbits,

because people might have them as pets.

It's no different to us eating beef or lamb, hey?

Exactly right. Yeah.

So, you can see it's still covered in fur

and it's got its head and all the organs.

Snakes do need all the stuff

that we as picky humans scrape off our plate.

So, what do we do with it now?

We'll just let it come to temperature slowly in the fridge.

Three days.

Perfect.

So, in three days,

Kayla will watch Chris feed this 5m long reptile.

Then soon after, it's her turn.

Are you nervous? A little.

We do, of course,

need to have some pretty solid safety precautions

working with a dangerous animal like Rachel.

It's important to continually train up new keepers

to maintain staff safety.

We'll bring this in here with us too, Kayla.

Make sure they're comfortable with the snake,

make sure they're interacting

with the snake in all the right methods.

And then we eventually hand the tongs

and the bunny over to Kayla

and she's then going to be doing the feeds.

I'm definitely feeling very nervous working towards that.

I've seen her get a little bit excited about food

and I've definitely been like,

"Holy moly, how am I going to do that?"

(CHUCKLES)

Better you than me, Kayla.

(TENSE MUSIC)

(INTENSE MUSIC)

At Taronga Western Plains Zoo,

this rather large predator is not happy,

which is making his keepers worried.

For cheetah Innes, over the past couple of weeks,

we've just seen that he starts to be fiddling in his mouth.

He's extending his tongue from his mouth,

or he's shaking his head around.

Picky boy. Poor, picky boy.

So, we're just interested

to see if there is anything lodged in his jaw

or all of his teeth are nice and healthy,

anything in the throat.

The little Innes.

So, we're bringing in the vet team

to have a better look and a closer look.

So, today we're gonna see, you know, what's going on.

So, one of you will hand inject him, then we'll-we'll come in,

we'll pop a catheter in and actually just look in his mouth.

Cool. Thanks, guys. Alright. Good luck.

The team are hopeful Innes will take a hand injection.

Otherwise, they will have to resort to darting him.

You're gonna be a good boy, aren't you?

Good boy. You're gonna be a good boy.

We get you. How are you over there?

We don't like to have to dart animals

'cause it's stressful for them and it's stressful for us.

And if we can do a calm hand injection,

it's just much nicer for everybody, really.

While the keepers might be calm, Innes also gets a say.

And no-one can predict just how a cheetah

with a sore mouth will react to a sharp needle.

OK. Happy? Happy.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Darling.

And he's had all of that. Oh, well done.

You are such a tough boy. Well done.

Good boy, Innes. You are a little legend.

Jordy to Jelena, he's had that full injection.

We'll be there in a few minutes.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

Hopefully, Innes has a gumnut stuck on his tooth.

Mmm, yeah.

Yeah, it's a straightforward thing

and not a big dental extraction. Yes.

Sometimes we'll find the cheetah might have chewed on a gumnut

or have a little piece of bone or something wedged in his mouth,

but we're also keeping in mind that it could be something

a bit more sinister.

Good boy, Innes. You're OK, buddy.

Keeper Kaitlin is keeping watch,

waiting for the sedation to take its effect.

Jordy, Jelena, he's down. If you guys wanna start coming.

The injection went really well. He was such a champion.

Didn't react at all, so, really happy with-with that.

He's breathing nicely. Alright.

So, I might just roll him over.

Onto this side.

Well, we'll-we'll go back to that way.

(TENSE MUSIC)

You guys are good to come in.

We might just, um,

get that IV line in and get a towel on his eyes.

(TENSE MUSIC)

If you wanna do catheter, I'll just cover his eyes up.

And you're doing the anaesthetic? Yep.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Bit more? Yep.

I'll just lay this down under his legs,

and then we'll just slide it under him,

and we can bring him out from the fence.

Ready? One, two, three.

OK.

And now we can check-in his mouth and see if we can see anything.

Just open up for me.

And it's Vet Jelena who gets the honours

up the pointy end.

So, we're just having a look to see if there's any obvious reason

for this funny chewing that we've been seeing.

Well, there's no gumnut.

No gumnut also means there's no simple solution.

(GROOVY MUSIC)

If we don't see an obvious cause, we'll probably...

pack him up and take him up to the hospital.

(TENSE MUSIC)

(MACHINE BEEPS)

(GENTLE MUSIC)

Every once in a while,

something so mysterious, so miraculous happens,

it has to be seen to be believed.

Oh, that's awesome.

And this is that once in a while.

Look at her.

Taronga is home to some

of the most critically endangered animals on the planet.

Good boy.

But the rarest of them all, the Norfolk Island snail?

The Norfolk Island land snail,

it's definitely not one of the most well known animals

we have here at Taronga.

However, it is incredibly special.

It's only a couple of years ago that it was actually thought

to be completely extinct.

Sure. It's rare. Really rare.

They're-they're quite elusive.

But that's not the miraculous part. This is.

This adult snail on the brink of extinction has just given birth,

but not how you'd expect.

And in a world first,

Taronga's keepers have caught it all on camera.

It wasn't what I was expecting. It was pretty amazing to witness.

But before we look at that little gem,

how on earth did this once

thought extinct animal end up at Taronga?

Go on. Here we go.

To answer that,

we need to go back

to an island around three million years in the making.

Norfolk Island is found off the east coast of Australia,

about 1,000km away.

It's basically what's left of a volcano that was active about

two to three million years ago.

The fertile soil and rainforest are perfect habitat

to this little snail.

However, unfortunately,

it was declared extinct by the year 2000.

But then a team of scientists stumbled across some live snails.

And so, the hunt was on.

Taronga teamed up with the Australian Museum

on a rescue mission to locate this tiny,

elusive land snail.

(GROOVY MUSIC) Oh, look.

Go on. Here we go.

(UPLIFTING MUSIC)

Hey.

But when this snail mail arrived back in Sydney,

the breeding didn't go as well as hoped.

Of course, when we started,

we really didn't know anything about them.

We spoke to lots of different snail programs around the world.

We got a lot of good advice, but unfortunately,

comparing one species of snail with another species of snail,

it's pretty much like comparing the care for a fish versus a bird.

They're all so very different.

And these particular snails proved to be very, very different.

That was quite a stressful period.

While the original adult snails were breeding,

none of their babies were going on to breed themselves.

But every day we checked those tanks and there were no babies.

It was...it was always a bit of a punch in the guts.

Keeper Tarryn is very invested

in keeping these slimy little snails alive.

They are really remarkable animals.

Their eyes are actually at the end of those two long tentacles

that come out the top of their head.

They also have two other tentacles that sit lower than the eye stalks.

They're actually used for olfactory orientation.

So, more or less, it's a sense of smell,

which is really important.

It's how they find their way to food sources.

We believe it's also how, for the most part,

they find their mates as well.

But for whatever reason,

there wasn't much mate finding going on.

Every single day we would go into those tanks hoping,

hoping to see a baby born.

I remember very, very clearly

that first day of peeling back the Glad wrap

and seeing that very first bub born from adults that had been born

in the program here was a really significant moment

and probably one of the most exciting moments

of my career to date.

And just how those babies arrived?

Well, that's the miraculous bit. But we'll get to that later.

We're just having a look to see if there's any obvious reason

for this funny chewing that we've been seeing.

At Taronga Wildlife Hospital in Dubbo,

it's a nervous wait for the carnivore keepers.

If we don't see an obvious cause,

we'll probably pack him up and take him up to the hospital.

Cheetah Innes has a sore mouth,

so, Taronga's vet team have sedated him

to try and work out why.

Could be that he might have something stuck

in the back of his mouth or he might have a dental problem.

Yeah, I think he's probably gonna need to go back.

Nothing obvious in the mouth,

so, we're going to take him up to the hospital

and see what we need to do, um, take some X-rays, etcetera.

Alright.

Well, let's get him tubed, and then we can get him on the gas.

At the moment, we're just gonna put a tube down his throat,

so, we can intubate,

so, we can put him onto anaesthetic gas

while we're transporting him,

and then we'll be able to transition straight onto the gas

in the hospital once we get up there.

Good job.

Innes has just turned 11.

That is considered an older age for our cheetah.

Turn, one, two, three.

But his mother lived till she was 17,

so, we do hope for a lot longer.

One, two... Three.

Given Innes' advanced age,

the vet team will want to keep the cheetah sedated

for the shortest time possible.

Yep, OK. If you guys are up to slide him.

Yep. One, two, three.

Alright. Just watch that pulse oximeter.

So, I'm just gonna pop him on some fluids.

We've just connected up a drip.

OK. He's on. Thank you.

He's on. (MACHINE BEEPS)

Yep.

We wanna just make sure, particularly being an older cat,

that we're protecting his kidneys.

We're also just going to run some electrolytes

and just make sure that the potassium is staying normal.

That can be a complication for these guys

if they're under anaesthetic for a long time.

Yeah. Cool.

But they can have, um,

some effects on their heart with their heart rhythm.

So, we just wanna make sure that

if those levels are getting high,

we...we...we know that, and we can,

there are things that we can put in place

to prevent any problems.

Vet Jelena is back at the pointy end.

He's got a little pocket.

Um, do you wanna come and have a look?

So... See that?

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

But this time, she'll hopefully be able to get to the root

of the problem.

That's pretty confronting, hey?

(UPBEAT MUSIC)

Back at Taronga in Sydney.

It's game day.

I'm so nervous.

You're gonna be OK.

Trainee keeper Kayla is joining reptile keeper Chris

for a python feeding lesson.

But next time, she'll be in charge.

You are nervous. Look how sweaty your palms are.

I'm sweaty because I'm in a jumper.

And whole rabbit is the one and only dish of the day.

We brought it up to room temperature.

Yeah. Cool. You OK with that?

Yeah. Yeah?

I'm a bit nervous, but I'm good. Let's go.

(UPBEAT MUSIC)

So, I think it's been about a month or so, since she's been fed.

Yeah. Cool.

So, we should expect a decent response today.

It's actually been six weeks, three days,

and a couple of hours since this python had a meal.

So, a decent response is pretty likely.

Rachel, she's classified here as a dangerous animal.

That means that we have to be very careful

with how we interact with her.

So, we'll bring this acrylic shield in with us too, Kayla.

Ah, it's a bit of a sturdy little barrier

for us to protect ourselves from the snake...

Yeah.

..in case the-the snake comes towards us.

Do you want to take that? Sure.

Bring that in with us. Come on in.

(TENSE MUSIC)

This is Kayla's first time up so close to the 5m snake.

It looks like she's sitting right at the end there,

so, we can come and approach her.

And the hungry python knows they're coming.

She looks like

she's in a pretty good little ambush position there.

Reticulated pythons as a species can be very, very snappy.

So, she can sit in the same patch of forest for months on end

waiting for prey to come to her.

And when it does, she'll bite lightning fast.

We could put some food in front

and probably draw her a little closer towards us.

I expect she'll grab it quite quickly.

Yeah.

She'll still try to apprehend it as if it's live prey.

Being a python, she's totally non-venomous,

um, but her ability to constrict prey

is probably our biggest danger at the moment.

The species has certainly been known to kill people before.

She's just over 5m in length, probably up around 60kg.

She has a lot of muscular power,

she wouldn't bite and let go and that's the danger to us.

Yeah. Ah, so, we'll just grab the bunny.

We'll offer it to the snake whole...

Yeah. ..in-in one piece, head first.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Do you want me to get ahead of you with this shield?

Yeah.

Um...

The snake will ideally grab the head, wrap it up,

and won't take long to do the rest.

Yep.

Push up a little, Kayla. Yep.

And just protect yourself with that, hey.

Yeah. Yeah.

And she'll be smelling it now.

She's gonna strike out quite quickly.

Think she's just gonna shoot from that position.

She's tongue flicking a little.

(TENSE MUSIC)

There she goes. Back up, Kayla.

Every habitat at Taronga is lovingly cared for just

as much as the animals themselves.

Hi, there you. Coming up. That's yours.

Good girl. Like the Western Plains Savannah.

Roughly half in each. Just pour it in there.

Yep. Or the great Southern Oceans.

But not every habitat is quite so obvious.

I'm obviously surrounded by different palms here in Taronga.

We're very lucky to have this kind of habitat here,

and yet here I am on the ground

with an old decaying palm frond here.

But that's exactly what we're looking for.

These palm fronds are soon to be homes

for Taronga's clutch of critically endangered

Norfolk Island snails.

So, these come from mature palm.

As they get old, this palm base

will really kind of fold in on itself,

and that's where we will find the adults out in the wild.

But there are actually very few adults left

on Norfolk Island to find,

and that's why Taronga is trying to breed them.

So, even though this is just one big old palm frond,

this is actually a number of habitats in one.

So, this is perfect.

Once the fronds are collected,

keeper Tarryn carefully positions them

into the snails' tanks.

Now, all good. OK.

Think of the fronds like the snails' home

and the tanks kind of like their local neighbourhood.

We have some challenges here in Sydney

because we are in a quarantine situation.

So, we sterilise everything that goes into the tanks.

We have to make up our own food for them.

It's a lot of work for an animal

most of us would call a pest.

I suppose a lot of people question why we should care about the snails.

Snails are a really important part of the ecosystem,

so, they're our decomposers.

So, they hang out on the forest floor,

breaking down that ecosystem.

So, that gets nutrients back into the cycle,

and that's really where the whole ecosystem starts.

That's why it's really important

that this breeding program is successful.

But to begin with, it wasn't successful.

A couple of years into the breeding program

and well, not much breeding.

Of course, when we started, we only had eight to keep track of.

And that population grew to just 14.

A sluggish start when you're trying to save an entire species.

So, we made some adjustments to our husbandry.

We went from counting every day to counting once a week

and really leaving those adults

to their own devices to do what they do.

Making any changes into a species like this that is so fragile,

you know, it's a scary thing to make any change

to their husbandry because you don't know,

one small change could have a drastic effect

on the whole population.

In this situation, it did.

Luckily, it was a positive drastic effect.

At our most recent count, we now have over 400 snails,

75 of which are adults giving birth

to a new baby snail every four days,

our numbers are increasing exponentially.

We've almost got more snails than we know what to do with now.

And that wasn't the only surprise.

Yes, yes, we are finally getting to the miraculous bit

I mentioned earlier.

You know, the birth bit.

It was pretty crazy the first time

I saw the Norfolk Island snails being born, um,

which now I think about

it was probably quite a lucky moment.

Babies are born out of their neck.

It wasn't what I was expecting either.

There is a genital pore on the side of their neck and the whole baby,

shell and all, pretty much just crawls on out,

which looks pretty crazy.

It was pretty amazing to witness.

The genital paw is basically the snail's reproductive organ,

which just happens to sit on its neck.

Now, to have so many that we're actually looking

at reintroducing them back home where they belong, I mean,

these opportunities to work in a conservation program like

this don't always... Well, they don't come up readily.

So, it's a pretty special opportunity

to be able to work with a species like this.

No, I guess it's not that often that you come across a previously

extinct live baby neck birthing snail

from a tiny island in the Pacific now, is it?

(TENSE MUSIC)

Ah, here we go.

Do you wanna come and have a look?

So, see that?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

That's pretty confronting, hey?

At Taronga Wildlife Hospital in Dubbo,

Vet Jelena has identified a problem

in cheetah Innes' mouth.

Yeah, so, he's actually got a little hole there.

So, I wonder if he's got a little tooth root infection.

I found a pocket behind his carnassial tooth

just on the top right.

Oh. (CHUCKLES) Yucky.

Basically, a little hole there that was packed with grass

and other foreign materials.

So, we've just given that a clean out.

There's something in there that's kind of mobile.

I think he might have a dental infection

or a tooth root abscess,

so we're gonna do some dental X-rays to-to investigate that.

Alright, ready? And X-ray.

Because anaesthetics are quite risky for older cats,

the vet team are moving quickly to keep today's procedure

as brief as possible.

Oh, that root. Yeah.

That's... Yeah, it's that one. Yeah.

What we've just found on this dental X-ray

is a big shearing tooth in the top jaw.

On that right side has got a-a tooth root infection.

So, basically, the root of the tooth,

we can see that the bone has sort of dissolved away,

which is an indication of infection.

So, that's telling us where the problem is.

It's the biggest tooth in the cat's mouth.

This tooth has actually got three roots.

It's one, two, three. Yeah, they sure are.

So, the fix for that is to extract the whole tooth

and allow that gum to heal,

and that should hopefully resolve his problem.

And that's his little papilla, right?

Yeah. So, there was a little bit of fluid that came out of it.

Cool. OK.

It'll take two seconds.

Alright.

Take this end... Time to go, big boy.

OK.

This is a bit of a job to get it out

just to keep the anaesthetic time down.

But at the moment,

that's gonna be causing him a fair bit of pain.

(INTRIGUING MUSIC)

And just protect yourself with that, hey.

Down at Taronga's reptile house.

She's just gonna shoot from that position.

Trainee keeper Kayla is learning how to feed a python,

a 5m long, hungry, deadly python.

So, do you wanna back up, Kayla?

Yeah.

(TENSE MUSIC)

OK. Mm-mm.

Rather than the rabbit,

the snake has lunged at Kayla's shield instead.

I feel like every single time we do a first feed with me,

they always come at my feet.

I'm like, am I a bad omen?

Let's hope not.

Senior keeper Chris still has to give it another go.

(TENSE MUSIC)

She's coming at it. She's sniffing it.

She's keen.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Dinner is served.

Nice.

(TENSE MUSIC)

So, Kayla, I just generally try to give it a bit of a wiggle.

Yeah.

This will tell the snake that the prey is still alive.

It just elicits a far better feeding response.

You can see that she's wrapped it a little bit more intent.

(TENSE MUSIC)

You know, a good bite from one of these

and a well placed constriction can certainly, uh,

kill prey far quicker than some venom.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Once it's satisfied the prey's dead,

she'll let go reposition her head,

um, over the prey's face and start to consume it

whole and head first.

(TENSE MUSIC)

She can certainly eat something four times this size.

Oh, wow. That's impressive.

(TENSE MUSIC)

That rabbit is probably enough for her to eat

for the next six or eight weeks.

The python's passed with flying colours.

But what about the trainee keeper?

Kayla went really well.

She hung around me with the shield.

She didn't go in overly confident too,

which is always a bit of a red flag.

So, we'll-we'll get her in for the next feed I think,

and she can maybe conduct that herself.

(TENSE MUSIC)

You comfortable repeating that process next time?

Yeah. I feel pretty good. I'll be nervous, but I feel good.

Yeah. I think it's always a bit of a thrill when we do it.

Definitely a first time for me.

We just don't wanna see

a bite on anything other than a rabbit.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

Over at the wildlife hospital in Dubbo...

And X-ray.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

The vet team have spotted a deep infection

in cheetah Innes' tooth.

So, the tooth and its root have to come out.

So, what you've got is a big root at the back that's like,

probably like that.

And then at the front,

there's kind of two small ones here and here.

The difficulty is this particular tooth

has three roots and they all have to be removed.

Right.

So, it's-it's a big job to take out

and he'll end up with...

a gap...

going on.

So, you're going do a maxillary block.

So, we're just doing a nerve block now.

A nerve block is a local anaesthetic

that will help keep Innes pain free

during and after the tooth extraction.

Problem is, given Innes's advanced age,

it's not a quick procedure.

Just having a look at the next lot of blood.

So, we're running a blood test every hour

just to check the electrolytes.

One we're particularly worried about with cats is potassium.

Um, we don't wanna see it rising to the point

where it could affect his heart rhythm,

but at the moment it's perfect.

This is one of the biggest teeth in the mouth.

Um, so, it's gonna take quite a bit of manoeuvring to get it out.

Because this is oral surgery, um,

the best way to take this tooth out is actually to section it.

I'm just making a gum flap.

The gum flap will be used to cover up the hole left

by the missing tooth.

It's gonna get very bloody just so, you know.

(TENSE MUSIC)

I call zoo vetting, it's like the ultimate GP,

because not only do you have every type of illness,

injury, disease, you have every type of animal.

There's root one.

So, that's the back-back half of the tooth.

There you go.

So, with one root out of the way, there are two more to go.

So, she's made a cut through here...

Mm-hm. Mm-hm. ..to remove that root.

Yeah.

And now we've got to split those two in half

because we don't want the tooth to break.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Alright.

Yay. (APPLAUSE)

Wait. One more to go. We got one more to go.

So, he's gonna have stitches in his mouth after this.

OK. Neat little stitches.

There won't be, like, a hole where the tooth was.

So, for the next two weeks,

we'll take all his bones out of his diet,

and we'll just have, just meat on its own.

The final root has been removed.

But rather than plugging that hole straight away,

Vet Jelena still has some concerns.

I've taken the tooth out. Now, I need to take a dental X-ray.

I'm not convinced that there's not a problem

with the tooth in front.

(TENSE MUSIC)

(INTENSE MUSIC)

At Taronga's Reptile House in Sydney,

there's a real sense of anticipation in the air.

Chris to Kayla, can I meet you down at food prep for this retic feed?

(TENSE MUSIC)

This morning, we're gonna get another feed

into our reticulated python.

What makes today a little bit different is Kayla.

I'm sweaty.

It's been six weeks since the reticulated python,

affectionately known as Rachel, has been fed.

And today, Kayla gets the honours.

Today will be her first day feeding this snake, um,

which is a good little milestone in her career.

It's all part of Kayla's traineeship.

If she passes this, she's one step closer

to becoming a fully qualified zookeeper.

This is my first time feeding the reticulated python.

It is a little bit of a nerve wracking experience,

obviously, because she's such a large snake.

Yeah, she is our biggest snake,

so, she's up over 60kg, 5.5m or so.

The reach is further, the-the bite's harder.

It's just putting yourself in the right position

and making sure it's behind the food.

You could technically fail this if you aren't confident

or if you come out of it more scared or more nervous than

when you started.

Yeah, nah.

As far as exams go,

I would much prefer any other exam on any other day.

They're pretty dangerous.

The risk is being bitten and constricted.

When Chris fed her all those weeks ago,

the python lunged at Kayla.

So, I have to be really cautious with a snake of her size,

and I will be luring her over

with the rabbit on the end of the tongs.

(TENSE MUSIC)

We're on.

OK.

(TENSE MUSIC)

So, when I go in, she's obviously gonna be

quite interested in the rabbit.

So, I just have to watch her behaviour,

how she's approaching me,

and making sure that I keep a safe enough distance.

(TENSE MUSIC)

It's definitely become very serious that I'm doing it now.

You never know how the animal's going to react.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Might have to just razz her a little in that leaf litter.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Has she seen it?

Yeah. Just come in a little.

Little higher just so, she can see it.

(TENSE MUSIC)

There you go. There you go. So, just stay behind the shield.

Yeah.

Let her keep coming to you.

(TENSE MUSIC)

That's it. That's it.

Come on, girl. You want this?

You see it. I know you do.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Should I? Just leave that around.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Nice.

Bullseye. Bullseye. Yeah.

It's good that she goes straight on the head,

so, now it should go down nice and easy.

(TENSE MUSIC)

My mum's gonna love hearing about this.

My mum definitely thinks

that I'm a little bit of an adrenaline junkie

or a thrill seeker.

Look at her muscles working. It's so impressive, hey.

Yeah.

I think that if my mum was to ever see

what I was doing in real life, she would probably faint.

Oh, down the hatch.

Yeah. Snake had a great response.

She followed the cues straight away that Kayla was putting out.

Definitely very exciting and a milestone in my career.

They've given me a lot more confidence

to work with these species.

Did I pass? You passed.

(CHUCKLES)

So, yeah, Kayla nailed it. Perfect feed.

Maybe the apprentice becomes the master.

Maybe. Call me grasshopper.

(CHUCKLES)

(TENSE MUSIC)

Back at Taronga's Wildlife Hospital in Dubbo...

I've taken the tooth out.

..Vet Jelena has found and extracted an infected tooth

and its three roots from cheetah Innes' mouth.

I'm not convinced that there's not a problem

with the tooth in front.

Now, there's concern the 11-year-old cheetah

may need a second tooth extraction.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Because the tooth roots are quite close together...

Yeah.

..we just want to make sure that the next tooth along

hasn't been affected.

So, we don't wanna leave anything behind

that might cause a problem.

X-ray.

(TENSE MUSIC) (X-RAY BEEPS)

No, I think I've taken it out.

Oh, yeah.

Alright, I'll close-close it all up. Yep.

With the neighbouring tooth all clear,

it's finally time to sew cheetah Innes up.

So, we've made a flap of gum and bone.

That means that we can actually close that completely.

Mouths do heal really quickly, usually a couple of weeks.

The stitches will dissolve, we don't have to take those out.

And next time we look in his mouth,

we'll probably find that that's all completely healed

and he'll just have a nice healed gum there.

Which is welcome news for Innes and his keepers.

Ready? One, two, three.

You've got your ketamine? Yep.

Got him? Yep.

One-one, two, three.

One, two, three. More.

Two, push. More.

And he's gonna be feeling way better by the time

he wakes up, so, very grateful.

Alright. That reversal is worn.

He's starting to...

with his little tongue.

He's starting to blink...

and we're gonna leave him in peace to just recover quietly.

(UPLIFTING MUSIC)

The next day, and keepers Jordy and Kaitlin

are keen to check on his recovery.

Hi, Innes.

(CHEETAH YELPS) Hello.

Now, Innes, um, unfortunately for him,

he will just be on a no-bone diet

for the next two weeks.

Hey. Hello.

Which is just gonna ensure that, that stitch site

and that pocket that's been created from the tooth being removed,

um, stays nice and healthy.

Don't seem too worried about your missing tooth.

He looks great.

You wouldn't have guessed that he had surgery yesterday.

He's eating really great, which is wonderful.

It would be quite painful.

So, we're making-making sure

he's got pain meds on board

and really monitoring him, um,

but really happy with how he's looking.

And all the proof you need is in Innes'

purr of approval.

(CHEETAH PURRS)

Captioned by AI-Media ai-media.tv

Repair and Synchronization by Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0