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...

Why are you doing that?

After a wee hiccupat the start...

You wouldn't wanna lie in urine. Neither do tigers.

It's all systems go for Mawar the tiger.

One, two, three.

There we go. And a health check...

If she says go out, you exit straight away.

..that could change her life.

She's a very special cat.

A blind date with a difference.

Meet Spud.

But Australia's smallest bachelor...

We want to introduce him to Penny.

..isn't just playing hard to get.

Spud. He's playing hard to find.

It's the first time that he would have been introduced

to a female other than his mum.

And the race is on to find out just what's bugging Molly.

This is not the grossest thing we can do in our day.

(THEME MUSIC)

(CHEERFUL MUSIC)

It's springtime.

(ELEPHANT TRUMPETS)

And Taronga's two zoos are bursting with healthy animals...

and brimming with happy keepers.

It's Penny. Hi, Penny. Yeah, Penny.

Hey.

For one particular species, these balmy days

are all the excuse they need to slip back

into the cool shade of their jungle habitat.

The Sumatran tigers

come from the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

In the wild, they actually live amongst this beautiful foliage.

So, they need stripes to help hide

amongst all the shadows of the forest.

Tiger stripes are all, um, individual and each animal

sort of like a thumbprint or a fingerprint for a human.

We actually look at the different stripes

on their tails or their faces,

and that's one of the ways that keepers can actually ID

the different tigers when they're out

and they're running around together.

Every day, I thank my lucky stars that I work with Sumatran tigers.

They're actually critically endangered in the wild,

so there's less than 350 individuals left,

which is just drastically low.

We have a family group here at Taronga.

We have Kartika and her offspring, Pemanah, and his sister, Mawar.

So, now that Mawar and Pemanah are five years old,

they have been matched genetically with tigers in the US.

So, we're hoping that they can become part of this global

breeding programme for Sumatran tigers.

That's right.

These feline siblings have a date with genetic destiny.

They'll be on the move, travelling over 14,000kms

to spread their love

across a couple of zoos in the US of A.

But there's a catch.

They actually depend on each other to get pass

and to be able to be shipped overseas

because the US zoos are actually sharing

the cost of the flight and they will actually

be sharing quarantine facilities once they're over in the US.

So, we're hoping that after they both have a health check,

that they both pass.

If one doesn't pass, the other one may not go.

Pemanah's already had his health check,

and while keeper Tamara waits for his results,

it's his sister Mawar's turn, which means Mawar

will need a general anaesthetic, which means a sharp needle,

which means, you guessed it, a training session.

So, Molly and I are about to do a training session for Mawar.

We've got the pole that we'll actually be using on the day

with a blunt needle on it.

In the past, when we had to anaesthetise

a dangerous animal like a tiger,

the vets would actually come in with a dart gun

and they would dart the tigers.

It was very, very stressful.

It took them a really long time to fall asleep

because that adrenaline was coursing through them.

So, now we use cooperative care, where it's the animal's choice

to come up and participate in a training session.

If they don't want to, they won't.

Hey, Mawar. Good morning. Oh, hi.

Good morning. You're ready for your session?

(TENSE MUSIC)

Oh, you're a good girl.

You ready?

Mawar. Hello.

On command, Mawar has been trained

to drop close to the keepers.

Oh, that's very far away. Can we try again?

(TENSE MUSIC)

Come on, up you get. Mawar, up you get.

Let's try again, little love.

Her head and her hips

are supposed to both be near the mesh.

Ready? Can you come here?

Here we go.

But just one day before her critically important health check,

Mawar is choosing not to participate.

(TENSE MUSIC)

This is her first ever GA,

and it's a lot of stress for us as keepers.

We want it to go to plan. We want it to be smooth.

(LAUGHTER)

(TENSE MUSIC)

Come on, Mawar.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Drop. Why are you doing that?

Mawar, Mawar, Mawar,

you have never done this in a training session, ever.

The day before an anaesthetic is not ideal.

(UPLIFTING MUSIC)

At Taronga...

Are you with your girlfriend?

..the keepers sometimes have to give Mother Nature a little...

There we go.

..nudge... Oh, how cute.

..and offer the animals the occasional helping hand,

whether they're big...

(TORTOISE GRUNTS)

..or small.

Long-nosed potoroos are really fascinating.

They're a gorgeous little marsupial, tiny.

They only weigh up to, you know, 1.5 to 2kg.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

They're classified as a vulnerable species.

The reason for that habitat loss, they're the perfect weight and size

as a snack for feral cats and foxes, so they do get predated on a lot.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

Their numbers are declining, and they are basically

at threat of extinction in the future.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

And it's that threat that has Taronga

working hard to help its own potoroo population

get busy and produce more little potoroos.

(DELIGHTFUL MUSIC)

Meet Spud.

He was born here in our breeding programme.

He's now just turned two years old.

He's a single male potoroo.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

Spud is our little bachelor.

And he's quite the catch.

He's a gorgeous little male, full of energy,

loves bouncing around.

He's very charismatic.

And he actually really enjoys a scratch.

(DELIGHTFUL MUSIC)

And we want to find him a female,

so that he can breed and pass on his genetics,

which are really valuable.

Keeper Suzie is playing marsupial matchmaker.

(CHEERFUL STRING MUSIC)

Good morning, Penny.

And she's got high hopes...

You're gonna move into your new home today.

..that a certain little bachelorette

will steal Spud's heart.

(UPLIFTING MUSIC)

Penny's main role is,

she's hopefully going to breed with Spud,

so we can have some little potoroos to increase the population.

No pressure then, Penny.

She's a female that came to us from Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve.

She's got a bit of a wild upbringing.

Let's hope not too wild for Spud.

So, let's take you into woodlands and see if Spud is up.

(UPLIFTING MUSIC)

And do your first introduction.

(SOFT MUSIC)

Back over in the tiger's den...

I'm gonna try one more time.

Mawar, the Sumatran tiger, is supposed to be practising

for tomorrow's pole injection.

Why are you doing that?

We have not done that since you were tiny.

But she isn't cooperating.

Mawar has never, ever not come sideways to the mesh.

So, she was landing with her bottom towards the back wall.

So, yeah, this is a great training session

the day before an anaesthetic.

Hopefully, we can reset and she actually does

what we need her to do.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Try again, Mawar.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Nah.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

Meanwhile, over at the wildlife hospital,

vet nurse Annii has got a list and she's checking it twice.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

I'm just getting some things organised for Mawar's anaesthesia.

So, as you can see, my little checklist

has so many things on it.

She's having a pre-shipment transport general anaesthetic.

So, I'm just getting a few bits and pieces together.

Um...

This is probably one of the most unusual ones.

It's not a bin. It's actually a face mask.

Because Mawar's not had an anaesthetic

before, I'm not quite sure what size she is.

So, that's going to be the face mask.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

It's been a while since I've done a tiger anaesthetic,

probably about a year.

So, I'm just making sure that everything's in working order

because I don't want to get down there

and find things not working.

It makes Annii very cranky.

And when it comes to things not working,

Mawar's final training session is a prime example.

You want to quickly go in and squeegee it.

Quick hose and squeegee.

Keeper Dannielle suspects she knows the wee problem.

There's some urine on the floor.

So, tigers are quite particular like us.

You wouldn't want to lie in urine, neither do tigers.

So, we're just going to do a quick clean,

so hopefully we can have a successful training session.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

That should be enough there.

What do you think, Mawar?

Are we doing a good job?

(GENTLE MUSIC)

Look at that. It's nice and dry.

Nice and clean.

OK, what do you reckon? You've inspected.

Did we do a good enough job?

There we go, Princess Mawar.

And with the all clear from this Sumatran, ah, princess.

Yeah, see its-it's much better.

Pole injection practisecan resume.

Can you try again? You can come down.

Drop.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

Touch.

So far, so good.

Ah! Yay.

(CHUCKLES) You've never done that either.

She's never done that.

Looks like it's just one of those days.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Still to come...

Oh, look at all these.

She resisted at first.

If you asked a keeper

what their favourite animal would be,

they would say they don't have one.

But then Molly couldn't help herself.

She is just my favourite animal in the whole wide world.

And a really big day...

Pretty exciting having my first procedure

being for a critically endangered species

like the Sumatran tiger.

..for newbie Jess.

Go, my little-little protege.

(GROOVY MUSIC)

In the deepest, darkest depths of Taronga's wild bushland...

Alright. (GRUNTS)

..keeper Molly is off the beaten track

and on the hunt for...

Oh, look at all these.

Bugs?

So, these are all perfect logs.

You can hear how rotten they are.

And the more rotten means, the more room for bugs.

I'm one of the carnivore keepers here at the zoo.

We've got the smallest carnivores,

the meerkats and the red pandas

and the otters as well, and then some of the largest,

so Mary, our sun bear, and then even the lions and tigers.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

These are all perfect for meerkats and sun bear.

I can see a few ants, a few centipedes.

If there's some spiders and grubs, that would be even better.

Rotten logs are kind of the perfect example

of that phrase, one man's trash is another one's treasure.

So, I guess most people would see an old log

on the side of the road

and think it's in the way or remove it.

But for us, that's actually like gold.

We go searching for the most rotten and the ones with the most insects,

and it's like treasure for our meerkats.

Ooh, so many bugs.

With the logs collected, it's time to distribute them

amongst Taronga's residents.

Here at Taronga,

we currently have a group of nine meerkats,

and they're actually all sisters as well,

which is a bit unique.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

Sentry duty is the most essential meerkat behaviour in the wild.

This behaviour is actually an entire meerkat mob's responsibility.

If you look closely, you'll see they actually

all take turns in this behaviour,

so it's almost like shift work for meerkats.

Basically, one meerkat will find the highest point of their habitat

because there are a lot of birds of prey in areas

where they would live in Southern Africa,

which means meerkats have to be constantly looking up

and being aware of when the predators may pass.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

Meerkats love insects.

They predominantly eat these in the wild,

so any opportunity for them to get into some insects,

they will be straight on to.

The whole mob has to work together

to get all of the insects out as a team.

So, something as simple as a log

can encourage some pretty amazing behaviours.

But as amazing as the meerkats are,

there's just something about Mary.

And keeper Molly has saved

some of the juiciest logs just for her.

I think if you asked a keeper

what their favourite animal would be,

they would say they don't have one.

But if you ask them a second time, it'll always come out.

Mine has to be sun bears as a species,

but in particular Mary,

she is just my favourite animal in the whole wide world.

(DELIGHTFUL MUSIC)

Oh! Alright.

Oh, so this delicious log was from our meerkat exhibit.

So, it won't only have a lot of bugs,

but it's also gonna have that meerkat smell for her as well.

(DELIGHTFUL MUSIC)

So, this is like prime rotten log.

You can see it's literally crumbling away as I touch it.

Oh, look at that.

In the wild, sun bears would be using their long claws

to break into trees and termite mounds

to get out all of the insects.

So, it's a great way for them to source food,

but it also means they keep their claws nice

and short and not too long and sharp.

So, Mary's gonna love that one.

(DELIGHTFUL MUSIC)

Over in the tiger's den...

Drop.

..it's the day before Mawar's first ever

general anaesthetic and health check.

Touch.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Ah! Hey. (LAUGHS)

And ideal is not how you'd describe

this final practice session.

For the first time ever, she decided to bite

the end of the tube that the milk was coming out.

Can you...can you let that go, please?

Nope.

And pulled the whole entire thing out.

She's never done that before either. Give her some milk.

Oh, that's tricky.

Yeah.

(TENSE MUSIC)

There you go.

(TENSE MUSIC)

No, it's not gonna...

Oh!

. .come through this gap.

I win.

I've trained Mawar since about...

(TIGER GRUNTS)

..one week old and that training session

was probably the worst training session she's ever had.

Mawar, Mawar, Mawar. Try again, Mawar.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

It's now crunch time.

Thank you. With a new day comes new hope.

It's time to see if Mawar can put her worst

ever pole injection training session behind her and get the job done.

Do you want to take out the blue blood pressure cuff?

Yeah.

And whack it on the bench with all the others?

Oh, sure. It's the same size.

Alright.

In the wildlife hospital, vet nurse Annii

will not only be helping administer Mawar's anaesthetic gas...

Make sure the bag fills up.

You've done it before, Annii.

Anyone would think.

She's also supervising

the wildlife hospital's newest recruit.

That's all connected,

so if we do need to take it into the den...

Yeah.

..and you're getting people to help,

obviously that just needs to come together...

Yeah.

..because that's connected to that.

I do get very excited when we're doing lions and tigers

and then that excitement then turns into

a little bit of anxiousness and fear.

(LAUGHS)

But we do have our wonderful new trainee, Jess,

that's gonna be shadowing both myself and Tammy.

Do you want me to get the orange box too?

Yeah.

If I'm excited, she's...

Her head's gonna be exploding, I can only imagine.

Put the arm runners on now, so they're ready.

Um, we don't have to because, uh, we won't know

what side they want to lay her.

Sure.

So, I've come from being a zookeeper to a trainee vet nurse.

And any other one from here for the tail?

Nah.

I've been at Taronga for about three weeks now

and this is my first time helping out with a procedure.

Yeah. Oh, just over that.

So, this gets attached to this and then that goes

to the back of the restraints.

Pretty exciting having my first procedure

being for a critically endangered species

like the Sumatran tiger.

Go, my little-little protege.

(CHUCKLES) You taught me so well.

Go, my little protege.

Vet Frances will be overseeing Mawar's examination

once the tiger is brought into the hospital.

How about you three go in the van

and us three are gonna walk down the back road.

Yeah. Easy.

OK. Sumatran tigers are just beautiful.

It's quite a privilege to be able to work with them.

She's a really important animal because she's one of a small number.

There are not that many of them left.

Do you want to drive, Gab's?

So, she's going to go to the United States to breed

and we're doing a thorough health check

before she goes overseas.

Alright.

So, thank you, everyone, for joining us this morning.

My name's Georgia.

I'm one of the carnivore keepers here.

We're here for Mawar's anaesthetic.

That'll be run by Frances, our vet today, and Gabby.

So, just from the vet side, Gabby's running the anaesthetic.

So, she's gonna be the one that calls,

uh, for when she's happy to have the door open.

Yep.

Um, we want only people who have a designated job to be in

and that's under Gabby's direction.

If Gabby is unhappy and wants people out, if she says,

"Go out, " you exit straight away.

But before anyone can enter Mawar's den,

keeper Dannielle has to successfully pole inject

this strong sedative into the 87kg tiger.

We're gonna use the short pole needle.

It all hinges on her.

I'm just gonna like...

Gently just rest it on. Kill.

I am so nervous right now.

I've put a lot of pressure on myself to get this done.

You've got this, gal. Ain't your first rodeo.

With Mawar, it is.

Because if this isn't successful, then Mawar will need to be darted,

which is very stressful for her and very stressful for all of us.

We're on.

It's just a normal training session. Yeah.

(DELIGHTFUL MUSIC)

Back at the Taronga Institute of Science and Learning.

OK, enough already.

Let's just call it the potteroo bachelor pad.

Here we are.

Keeper Suzie is matchmaker Suzie.

Beautiful new home. Hello, Miss Penny.

And today, Potteroo Penny is going on a blind date...

Come on, buddy. ..with Spud.

Spud.

So, yeah, Spud's our little male long-nosed Potteroo.

He was born here at Taronga Zoo.

Then he's just over two years old now.

He's ready for breeding, and that's why we want to introduce

him to Penny.

Spud does not know what's coming.

It's the first time that he would have been introduced

to a female other than his mum.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

I don't think he's really got the scent

or anything of-of Penny yet.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

But I reckon as soon as I let her out,

he'll be pretty interested.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

Come on, Spud. Come on, buddy.

(CLICKER SOUND)

Penny's ready.

Spud's not only playing hard to get, he's playing hard to find.

I mean, you wouldn't describe it as the best first impression.

Spud.

Oh, hang on.

Is that...

Nope, not our guy.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

Come on, bud.

Ah, gotcha.

Oh, hi, buddy. (LAUGHS)

You can see this beautiful nest that he's built down here.

So, you can see him peering out there of his nest.

And it's why a lot of Australians have probably never seen

a long-nosed potteroo, because they are so well

adapted to the Australian environment and camouflaging.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

Spud. Come here.

I'm just gonna put a scatter of food out for him

and for Penny, because food is, you know,

always a great way to meet on a first date.

It just takes a bit of the pressure off

meeting each other for the first time.

(CHEERFUL MUSIC)

Now, for the moment of truth.

(TENSE MUSIC)

(CHUCKLES)

Oh, not sure about her, Spud.

(TENSE MUSIC)

I'm gonna step back and just watch and see what happens.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Over at Taronga's carnivore section...

(ANIMAL SOUNDS)

..a critically endangered Sumatran tiger

is about to receive its first ever pole injection

ahead of a very important health check.

We're on. Well, at least that's the idea.

I love the enthusiasm. Drop.

Why are you doing that?

Yesterday's practice didn't quite go to plan.

Hey... (LAUGHS)

You've never done that either.

She's never done that.

And today... (INDISTINCT CHATTER)

..Keeper Dannielle is giving it another crack...

Yeah.

..but this time it's the real deal.

If this isn't successful, then Mawar will need to be darted

which is very stressful for her and very stressful for all of us.

OK.

So, we're gonna get her down, a couple of touches with this.

Yep. Oh, good girl.

She was like ready before I was ready.

Today, they're keeping that milk bottle well away from Mawar.

OK.

And Mawar is now lying much closer to the keepers.

Touch. Good girl.

What a difference a day makes. The sedative is in.

Now, that's what you'd call a purrfect pole injection.

We can go tell them.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

Well done, princess.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

Once the anaesthetic goes in, then they have to communicate

with the vet because the vet is the one that's

running the procedure.

You're OK.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

Good girl.

Are you happy for us to come in?

Yep.

Yep. We'll go in.

And I believe Molly has just given the word

and so the vets and vet nurses and myself

are gonna go in and, um, see how she's going.

Mawar might be down, but is she out?

Mawar's a dangerous animal.

Tigers are absolutely capable of, you know, hurting people.

So, Gabby's just gonna check how deeply sedated she is

to make sure it's safe for us to actually open the door

and go in with her.

She's looking for any signs that she's moving or twitching

or moving her whiskers or blinking an eye.

Any movement?

I think she's pretty good.

On Gabby's signal, the team prepare

to enter Mawar's den.

(TENSE MUSIC)

We're all being quiet because loud noises are a stimulus

and we don't want her to start moving around.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Shh.

Push her that way and let's stay out there

and I'll just put the mask.

Give me a second. Was that you?

Any little reflex is an indication to us that Mawar's

perhaps not sufficiently anaesthetised.

Yeah, it was me. It's just slipped. It's not happening.

Let's just take her up. Ready?

One, two, three. There we go.

OK, you need to pull that out.

The stretcher needs to go a bit further.

We want to get her up to the hospital

in a timely fashion, so that we keep her

anaesthetic as short as we can.

And don't slam the door, please.

It makes the whole process safer for her.

(TENSE MUSIC)

The plan is we're gonna take her straight through

and put her on the floor and we'll connect her up.

Down? Down on the ground, please.

Yeah. Slowly down, everyone.

She's got a little blink.

So, Mawar's just got a little bit of a blink there.

(TENSE MUSIC)

She's just got a little blink.

At Taronga Zoo in Sydney...

(SIGHS) Alright.

Keepers Molly and Tamara are preparing a particularly

tasty gourmet banquet

for some of the zoo's resident carnivores.

Oh, my gosh, look at all the bugs.

Oh! So exciting.

And what's the one thing that can make a rotten log

full of bugs an even better meal?

More bugs.

This is the fun part for us where we get to scatter all these

delicious bugs without trying to get them on us.

And I'll put some roaches in this big one here.

So good. They're actually all climbing inside.

But wait, there's more.

We deal with a lot of poo, so handling bugs like maggots

is not the grossest thing we can do in our day.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

Alright, one last spot. This looks like a goodie.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

Alright. Moz, what do we think?

Looks good. She's gonna love it?

She's gonna be occupied for ages. I can't wait to see her.

(CHUCKLES)

She is Mary the sun bear, and it doesn't take long

to find that first delicious log.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

It's about to be ripped apart.

Any second now.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

Nice. OK. Well, how about this one?

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

OK, then.

(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

In the wild, most of a Sun Bear's day

is actually spent foraging for insects.

That long tongue, it is so precise.

She can target that exact insect she's looking for.

She won't pick up a leaf or dirt. It's pretty impressive.

Oh, my gosh, look at her go.

That's more like it, Mary.

Oh, my gosh, those claws are getting a workout.

She's shredding right into them.

So, this is exactly what she'd be doing in the wild.

Exactly what we wanted from those logs.

I love when she gets, like, all frantic 'cause like it's like

her way of showing sort of excitement.

Yeah. Yeah, flipping them all over. Yeah.

All those natural bear behaviours.

So good. There you go. Oh, my god.

Oh, she just pushed it over the edge.

(LAUGHTER)

We're seeing some behaviours that

we don't get to see from her every day.

So happy and playful.

I think she's living her best life today.

You know, it can feel like a silly job to search for logs,

but to actually see the impact

it's having on her and to be able to watch her now

all afternoon having fun and ripping into them is so rewarding.

OK, it's official, folks.

Mary the sun bear is now Mary the fun bear.

Oh, so good. She's gonna be busy for hours.

Down on the ground, please. Yep.

Back at the wildlife hospital...

OK, she's connected.

Because she's on one.

..Mawar the Sumatran tiger has been sedated

for an important health check.

She's got a little blink. Let's turn her up.

But she isn't sleeping soundly.

So, Mawar's just got a little bit of a blink there.

A blink reflex is an indication to us that

Mawar is not sufficiently anaesthetised.

It's really important that we keep people safe and Mawar safe.

I'm not gonna move her until her blink goes away.

Are we gonna roll?

So... No, no.

So, what we're gonna do, guys, she's got a little blink.

So, we're just gonna sit here for a second before we move her.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Moving is the thing that will stimulate her the most.

So, let's just get her a little bit deeper.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Her respiratory rate has gone up as well.

An elevated respiratory rate confirms that Mawar

isn't sleeping deeply enough.

(TENSE MUSIC)

OK, she's lost the blink reflex. She's taking nice breaths.

I'm happy to lift her up.

And I hook in here and I wanna catch that leg.

So, if we go one, two, three.

That's it. Thanks, guys.

No blink.

OK, we're gonna spray her and then intubate.

So, Mawar's just gonna have a little bit

of a spray on the back of her throat.

It's a local anaesthetic and it makes it much easier

to pass the tube into her airway that

we need to give her the anaesthetic gas

and it's gonna protect her airway.

Pull the thing out.

Yep. Yep. Pull, pull, pull. Yep.

That's it. Happy.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Now that Mawar is intubated and stable...

You just give her regular breaths, Annii.

..Vet Frances can finally start today's procedures.

I'm just gonna take the swab first.

This is Mawar's first anaesthetic.

This will be the first time since she was a tiny little cub

that we've actually been able to do a physical examination.

Yeah.

Occasionally, the animal can look healthy,

but blood tests might show something like

maybe the kidneys aren't working very well

or maybe the liver is not working very well.

So, we'll do a series of blood tests.

I'm gonna do 12mils in this syringe.

The results of these tests will determine

if this critically endangered tiger can be transferred

to the USA to join a selective breeding programme.

Once I've got this blood, I'm gonna aim to do the X-rays

and we'll do the lateral x-rays first, Tammy.

Yeah.

It's an exclusive club

and not every tiger that's selected will pass.

On my count of three, she's going towards

Tammy and Jess by about 15cms.

One, two, three.

OK, now we're gonna lift her up onto her back.

It's difficult moving her around

for those different X-ray views and so on.

She's a big tiger. Everyone out.

(TENSE MUSIC)

X-ray.

OK.

Light on.

(TENSE MUSIC)

OK.

(DELIGHTFUL MUSIC)

Over at the Taronga Institute of Love...

At the moment, Penny's over here exploring.

(DELIGHTFUL MUSIC)

And Spud is over in this area.

..Keeper Suzie has arranged a blind date

for two of Australia's most vulnerable marsupials.

(DELIGHTFUL MUSIC)

So far, it's not going so great.

For Penny, this is gonna be exciting on a number of levels

because it's a new environment for her,

and she's probably gonna be more focused on

checking out her surroundings, finding good places

for her to hide, to set up her nest.

For Spud, this is the first time he's ever been in with a female

other than his mum.

You know, the new exciting thing in the room is Penny.

(DELIGHTFUL MUSIC)

He might be sort of sniffing where Penny has already been.

He might be a little bit overexcited,

you know, the first smell of a female pheromone.

He's got to, yeah, figure out the logistics.

I'm just gonna go grab some peanuts.

Come.

Look, I've got a very special treat for you both.

(DELIGHTFUL MUSIC)

Lovely peanut butter smears.

Maybe a little snack will do the trick.

I want to have a close look and see what they're actually doing.

They're right now having a drink together at the back,

going between eating food but also then checking

in on each other and having a sniff.

(DELIGHTFUL MUSIC)

She's actually being really receptive to him.

(UPLIFTING MUSIC)

She's lifting her tail up, so that he can actually mount her.

He's actually on top of her.

Happy days.

He's giving it his best shot.

Almost, buddy.

Might take him a few goes to figure out how it all works.

He might be a little bit overexcited.

I think he's-he's trying.

Yeah, maybe we should give them a bit of privacy.

(DELIGHTFUL MUSIC)

Next door, in the wildlife hospital.

Everyone out.

Mawar, the Sumatran tiger's chances

of travelling with her twin to America

to join an exclusive breeding program...

X-ray.

OK.

..all depend on her passing today's health check.

So, we want to make sure that she's grown up

with everything in the right place.

We need to know that she's in tip-top shape.

Will be her stomach with a bit of gas in it.

We need to know that

she doesn't have anything subclinical,

which means from the outside she looks OK,

but on the inside there's something going on underneath.

I don't see anything there that's abnormal.

I'm gonna put an IV into her cephalic.

Sure, yep, so she's clipped.

And she...

For trainee vet nurse Jess, this is a pretty special way

to kick off her new career.

It's just really exciting, my first day doing a vet nursing

traineeship and we're doing a-a tiger.

Have another listen because you can actually hear her

breathe and hear her heart.

Yeah. Who would have thought?

It's... Yeah, blowing my mind. (CHUCKLES)

So, have a listen there and you'll see

what I mean by all the chitter chatter

in the room and this.

(TENSE MUSIC)

That's so much harder to hear than with an esophageal.

Yeah.

(TENSE MUSIC)

So cool.

What we're doing right now is her physical examination.

So, we want to make sure we know if she's got any wounds

or injuries or anything like that.

There's nothing.

Tamara... Sorry.

..nothing in particular that you guys are concerned

about with her because she's healthy.

No, we-we would like to just do a little body score,

while she's under.

Yeah. Yes. I'd give her probably 2.5.

She's pretty good.

2.5 to 3 body condition score out of 5.

Today's really special because it's so rare

to get an opportunity to get up close to these animals in our care.

If time permits, we take the opportunity

to get a little paw print.

Um, it's a way for the keepers that take care of these animals

to sort of have a little memento of them,

and it's really special.

Um...

(GENTLE MUSIC)

It's really special.

It means a lot to us, and sometimes we just put them up in our office,

so that the whole team can, you know, enjoy them

and it's, especially the animals like Mawar

that may be moving to another zoo, you know.

It's a nice little memory of her.

She's a very special cat.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

We have been waiting patiently.

..judgement day has arrived.

We just received news.

Time to see if these big cats really can fly.

It's been two weeks since Spud met Penny

in a potoroo blind date.

And the first couple of days it was a bit touch and go,

but after sort of getting to know each other

and calming down a little bit, we actually have seen

a lot of mating from Spud.

And just recently, Keeper Suzie

has noticed even more changes.

Spud, in the past sort of week, isn't mounting her as much.

Great signs that potentially there was a successful mating.

Fingers crossed in around three or four months

we're gonna have some little potoroo joeys.

Well, turns out our little Spud really is a stud.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

At the Taronga Wildlife Hospital...

One, two, three.

..today's health check on Mawar the Sumatran tiger is done.

Head first. Ah, head goes in first.

All her X-rays look great. There's nothing to see on those.

You ready, ladies? Yeah.

Her physical exam was all fine.

She doesn't have any abnormalities that we can see like that.

We do now have all the blood tests

that we need to wait for the results,

so we'll get those back over the next couple of days.

And if they're all clear, then she'll be ready to depart.

Mawar and her brother Pemanah

are set to be transported to America

to join an exclusive Sumatran tiger breeding programme.

OK, ready? One, two, three.

That's it. A bit gentle.

As long as all their test results come back clear.

So, Mawar is back in her den now.

She's had her reversal drug and she's waking up from that.

She's actually doing really well.

Her eyes come right up.

Blinking. Ear twitching.

She's waking up.

What we do is try and stay away from her as much as possible,

so that she can have a nice, smooth recovery

without seeing all of us there.

You're OK, darling.

You're OK, Mawar.

(GENTLE MUSIC)

(UPLIFTING MUSIC)

A few days later and while the tigers

are blissfully unaware of their future,

their keepers haven't been quite so chilled.

We have been waiting patiently for the test results

for our two tigers, Pemanah and Mawar,

and we just received news.

The vets have given them both a full bill of health.

They absolutely passed all their tests

with flying colours.

It's really wonderful for Mawar and Pem to take this journey

to the US and become a part of this global breeding programme.

As sad as it is for us, the keepers that have worked

with both of them since the day they were born,

it's for the greater good.

It's for the genetic diversity

worldwide for these beautiful endangered animals.

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