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[Becker] I kinda look
at the Animal Kingdom as a lot of people

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aren't going to be able to afford
to see the animals in the wild,

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so they come here to see them.
And so we can actually--

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That's maybe their only chance
to be able to see them in person.

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And so to be able to tell their story,
the challenges that they face in the wild,

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and even being able to turn that
into how can you help your animals

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in your backyard.

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For me, anyway, it's as much fun

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as just the day-to-day, you know,
the dirty part of the job. [chuckles]

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My name is Kris Becker.

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I am an animal keeper here
at Disney's Animal Kingdom,

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and I've been here just over 20 years.

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Usually when we first get in,
we come in at 06:00.

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We check the records
from the night before,

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make sure nothing happened overnight
with the night keeper and the night team.

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Our animal nutrition center
delivers our diets.

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So, this was one of the kangaroo diets.

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They actually get three Cambros
full of food so they have...

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What do we have today? So, we've got--

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This is their enrichment bucket,
so they've got greens and carrots.

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The bulk of their diet is actually greens.

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It's very healthy.

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Yeah, they, they eat better than we do
in, [chuckles] in a lot of cases

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'cause it's all restaurant quality.

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You know, it's--
Everything is inspected...

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by our nutrition staff
before we actually get it even down here.

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We take what they deliver
and do a little bit more final prep to it.

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And then soon as we're done with that,
we go check in on the animals.

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Come on, Barry. Come on, Pepe.

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Our training is as simple
as asking in our lemurs

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to participate in their own health care,

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whether that's sitting on a scale,

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whether that's going
into transport kennels.

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Really, the things that we do

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are things that help us
better take care of them.

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This is Theory.
He's our old man, so he's 32 years old.

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And so some of the training that we do

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are all things that kinda help us
take care of them.

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So, get a good look
at their overall body condition.

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Make sure he doesn't have any injuries.

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We check his hands. We check his feet.

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There's something about the trust
that you have to build,

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that relationship that you have to build
with your animals.

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They rely on you for everything.

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And so having that ability
to train them to come up for food,

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makes it a lot easier for us to kind of,
you know,

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just to monitor their health
and keep track of them.

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These guys aren't like a dog or a cat that
seeks out any sort of personal attention.

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And so for him to be here
and standing with me willingly

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and letting me touch him,

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it takes a lot of trust on his part
to know that I'm not going to do something

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that's going to hurt him.

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Lemurs are, by far, my favorite.

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I fell in love with them many years ago,

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and besides just working with them here,

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I've actually been able
to be involved with

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more their conservation end of things
and with them on a national scale.

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Here at Disney's Animal Kingdom,

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we have a great opportunity
to tell the animals' stories

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to a lot of people

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and also the opportunities that we have

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to actively participate
in conservation projects.

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Whether it's helping lemurs
through national organizations

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like the Prosimian Taxon Advisory Group.

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As keepers we're encouraged
and we're supported

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in working on those conservation projects.

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So, I think that's one
of the great opportunities

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that we have at this park.

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Hi, guys.

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Hi, Hops.

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All right.

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These are the largest species of kangaroo.

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They can get up over six feet tall.

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And our big male, Hops,
is probably close to that.

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He's the heaviest of the lot,

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and so is Boomer.

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And if you get a face shot of Boomer
when he's eating a piece of banana,

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it's the cutest thing
'cause his tongue just comes out.

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He tends to lick a lot. Like that.

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[chuckles]

81
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Yeah, it's easy to get connected,

82
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especially when you're working
with animals,

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specific individuals on a daily basis.

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I know. I woke you up.

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-[flamingos honking]
-All right, come on.

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Yeah, they have access to food 24/7.

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So, but we give 'em fresh food
like twice a day, so...

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When we get a chance to interact
with the guests

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and when they come up
to any of our exhibits,

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you know, everybody comes in,

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that's one of the first exhibits
they see are the flamingos.

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And then we also do
a lot of guest education.

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When we're training our animals, we
always have somebody talking about them,

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explaining to the guests what we're doing,
why we're doing it

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and just kinda give that opportunity
to tell the animals' stories.

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Now, what was your question again,
sweetie?

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How does-- How do they sleep?

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That is a very good question.

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So, these guys, they don't sleep--
You know when you guys--

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When you go home, you sleep
in a nice soft, cushy bed, right?

101
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Well, these guys actually sleep
standing up.

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They lift one leg up,
and they sleep like that,

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with their head all, kind of,
tucked in their feathers.

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You can be having the worst day
in the world,

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and as soon as you get out, you know,
and get a chance to talk to people,

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especially the little kids
that are just so--

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Everything is so fresh and new for them,
and they're so excited.

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Yeah, it really makes your day.

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I love doing this every day.

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Even when it's raining
or 90 degrees outside,

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you tend to take it for granted sometimes
when you've been doing it for a long time.

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Every now and then I just have to stop
and think about the fact

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that I'm, you know,
two feet away from a kangaroo

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and not everybody can say that. [chuckles]

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There's something about that
that just makes me happy.

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[chuckles] This is my dream job.