NARRATOR: Taronga has such a diverse number of species
across their zoos
that the only way to give them the care they need
is to split them up into groups.
While the names of the groups are pretty common,
like carnivores,
primates,
aviary,
and reptiles,
there's also more obscure names,
such as Australian fauna,
invertebrates,
and the oddly named but extremely common ungulates.
JIMMY: So here at Taronga Zoo, I'm an ungulate keeper,
and an ungulate is just a fancy name
for a hooved mammal.
So at the zoo here, we've got giraffe.
They're our biggest draw card.
But I also look after pygmy hippo,
I also look after bongo,
and we're soon to get zebra back again.
NARRATOR: Every morning,
like all the other teams across the zoo,
Jimmy and his team do the rounds
of all the animals in their care.
JIMMY: My day starts really early.
We arrive at the barn, obviously set up their food.
But that's not the bulk of their day.
The bulk of their day for me
would be their training and also the care of them.
What I'm making up here is the giraffe training pouches.
So this is the giraffe's daily food intake.
What we do is divide this up
amongst as many training sessions as we're having.
So today I think we've got three training sessions on,
so we need to spread this out amongst three training pouches.
All right.
Let's do this.
I love giraffe, and I've always loved giraffe.
I never once in my wildest dreams
believed I'd be working with them,
let alone up this close and this personal with them
and actually caring for them.
Here you go, buddy.
Good boy.
Good.
Target.
Hold. Hold.
Good boy.
NARRATOR: But there's also the less glamorous,
but equally important work to be done,
before the zoo opens to the public.
JIMMY: Our typical morning,
obviously we've started off here this morning,
we've done our training, the paddock's been cleaned.
Now we put up their food.
So obviously you'll see how high this goes.
You've got to get it up pretty high for these giraffes.
Our male here is nearly 5.5 meters
so you can't feed him at ground level.
You have to feed him up high.
We put out feed and we pick up their poo.
That's the cycle of life here at the zoo.
And voilà--done.
NARRATOR: Every animal needs food and water,
but the ungulates have a unique need
that no other animal at the zoo has.
JIMMY: Now, my main thing for these guys
or for being an ungulate keeper is hoof care.
Naiota here is just on a ton,
and those tiny little hooves have to hold up a ton.
So for me, every morning, I'll come in
and the first thing I want to do is check out their hooves.
It'd be like being a podiatrist for giraffe really.
For us, hoof care is the most vital thing,
especially for a giraffe,
a massive animal carrying all that weight
on what looks like a dinner plate.
That dinner plate needs to be maintained.
So I'm just going to assemble this hoof block.
But what we want our male to do,
we want him to come in, we want him to present his foot,
and then basically,
he needs to roll his ankle or his hock onto here
so we can actually work on the underside of his hoof.
KEEPER: All right, Jimmiu.
Station.
JIMMY: Jimmiu, who's our youngest male,
he's also our biggest,
he does have a tendency for his hooves to roll a little bit,
so he's our priority for hoof care at the moment.
KEEPER: Foot.
Good.
Touch.
Roll.
Good. Good.
Station.
Brush.
Excellent boy, Jimmiu.
Good job, Jim.
JIMMY: This is to me like being a rock star in the zoo.
You know what I mean?
Every kid's dream is to work with a giraffe
or to work with megafauna.
It's a dream-come-true job for me.
NARRATOR: But Jimmy's day is only just starting,
and already this rock-star has another gig to attend.
Australia is world-renowned for its wildlife,
the likes of which can't be found
anywhere else on the planet.
BRETT: We've been isolated as a continent for such a long time
that our animals have evolved,
and they're crazy to look at, definitely.
Kangaroos, the way they move...
Koalas, a giant sort of cuddly thing up in a tree...
Yeah, it's wild, definitely.
NARRATOR: But one animal that's a little misunderstood
and doesn't get the same international exposure
as the other Aussie icons
is the wombat.
BRETT: Wombats are not slow and clumsy.
They're fast.
They can run 40 kilometers an hour when they want to,
and they've got this curiosity about them.
We've got southern hairy-nosed wombats here at the zoo,
and we've got a family of four.
Southern hairy-nosed wombats have this hairy nose.
So when you see it, it's kind of a boxy nose,
and they definitely, even from young joeys,
they've got this considerable fur around their nose.
They're a bit of a smaller wombat
and potentially a little bit less aggressive
than the common wombats.
This is incredibly rare for a male wombat.
He seeks it out.
So he comes to me,
and he loves a scratch behind the ear,
and then he voluntarily rolls over
and just loves this scratch on his belly.
Southern hairy-nosed wombats
are found in arid parts of Australia, down south.
They're vulnerable, as well as the other species,
due to mange,
which is a mite that infests the skin of the wombat,
and they really suffer before--
in the end, they, you know, they can die from it.
Want a scratch?
Oh, you love a scratch, don't ya?
They've been a challenging animal to learn how to breed.
Oh, a belly scratch.
We've been fortunate enough to have bred six joeys
over the past eight years, nine years.
Surprisingly, we've had all females up until now.
Yeah.
Kora, which has been the mother of also the other joeys,
unfortunately she passed
while her little boy was inside her pouch,
and keepers have had to hand-raise that joey
from now on.
SUZIE: Hi, little man.
Hello, Waru.
ANDREW: You waking up? SUZIE: What do you think?
SUZIE: So this little guy is Waru.
He's about seven months old now.
Andrew and myself here
are very lucky to be able to be helping him
and hand-raising him at the moment.
Oh, good boy.
ANDREW: We would only ever hand-raise a wombat joey
if we absolutely needed to to ensure his survival.
He will be particularly important
because he's the first boy that's been born
part of the breeding program here at Taronga Zoo.
SUZIE: Waru actually means fire
in a number of indigenous dialects,
and he was given that name
pretty much because of his personality.
He's a very feisty little guy,
and he is definitely very cheeky already,
and we call him "the little terror,"
in the most loving way possible.
Yeah, he's just full of energy when he's out.
It's almost feed time, bud.
So we are feeding him, at the moment, every four hours.
He's getting milk feeds.
He also gets a water feed a couple of times a day as well.
We obviously have to keep him nice and clean and dry and warm,
so changing pouch whenever we need it.
ANDREW: Lots of laundry.
SUZIE: Lots of laundry. Tons of laundry.
ANDREW: Are you going to take it?
Yeah, good boy.
SUZIE: He's such a heart-melter.
He is just the cutest little thing.
ANDREW: You're really smashing that, buddy.
It would be normally about a year
before they're fully independent from mom,
so we'll be looking after him
until about that 12-month stage.
Oh, buddy.
Very, very cute.
SUZIE: In the wild,
a wombat joey would not be able to survive on its own.
They're dependent on mom for up to two years of age.
So these guys need 24-7 care.
ANDREW: Time to go home.
NARRATOR: Care for Waru isn't just confined to the zoo.
ANDREW: You ready?
So, I'm taking Waru,
the southern hairy-nosed wombat joey home with me tonight.
That's part of the job when you're hand-raising an animal
is they often do need to go home with you.
SUZIE: Have you got everything you need?
You have his milk,
you've got his diaper bag,
and clean pouches.
ANDREW: I've got all his pouches,
his records, his bag.
NARRATOR: The problem is
the hairy-nosed wombat is nocturnal,
so Andrew is in for another restless night.
SUZIE: You be good for Andrew.
ANDREW: I doubt that.
(laughing)
NARRATOR: At Taronga,
there are more birds than any other animal in the zoo.
KEEPER: Wow!
NARRATOR: Many were injured animals
that came through Taronga's rehab facility.
Those that couldn't be released back into the wild
are integrated into the zoo as ambassadors for their species.
KEEPER: Looks like she's going to go in.
KEEPER: Yay!
NARRATOR: Leslie, an Andean condor,
is one such ambassador,
but lately she's started to lose her mojo.
While Matt has been working with her closely,
he's asked Taronga's bird expert, Grey,
who used to run the bird team,
to come down and have a look.
GREY: We'll get Leslie,
and I think just release her from up on the grass.
We're about to work Leslie, the Andean condor.
She's been out of shows for a few days
because she had some issues.
She took about 30 minutes to fly from her release the other day.
In you go.
All the way.
When I started at the zoo 15 years ago,
Leslie was two years old and still living with her parents.
Luckily she very quickly came around,
and because I started working with her at such a young age,
we've developed a really good relationship
where I completely trust her.
NARRATOR: Rebuilding a bird's confidence
can be a slow process.
GREY: Any time we train a behavior,
whether it's a new behavior
or an old behavior that's broken down,
we always want to break everything down
into small, very easily achievable steps.
So we need to build up her confidence again,
get her working a lot faster.
So, currently Matt is getting ready to release her.
We're going to take her up and release her from the lawns
that are just above the theater.
So that helps to build their confidence
with what we're asking them to do.
It may not be easy to ask her to fly 50 meters,
but it is easy to get her to fly five meters.
And so we slowly build those steps up,
build that confidence
until she's willing to take the last step
and do her full routine from her release tower
all the way down the stage.
Hopefully today,
because she's had a little bit of time off,
today will go smoothly.
MATT: You ready, Grey?
GREY: Yeah, we're ready.
NARRATOR: Jimmy is continuing
his daily rounds of the ungulates,
and next up is an animal that's nearing extinction.
JIMMY: Morning, boys.
So, for me, the best part of being a zookeeper
is knowing that I'm making a difference.
We get to do a lot of stuff here,
and we get to educate the public,
and we get to do animal care here,
but we also get to take a lot of what we learn to the wild,
and that's really, really important.
So, we're off to feed the bongo and clean the bongo exhibit.
Bongos are the largest
forest-dwelling antelope in the world.
But before I do the bongo exhibit,
I have to feed our lovely little chickens.
We can't miss out on them.
Chook, chook, chook, chook, chooks.
There you go, guys.
Breakfast is served.
And now we go and do the bongo.
NARRATOR: Like the giraffe,
the bongo is a massive consumer of hay.
JIMMY: It's dinner time.
NARRATOR: And for the bongos at Taronga,
it's nothing but the best.
JIMMY: This is lucerne hay.
There's a couple of different varieties of hay,
but bongo like lucerne hay, and you know what?
I never ever dreamed
that I would look at the different qualities of hay
and appreciate it.
This is really, really good hay.
I can tell you what,
if I was a hoof stock or a grass-eating animal,
I'd prefer this.
You can sometimes get hay that's really, really stalky.
This is really, really fluffy,
which is really, really good hay.
I'm not sure if you can appreciate it,
but I'm sure he's going to appreciate it.
So here is the browse for out male bongo, Akundu.
He really likes it. This is celtis.
We try and give him as much variety as possible.
But I can tell you what, he's going to love today.
With that good hay and this good browse,
it's gonna be a good day for him.
NARRATOR: But before the food comes a body check.
JIMMY: It gives me a good indication
to have a good look all over him
and make sure his body is in good condition,
there's nothing going wrong,
there's nothing unusual that's happened overnight,
he has no ticks on his body.
It's all about their welfare,
and we want to keep him as comfortable as possible,
you know.
Good boy, darling.
Door.
You're all right. Good boy.
Good boy. Impressive, huh?
Touch. Thank you.
So what I'm doing here
is I'm not just brushing him to make him look good.
It's a great way for us keepers to give a body condition
and check on his body condition,
make sure there's no parasites.
And it's also a good way for him to get used to us touching him.
So if we ever need to do blood draws
or veterinary procedures,
he's already used to people being around him
and touching him.
But at the same time, I still have to watch my safety.
I don't want to get between those big horns and these bars.
Spray.
So what I'm doing now, this stuff here is Repel-X.
So you can use this on your dogs at home,
you can use it on yourself.
It's basically a fly repellent.
Um, spray.
You can see I cued that.
We don't do anything as a surprise.
So anything that is any behavior I'm asking,
even though I'm only asking him to stand still,
I want him to know that I'm about to spray him.
So you'll see when I started, I said "spray."
Nothing is a surprise for him.
You want a scratch? Scratch?
Good boy. So this is Akundu.
He is our male bongo here at Taronga Zoo.
I know that there-- his ex-girlfriend, Djembi,
is out at Western Plains Zoo,
and I've heard on the grapevine, mate,
that she might have a bun in the oven, so to speak.
So don't feel jealous about that, mate.
Feel proud for the species, eh?
NARRATOR: A bongo pregnancy
is massive news for the species,
as they're doing it extremely tough in the wild.
JIMMY: Bongo numbers are really, really low in the wild.
I think they're less than a hundred.
So you can think that animal
is critically, critically endangered.
They'll be gone from the wild soon.
So it's up to us to breed up,
and then hopefully one day we can secure their habitat
and release them back into the wild.
But that's a really, really big hope,
and that's what half the problem is.
We can breed these animals, which is fantastic.
We've got nowhere to release them yet.
So until we can fix the problem
of them being poached in the wild,
we are just at a standstill.
But such exciting news for bongos
that we've got a new one on the way.
NARRATOR: Keeper Andrew
is traveling with some very precious cargo.
He's taken Waru home for the night.
ANDREW: Waru was in a pretty dire situation, I guess.
When he came to us, he'd just lost his mom,
so we've got to do whatever it takes
to get him through.
NARRATOR: It's vital that Waru survives.
ANDREW: He'll be a really important part
of our breeding program.
He's the first male we've had born here in five years,
so it's up to us to make sure
that we give him the best chance of growing up healthfully
and making sure we're doing whatever we need to do
to get him through.
Out you go, little man.
Sound asleep.
Whether that's getting up at 2 AM to feed him,
whether that's giving up all our free time
to make sure he's supervised
and we know what's going on with him,
but, you know, that's part and parcel,
that's the job,
and while that sounds like a lot of work,
it's also a lot of fun.
So this is home for little Waru,
or home within a home.
So he's got a nice, nice big bed here.
So we've got a little bit of grass here,
a little bit of turf,
and it's really important for him to transition to solid foods
and grass and vegetation is what he'd be eating out in the wild.
I have a little chew toy here for Waru.
Honestly, it's a dog toy.
He loves to chew things,
so it works just as well for baby wombats as well,
and then a little soft toy for him as well.
So, you know, I'd like to say he cuddles it,
but he probably chews that just as much as well.
So, it's early evening, coming up to six o'clock,
so time for Waru to have another bottle of milk very soon,
and then he'll probably fall straight back asleep.
NARRATOR: Wombats are nocturnal.
So while Andrew gets ready for bed,
Waru is just waking up.
ANDREW: Yeah, life's pretty strange sometimes
when you're a zookeeper
and you're bringing an animal home to your apartment.
You ready?
Here you go.
To be honest, I'm not sure if I'm mom, dad,
or, you know, just the milkman for little Waru here.
Good job, buddy.
It's a lot of work bringing him home,
but hopefully he pulls through,
makes it to adulthood,
and, you know, contributes to the breeding program
for this, you know, it's a vulnerable species.
Well done.
Now a big scratch.
So he's a very important little fella,
and we're going to do everything we can to get him there.
NARRATOR: Right now, life looks good for little Waru.
ANDREW: Looks like you're going into a milk coma.
Are you a little bit milk drunk?
NARRATOR: But unfortunately, that's all about to change.
NARRATOR: Leslie, the Andean condor,
has lost her mojo and is refusing to fly.
GREY: So we need to build up her confidence again,
get her working a lot faster.
NARRATOR: So Matt and Grey
are trying to get her back on track.
GREY: We're ready.
NARRATOR: And they plan to do this
by starting small.
GREY: It may not be easy to ask her to fly 50 meters,
but it is easy to get her to fly five meters.
And so we slowly build those steps up,
build that confidence
until she's willing to take the last step.
MATT: You ready, Grey?
GREY: Yeah, we're ready.
There she is.
Give her a little wave. Here she comes.
Yeah.
You're all right.
NARRATOR: It's early days,
but at least Leslie is back in the air.
GREY: Good girl.
My concerns with Leslie's performance today
was that she would be slow to come down to stage
and slow to exit.
She's a little bit nervous today.
She did have a little bit of concern
over some novel objects in the environment,
but what I appreciated about this session
was she recovered very quickly from that.
Come on.
She very quickly put her attention back on me.
I was able to get her back on track
and finish off the routine,
and this is hopefully...
job done.
She was very quick out, quick down the stage,
she exited really well, so I'm happy with that.
I think that Leslie
has definitely done a great job today.
I have every confidence
that we're going to be able to have her back in shows,
flying from a release tower hopefully within the next week.
NARRATOR: Over the last few weeks,
substitute mum Suzie has noticed that Waru,
the orphaned southern hairy-nosed wombat,
is having trouble walking.
So she's taken him to the animal hospital
to investigate.
SUZIE: The last couple of days
his gait's just changed a little bit,
the way he walks is a little bit different,
so we just want to have a good look at him
and see what's going on.
LARRY: So as far as this sort of lameness goes,
how was he over the weekend?
SUZIE: I wouldn't say there's been much improvement,
and last night maybe a little bit less inactive
after we spoke.
Like he still is able to get around.
He just, yeah, he likes to sit down a lot.
LARRY: So maybe before we anesthetize him,
let's see him just walking around.
SUZIE: Yeah. Come on, bub. Up you get.
Good boy.
LARRY: A really stiff, shuffly sort of gait.
OK. We'll pop him back in the pouch,
and we'll just mask him down with the anesthetic.
SUZIE: With his walk,
he was just a little bit less active than he usually is
and just seemed a little bit stiff
and a little bit tentative on his back legs.
So, that's why we sort of want to have a look
whilst he's doing a wee.
(laughing)
Yeah, I mean, I'm definitely concerned.
Seeing that change in behavior
and the way that he's walking is a little bit unusual.
But I know he's in the best hands here
so he's going to get a good check-up,
and we'll find out what's going on.
LARRY: While he's still going to sleep,
just give him a quick exam.
So just feeling if there's any lumps or bumps,
any what we call crepitus,
so crunching feeling or grating feeling in the joints.
Yeah, so certainly none of that is evident at the moment.
SUZIE: Is it normal for their ankle bones
to be quite prominent like that?
LARRY: It is prominent,
and actually--look--his elbows are very prominent as well.
But I'm pretty sure that would be a normal thing.
But let's do some X-rays.
We probably don't need to intubate him.
So the X-ray is going to be very useful
to evaluate particularly his skeleton,
just make sure all his bones are developing properly.
NARRATOR: For keeper Suzie, Waru's protective mom,
it's hard to see him in such a helpless state.
SUZIE: I guess I feel a little bit anxious,
seeing him sort of splayed out like that.
It's a little bit confronting.
LARRY: All right, let's take this x-ray.
(beep)
So you can see all these sort of dark spots
here in the intestines,
and that's gas.
So the black bits, and then all the whiter bits
are actually his feces.
So he's got a lot of feces and a lot of gas.
Um, does he fart a lot?
SUZIE: Not that often.
Um, yeah.
(laughing)
A couple of times, yeah.
LARRY: OK, let's just get his skull,
but actually I might do a skull...
just turn him over and do a DV.
Since he's in a good position, and then we can...
SUZIE: I guess it's just the unknown,
not knowing what is going on
and why he might be showing this change in gait
and a little bit of potential soreness.
But, yeah, it's just having spent the last five months
looking after him 24-7,
you know, we just want him to do well
and get to adulthood
so we're just hoping that, yeah, that he does well.
LARRY: Did you want to come and have a look, Suze?
SUZIE: Yep.
LARRY: OK. There are certain things here
that don't seem quite right.
KEEPER: Hello, beautiful boy.
NARRATOR: Animal husbandry
is the practice of caring for animals
and is one of the most important aspects
of running a zoo.
KEEPER: How are you doing?
Are we going to do your teeth?
NARRATOR: While the majority of care
happens behind the scenes...
KEEPER: Open.
Good.
NARRATOR: ...one of the most visible examples at Taronga
is the daily elephant bath.
LUCY: So we give our elephants a bath every day.
It's just an activity that they really enjoy.
Elephants actually love water.
KEEPER: Diesel. Jaidee. Move up.
Good boy.
LUCY: We do our baths roughly about the same time
so they know it's going to happen,
and it's entirely their choice.
If they don't want to participate in something,
they don't have to.
But they know the baths are about to happen.
We ask them to come in if they want to.
Every day they come in.
KEEPER: Jaidee, move up.
That a boy.
LUCY: We've got the three Asian elephants
that are joining us for the bath today.
So we've got our matriarch, Pakboo.
She's the eldest.
And then we've got her son, Jaidee,
who just turned two,
and his name means "good heart" in Thai.
And then our other elephant is Taimo,
and she loves her bath as well,
but she doesn't quite stick to the routine
that the other elephants do.
She's got her own way of laying down,
and I'd rather do it this way.
They've each got their own little quirks and personalities
and like certain things,
so, yeah, it's always fun.
KEEPER: Jaidee, move up. Come on, buddy.
LUCY: The point of the bath
isn't to get them clean, necessarily.
It's just for us to have a look at the skin,
make sure they're in good condition.
KEEPER: Good girl, move up.
Good girl, Pakboo. Move up.
KEEPER: Come on, big boy. KEEPER: Good girl.
KEEPER: Come on, bud.
LUCY: So this is our two-year-old elephant Jaidee,
and he's enjoying his daily shower.
Some of our keepers just giving him a good scrub,
trying to exfoliate the skin,
making sure it's in good condition,
but also looking it over
and making sure that everything's looking good,
there's no scrapes or cuts that we need to attend to.
It allows us to inspect everything
and seeing how they're moving and how their attitude is.
All right, Jaidee.
Good boy, trunk up.
Good.
Good. Trunk up.
Good boy. Open.
Good boy.
Steady. Good.
KEEPER: That's it, big girl.
That's it, Pakboo.
LUCY: So this is Pakboo, our matriarch,
and she's Jaidee's mother.
She's 27 years old.
Now it is her turn to enjoy the bath,
and she absolutely loves it.
Everything is based on trust.
In order to lay down,
that can be a very vulnerable position for an elephant.
So they're only going to do it
if they feel safe and comfortable around you.
KEEPER: That's it, Pakboo.
That a girl.
LUCY: We invest a lot in that positive reinforcement training
and building that bond and respect.
KEEPER: Good.
LUCY: And once we've established that,
then they're totally willing, they trust us.
KEEPER: Steady, girl.
All right, look.
LUCY: This is Tangmo, which means watermelon in Thai.
So the biggest watermelon you've ever seen.
And she's just enjoying a drink from the hose.
Because we use warm water for the baths,
it's kind of novel for them to drink warm water,
so we always offer them a drink.
It's like having a little cup of tea
to start the bath.
So, uh, yeah, we give her time to enjoy that
before we actually start the bath.
LUCY: We also look at the elephants' feet,
very important to an elephant.
We want to make sure they're in the best of condition possible
so we have a look at the bottom, that pad,
make sure that there's no stones or anything stuck in them,
because elephants' feet are very important to them,
and we want to make sure they're in the best condition.
So the final step in the bath
is asking the elephant to open their mouth nice and wide
so that we can visualize the teeth,
'cause teeth are very important to an elephant.
So they've got big massive molars.
They've got four teeth in their mouth
on each corner of the jaw.
And they are grinding food day in, day out.
They eat about 18 hours a day.
We have to make sure they're fully functional,
they're not impacted
because that's its livelihood,
is being able to eat all that hard, dry stuff.
Everything that we do with our elephants
is based on positive reinforcement,
and it's entirely their choice.
If they don't want to participate in something,
they don't have to,
but they know the baths are about to happen,
every day they come in.
So that lets us know
that they actually do like the activity
and love interacting with us.
As far as the elephant is concerned,
it's just a daily spa treatment
and they're just getting a nice scrub, exfoliation,
and fed treats at the same time.
So they love it. Yeah, it's always fun.
NARRATOR: Out at Dubbo,
Taronga keepers are maintaining a close eye
on one of the most important pregnancies they've had
in the last few years.
CAROLENE: Djembi!
Hey, little girl.
What we're going to do is we're going to give them some lunch.
So we'll put their lunch out with some extra treats.
I've been working with the bongo
for approximately four years now.
We just let them approach us.
Good girl.
Good.
This is Djembi,
our eldest breeding female.
Djembi was actually born here at Taronga Western Plains Zoo.
She's very good with her high-value treats
but that's when you're her favorite.
Otherwise, outside food, she likes to do her own thing.
She's a gorgeous girl,
and she's the one that's in calf,
due any time.
So, yeah, she's looking really well.
She's got a nice little body condition.
The calf actually gets quite active in the afternoon.
You can see it kicking,
and you'll see its little legs push out,
and she'll feel a little uncomfortable.
But she's doing so well. So, so well.
NARRATOR: And it's no wonder the baby is active,
as Djembi is due to give birth any day now.
CAROLENE: Breeding bongo here at Taronga Western Plains Zoo,
it is not extremely scientific,
but you do have to orchestrate it quite well.
Sometimes you'll see them mate through the day.
With Djembi, she's a little bit more private,
so we think she gets mated overnight,
which does make an accurate due date for her
a little difficult to gauge.
So the calf could come pretty much any day,
however, gestation is about 286 days.
That was from mating to birth.
So the earliest possible calving would be the end of this week.
However, it could be in the next few weeks as well.
We're just praying for a little female.
The region needs a little female so she can be a little warrior,
so we can hopefully buddy her up with a potential breeding male
in the future.
NARRATOR: A healthy female bongo baby
will go a long way to helping this species,
as the numbers of this beautiful animal
are in serious decline.
CAROLENE: The eastern bongo is found
within the forested areas within Mount Kenya.
However, they're a critically endangered species.
Predation for the eastern bongo
would be primarily leopards within the area,
of course, snaring from man-made snares.
Deforestation is another huge issue,
and also domestic cattle diseases
that is wiping out this remarkable species.
But we'd just be very thankful
for any healthy calf at this stage,
so, yeah, it's super exciting.
There's nothing better than a baby,
so we have to watch this space.
NARRATOR: Wombat orphan Waru
is having trouble walking.
(beep)
After a series of x-rays,
Larry has found some worrying signs.
LARRY: Did you want to come have a look, Suze?
SUZIE: Yep.
LARRY: You know, there are certain things here
that don't seem quite right.
See how dense the teeth are?
And then some of these skull bones
and the rest of his bones are quite gray.
So it's possible
that there's just not enough calcium in his bones,
which shouldn't be the case
because his diet is specifically formulated
for wombats.
But sometimes there are other factors
which influence the amount of absorption
of the calcium as well.
Got a good comparison here
with this very dense feces in his intestines.
Then if you look at the density of the bone,
it's not, uh, not quite there.
And so, yeah, low calcium in the bones
is certainly a risk for Waru
in that the bones may not develop properly.
They might be more susceptible to injury as well.
They can fracture, they're a bit weak,
the bones are a bit weak and brittle,
and they can also be a little bit deformed
in their shape as well.
They can bend a bit.
NARRATOR: Unfortunately today,
there's no quick fix for Waru's problem.
Suzie is well aware
there's a big fight ahead for this little battler.
SUZIE: Yeah, you know, you want an answer,
you want to know what's going on,
so still a bit of apprehension.
That's for sure.
Just worried about him.
LARRY: Suze, I think we got everything we need today.
I'll go have another look at the x-rays,
compare it with similar aged bare-nosed wombats we've got.
Unfortunately we don't have other hairy-nosed wombat x-rays.
And the blood work.
So that will come through sometime today,
and we'll be able to look at all of that,
and then hopefully a bit of a diagnosis and a plan.
I mean, at least, you know,
there's nothing like dramatically obvious
on the bones.
They're not sort of broken or bent or anything like that.
SUZIE: I spend a lot of time with this guy, you know.
He comes with me everywhere
and do everything for him,
so, yeah, just, just a worried mum.
LARRY: I do have a feeling
that his bone development is not where it should be.
You know, there are things we can do to fix that.
We can supplement his diet.
Obviously the gut problem
is also probably something that we can fix
by hopefully re-establishing a normal gut flora.
SUZIE: He does have a big road ahead.
It's been a bit of a tough journey for him,
but, yeah, you know, he's got the best care
that he could possibly have
and considering everything that he's gone through,
he's doing incredibly well.
NARRATOR: Leslie the Andean condor
has lost her confidence.
GREY: Leslie has been having some issues lately.
She has not wanted to fly from her release tower.
She stood up in there for about 30 minutes the other day.
NARRATOR: But there's no one better to get her back on track
than Grey,
who has worked with Leslie for the last fifteen years.
GREY: So, over the last week,
we've been doing a lot of repetitions with Leslie,
building up her confidence.
I think she has that confidence back now.
That means that once we get her into the release box today,
what I'm looking for is that when the door opens,
she flies straight down the stage,
perfect routine,
and then exiting without any hesitation.
NARRATOR: Matt is also quietly optimistic about her recovery.
MATT: So, Leslie's been really good
for the last couple of days.
It looks like her confidence has built back up again,
so the last step is popping her up in the tower.
All right, Les.
In you get.
That a girl.
It's about 15 meters off the ground
and probably another 30 over the stage.
She's ready to be getting close back into shows.
This is the last step of checking where her head's at.
We have every confidence
that she'll come out and do her thing,
but if not, you know, this is part of what we do.
Any breakdowns,
we'll work on it, build her confidence,
and she'll be back on track again.
GREY: I'm always a little bit nervous
when I'm putting a bird back in shows
after they've had some time off.
Condors are incredible creatures,
and she's a very unique bird to get to see fly in a show.
So we're very heavily invested in her success.
We've had a lot of really good training sessions
over the last week,
so I think we're good to go.
MATT: You ready?
NARRATOR: And after days of preparation,
all Grey and Matt can do now is watch.
It's all up to Leslie.
GREY: There we go.
Here she comes.
Beautifully done.
Leslie did great.
I couldn't be happier with that.
She came out of the tower as soon as the door was opened.
She had really nice flight down.
Got a bit of height on her way down,
which was really good
because an Andean condor has a very impressive wing span,
so getting to see that in action is always an amazing thing.
Once she was on stage, she was very focused on me,
focused on what she needed to do.
Let's go this way.
It couldn't have gone better, as far as I'm concerned.
Good job, Leslie. Come on.
Good girl.
Here she comes.
Leslie has definitely built up that confidence
that we've been working so hard on
over the past few weeks.
That was perfect.
She's ready for shows.
She's ready to face an audience again.
ANDREW: Starting to get a big nose, aren't you, buddy?
A big schnoz.
SUZIE: But he's starting to grow into it.
NARRATOR: It's been a month
since Waru was diagnosed with bone development issues.
SUZIE: Good boy.
NARRATOR: But Suzie and Andrew aren't giving up.
SUZIE: He hit 5.8 kilos yesterday,
so almost at six kilos.
NARRATOR: They're tackling Waru's problem head on.
SUZIE: I was pretty upset last time,
you know, very worried about him
because he's our little guy
and want him to do really well,
but, yeah, really hopeful
that he's going to be a nice, strong adult wombat.
NARRATOR: But Waru still has a fight ahead of him
if he's to rejoin his family of southern hairy-nosed wombats
in the coming months.
SUZIE: Waru went back down to the vets
to have a follow-up procedure
just to see how he was progressing
on the new diet and diet changes,
and his x-rays showed
that he has had some development in calcification,
so that's a good thing,
that he's starting to get some good bone growth.
But they did notice that he has some small fractures
in his growth plates in the hind legs.
So that's why he's still a little bit shuffly
and that sort of thing.
Basically, we just have to get his bones strong enough
so that they can assess how to move forward with that.
It was hard to hear
that he does have some small little fractures
in those back legs,
but, you know, it's...
I don't really know how to...
It's tough.
Umm...
yeah.
Yeah.
ANDREW: We keep doing what we're doing,
and we keep hoping that we see the improvement
that we saw in his last set of x-rays
in terms of the calcification and mineralization.
So, we keep doing what we're doing
and hope that he keeps improving.
SUZIE: That's a good boy.
NARRATOR: And although Waru has problems walking,
as long as he's at Taronga,
he will never walk alone.
SUZIE: He's got a whole team supporting him.
The whole zoo's behind him.
Um, so, yeah,
we're just doing our best for you, aren't we, buddy?
(laughs)
NARRATOR: Back at Taronga Western Plains Zoo,
keeper Carolene is eagerly awaiting
the birth of an endangered bongo.
CAROLENE: Hey, Djembi.
Good girl.
Good.
NARRATOR: By the zoo's calculations,
Djembi is now four weeks overdue,
but she's taking it in her stride.
CAROLENE: We are still waiting on the birth
of this incredible calf.
It feels like it's been forever.
But naturally, calves will come when they're ready,
as you know, like any pregnancy,
which is going to make it even more rewarding
and even more spectacular and beautiful and magical.
Good.
Where's our little moo?
She's been a fantastic mom.
She's been very calm, very settled.
All the physical signs are now present.
Her abdomen is quite extended now.
It's a lot lower,
but also that vulva swelling, which is a really big sign.
Her behavior is starting to change.
She has very clear guidelines of what we can and can't do.
So we basically take all the cues from her,
which is a clear indication
that we are getting so much more closer.
NARRATOR: In anticipation of the big day,
the zoo has prepared a birthing suite.
CAROLENE: This is a purposely-built
calving yard for a bongo.
We need to offer Djembi a area that's quite private,
very protected for her as well,
because they do give birth in privacy.
So we need to make her feel secure, enclosed,
and that way she has time to imprint and bond with her calf
at that very significant period of time.
And also it needs to be soft and comfortable.
We do need to make sure that she's secure,
it's draft-free as well.
We do make sure we provide lots of extra heat
if we go get a cold snap.
Newborn calves or neonates can't control their body temperature,
so all these little things
we just need to make sure we're prepared for.
So we're ready to go.
Hopefully Djembi is too.
NARRATOR: And Taronga keepers didn't have to wait too long,
with mother Djembi giving birth to baby Jabali
only two days later.
And word of the newborn male bongo
has traveled quickly to Sydney.
JIMMY: We've just had some really exciting news
come through.
The bongo in Dubbo, she's had a baby.
So that's fantastic,
because as you know with any pregnancies,
they can go hit or miss,
and this is an incredible accomplishment for the species.
For the regional breeding program,
it's fantastic
because it means the numbers are growing.
Their numbers are really, really low in the wild,
so what we can do here is increase them,
increase the breeding program, start to disperse them,
get their genetics out there
and just create a bigger, bigger bongo population,
and that's what we're doing.
But just that one being born is so special for everyone
and so special for us, special for him as a species,
special for everyone.
Couldn't be more happier for those guys.
Captioned by Side Door Media Services