♪ ♪
KIMBERLY (off-screen): Just having a good listen to his heart and his lungs.
Sounds really good.
NARRATOR: Taronga Zoo hospital is responsible
for the health and welfare of nearly 5,000 animals.
KEEPER (off-screen): 10.8 kilos.
So he's lost a bit of weight.
NARRATOR: From over 350 species.
LARRY (off-screen): Poor koalas have copped a bit, unfortunately.
NARRATOR: The hospital also plays a vital role
in the treatment and rehabilitation
of over 1,400 injured wildlife
brought in by the public each year.
LARRY (off-screen): Very obviously a nasty wound there,
which is already a few days old by the look of it.
NARRATOR: And never has this been more obvious
than in the aftermath of the savage bushfires
that swept through Australia this year,
killing and injuring more than a billion animals.
Understandably all this makes the emergency room
a very busy place.
So rather than bring every animal to the hospital,
sometimes they need to take the hospital to the animals.
KIMBERLY: This morning I'm on outside rounds.
So I'm the veterinarian that is designated to go out in the zoo
and look at any of the animals that need veterinary assistance.
We'll take this bag of goodies
with all kinds of different supplies in it.
So some antibiotics, stethoscope,
needles and syringes,
so if we need something while we're out there,
we can treat some of the animals on site.
So I have a list with all of our different departments.
The reptiles are probably the most important,
so I'm going to start with them.
NARRATOR: The first patient on today's rounds
is a freshwater crocodile with a respiratory problem.
KIMBERLY (off-screen): Let's look at this freshwater croc
that we wrestled last week.
NARRATOR: Found all over northern Australia,
the freshwater crocodile,
unlike its much larger saltwater cousin,
isn't prone to attack humans.
But it still packs one hell of a punch.
KEEPER: So that's her there. She's just cruising round now.
KIMBERLY: Oh. The female freshwater crocodile,
she's been having some nasal discharge
and some ocular discharge
and opening her mouth quite a bit
and having trouble seemingly breathing.
We are treating her for a respiratory infection.
Hopefully it's not a fungal respiratory disease,
but we do have to keep in the back of our mind it could be.
Well, we got to keep her on antibiotics,
so Emma thought you could just inject her.
KEEPER (off-screen): Yeah, we should be able to.
KIMBERLY: If I left the pole syringe for you.
KEEPER (off-screen): Yeah, we'll do that.
KIMBERLY (off-screen): The keepers actually are able
to do the injection for us.
So it's probably a little bit better
because I'm not used to working with her,
they're used to working with crocs,
and it will be a lot more safe than me going in there.
So we need to give her an injection,
and so we're going to fill this up with antibiotics,
he'll put a needle on the end,
and then he'll go in and he can just jab her in the muscle
with the antibiotic.
So we need to do that about every three days for her.
KEEPER: Yeah, sure.
KIMBERLY (off-screen): So that's the antibiotic and there's the sterile water.
You can keep all of that.
NARRATOR: Since the crocodile isn't due to be fed
for a few more days,
the injection will have to wait.
So Kimberly's off to her next stop
to unravel the mystery of a lame meerkat.
♪ ♪
All across Taronga Zoo there are countless examples
of animals that are from the same family.
Kangaroos and pademelons.
Gorillas and chimpanzees.
Turtles and tortoises.
But there is actually only one species of bear at Taronga.
The Malayan sun bear.
ELLEN (off-screen): We're in our Malayan sun bear exhibit.
We have two bears here.
So we have Mr. Hobbs, who is 24 years of age,
and Mary, who is 8 years of age.
So one of the amazing things about sun bears
is that they do have a beautiful crest on their chest,
which makes it look like the sun is rising.
Each sun bear has a unique marking.
Mary has what looks like a necklace,
so it's a full crest,
and Mr. Hobbs actually has a crest
that has a little break in it
that makes it look like it's a bow tie.
NARRATOR: Sun bears are the smallest of all bear species,
but their looks and size can be deceiving.
ELLEN (off-screen): We definitely should not be fooled
by the sun bear's cute and cuddly looks.
They have incredibly large canine teeth
as well as other teeth,
and they also have those incredibly long claws as well.
So built for getting and ripping in to rocks and to logs.
NARRATOR: The claws make them excellent climbers,
which sees keepers take a novel approach
to stopping them from scaling the walls.
ELLEN: So, this wall is meant to be non-climbable.
One of the reasons you will notice
we've got Vaseline along here
is to prevent her from physically climbing it.
And although Mary is at the moment about 90 kilos,
she can still lift her entire body weight just on those claws.
NARRATOR: But despite how powerful they may be,
that doesn't mean they're not doing it tough in the wild.
ELLEN (off-screen): They do live in the same area
as larger predators than themselves, things like tigers.
One of their cool adaptations
is they have a lot of excess skin on the back of their neck.
They'll use that if a bigger bear than them
or another predator like a tiger comes up behind them.
If they latch on to their back,
they can basically almost turn around their own skin
to either roar at them or to scare that species off,
and then they have such incredible climbing ability,
they're up the tree in two seconds,
and that bear or that tiger can't catch up with them,
which is pretty incredible.
NARRATOR: Although sun bear numbers are low
and Taronga would love a cub,
for most of the year, the sun bears do not mix.
ELLEN (off-screen): Keeping the bears separate here at Taronga
is kind of a safety aspect.
Mary being bigger than Hobbsy
and Hobbsy being quite a bit older than her,
those things are great and bad in some ways.
So her being a bit boisterous, a bit younger
means that she can overpower him for food,
so we just want him to be able to get his nutritional value
from all of his foods as best as we possibly can,
and having them separate is one of those ways.
NARRATOR: But as keeper Ellen is about to find out,
Mary is ready to mingle and is making no secret
of the fact that she's keen to end her and Mr. Hobbs' segregation.
ELLEN (off-screen): Ahh, okay.
Wow.
Another sign that she is coming in to estrus.
So, she hasn't really dug anything this big since April.
Umm, so we've got to fill that in.
I might go grab a shovel, actually.
Today is a very exciting time at Taronga.
Our female sun bear Mary is coming in to estrus,
which basically means she is ready to mate
with our male, Mr. Hobbs.
So one of the signs she is coming in to estrus
is she actually thinks that this is one of the walls
that is to Mr. Hobbs.
It is not quite.
So we'll dig here, or she will often even head up to the doors.
She has actually tried to climb them before
because she can sense that he is near.
This digging is basically a sign of that from overnight
that she has wanted to get to him.
There is another sign up here as well.
Shows how powerful she is.
Has pulled that away from the door.
(laughs)
Which is quite a feat,
displaying just how strong they are.
Mary and Mr. Hobbs have been separate
since her last estrus cycle back in April.
Because they are a dangerous animal,
bringing the two bears together for that first introduction
as she is coming in to estrus
is always a little bit of a wary time for us,
and Mary being a good 15 kilos heavier than Mr. Hobbs
means she has that overpowering ability.
NARRATOR: So despite zookeeper concerns about what may happen,
preparations have started to get them together.
♪ ♪
Back at the Wildlife Hospital...
GABRIELLE: Alright, so I'm giving him
what I gave him yesterday pretty much.
NARRATOR: Vet Gabby is preparing for emergency surgery
on a lace monitor, commonly known as a tree goanna.
It was brought to the zoo with a gruesome injury,
and vets have decided the only way to save it is surgery.
GABRIELLE: He was found with a skewer,
a metal skewer sticking out of his abdomen.
And he was taken to a local vet
where they took radiographs and sent here.
The x-rays are pretty spectacular.
So you can see a metal barbecue skewer,
that's what it looks like, with a round ring on the end.
So we can't just pull it out because it's stuck in his body,
and I can't see where it's stuck in his body,
I can't see if it's within his gastrointestinal tract
or whether it's moved out of his gastrointestinal tract
and just sitting free.
So he needs surgery to remove it.
So I am going to draw up the atipamezole.
NARRATOR: While they don't know the skewer's precise location,
they do know they have to move fast.
But first they have the not so easy task of sedating him.
GABRIELLE: So he was quite feisty yesterday
when Bell picked him up.
LIBBY: Was he? GABRIELLE: Yep.
Umm, he's probably feeling a bit better after his fluids.
LIBBY: So I need gloves?
GABRIELLE: Yes.
LIBBY: So lace monitors are quite gnarly.
They can be defensive.
So obviously he's scared,
and so he's going to try and get me with his mouth,
his both front and rear claws and his tail.
So whip you with their tails.
So I am just putting some protection on
because I have been bitten by these guys before.
LIBBY (off-screen): Where is he?
GABRIELLE (off-screen): He is right up to the left corner, up the wall.
LIBBY (off-screen): Probably going to go in each arm, front arm.
♪ ♪
KEEPER (off-screen): Can someone just get me that shovel as well
that's on the wall, the red one, orange one.
LIBBY: Ok, I need someone.
KEEPER (off-screen): I can hold his feet if you want.
LIBBY (off-screen): Okay, thanks.
GABRIELLE (off-screen): Okay, we are going to start scrubbing.
LIBBY (off-screen): They're not the biggest but they're just...
they're clever.
NARRATOR: It's the first chance for Gabby to look at the injury
and she doesn't like what she sees.
GABRIELLE (off-screen): The animal is quite compromised,
he is quite thin, so getting him through the surgery
is a challenge definitely,
and removing it will be a challenge as well.
I'll be very pleased if he survives the surgery.
NARRATOR: Kimberly is doing rounds of the zoo
and is about to check out an injured meerkat called Zalani,
who is receiving treatment for a mysterious limp.
KIMBERLY: Can you point her out? DEB (off-screen): Yeah, yeah.
KIMBERLY: Is she the one with the green?
DEB (off-screen): She's one of the ones with the blue food dye on her.
So Zalani is in the middle at the moment and...
KIMBERLY (off-screen): Yeah, the one with the food coloring.
DEB (off-screen): Yeah, so she has got the blue food dye on her.
She is being very nervous of everyone coming around her.
KIMBERLY (off-screen): So we have one of our female meerkats
that's quite high ranking in the group.
She is lame on her left front foot,
and she's had this lameness for a few days now.
It doesn't seem to be responding to treatment very well.
KEEPER: I have some video for you.
You can see she's completely...
KIMBERLY (off-screen): Oh, she's not putting it down at all.
KEEPER (off-screen): Sometimes she is, but mostly not at all.
KIMBERLY: Okay, and that's not really improved
since she started?
DEB (off-screen): Well, she is noticeably still quite lame.
NARRATOR: And because of Zalani's injury,
another problem has arisen.
DEB: We're just noticing this morning
that there's a little bit of conflict in the group
just because they are noticing that she is obviously lame
and then they are taking the opportunity
to try and increase their status in the group.
And she is quite high ranking.
KIMBERLY (off-screen): So they're picking on her because she's got a problem.
DEB (off-screen): Yeah.
NARRATOR: Meerkats are a very social animal,
and Taronga spend a lot of time
making sure they have a happy family group.
DEB (off-screen): We have quite a large, dynamic group of meerkats
with 18 individuals,
and just like brothers and sisters
don't get along all the time, meerkats are the same
and they have a really structured hierarchy
on both the male side and the female side.
So they're looking at any chance they can
to try and increase their status in the group.
So we're sort of seeing a little bit of a shift
going on within the group,
which we didn't really want 'cause we've done a lot of work
to get them quite cohesive at the moment.
KIMBERLY (off-screen): Okay, so let's increase her to .4 mils,
the higher dose of anti-inflammatory
and see if that helps her.
DEB: Yeah.
KIMBERLY: Hopefully that will help her stay in the group.
If she's still lame on Friday morning,
we'll re-check her,
but let's plan to grab her and take an x-ray
up at the hospital if she's not better.
DEB: Yep, absolutely.
KIMBERLY (off-screen): I'm just worried that there may be a broken foot
or something a little more serious going on.
Let's double check that she hasn't been bitten
and there's an abscess or something else
that we need to give her additional treatment for.
DEB (off-screen): Yep.
NARRATOR: To keep the status quo,
keepers know it's crucial to get Zalani
back to full health as soon as possible.
KIMBERLY: See you later.
NARRATOR: Mary and Mr. Hobbs, the Malayan sun bears,
are about to be brought together
in an attempt to breed.
And Mary is keen to get to Mr. Hobbs as soon as possible.
ELLEN (off-screen): So one of the signs she's coming into estrus
is she actually likes to try and get to Hobbs
a little more eagerly.
NARRATOR: But Mr. Hobbs is an older bear
and understandably needs a bit more time to prepare.
REBECCA: Hey, what's going on?
Hey, Hobbsy.
Are you good?
You been resting somewhere.
You can tell you have been resting.
Mr. Hobbs will scratch his back pretty much every morning.
I think it is a bit of a ritual getting ready to go out.
Good stretch, good scratch, all that type of stuff.
Similar to us, I suppose.
Getting ready for the morning.
And then he'll do his little yoga poses at the door
right before he goes out.
You know he might be there for five minutes,
ten minutes...
DEB: Twenty minutes.
REBECCA: Twenty minutes.
DEB: It's up to him.
(clucking)
NARRATOR: Mr. Hobbs' story is an extraordinary one.
(clucking)
DEB (off-screen): Mr. Hobbs had a really rough start to life.
He was a rescue bear,
so his mum more than likely would have been shot and killed
in the wild by poachers,
and then they take the cubs and breed them,
and then when they're old enough
they sell them off to restaurants
and those sorts of things for bear paw soup.
NARRATOR: And sadly his time with the poachers has left
some ongoing problems that keepers need to take care of.
DEB: Want to do your teeth?
He was raised by the poachers
and probably raised on food items
that are quite cheap and readily available.
So a lot of fruits that are soft and, you know, sugary.
So probably didn't get the best diet and the best start to life
and maybe hasn't experienced other food items,
which would naturally be nature's toothbrush.
Open.
Touch.
I still think it's amazing that we brush our sun bear's teeth
with an electric toothbrush.
We have never lost one yet.
Good.
And yeah, sometimes I think it's easier
than brushing my own kids' teeth at home.
Hopefully he understands
that we are actually doing him a favor
and providing him the opportunity
to get rid of that calculus on his teeth
so he has, you know, a better long-term outcome.
What a good boy.
NARRATOR: With teeth now clean, it's time for Mr. Hobbs
to get reacquainted with his old flame, Mary.
NURSE (off-screen): Still in. Yep, tongue is about there.
Yep, yep.
NARRATOR: A member of the public
has brought in a lace monitor with a terrible injury,
and vet Gabby has decided
that this poor lizard needs immediate intervention.
GABRIELLE (off-screen): He has obviously ingested the skewer
probably with meat on it,
and it's gone into his stomach and his intestine,
and then the pointy end has migrated out,
dragging bacteria with it.
NARRATOR: And because of the very threat of that bacteria,
the team are taking no risks,
wearing surgical gowns and masks
for what they expect to be a long and delicate operation.
GABRIELLE: So the surgery involves making
a longitudinal incision on his belly
and opening him up
and just having a look for where the skewer is.
Raising, like that.
I'm just raising the skin up
so that when I cut, I don't cut into an organ.
Got lots of fluid in here.
NURSE: Oh, really?
GABRIELLE: So they'll have some fluid.
So you can suction some of that.
There we go.
Do you want to swab it?
LIBBY (off-screen): There is just a lot of fluid in the abdomen
and in the cavity, and we're not sure why.
Just don't know why.
Sucking lots of fluid out and we're just going to see
what, what it means when we get in there.
It's just awkies.
NARRATOR: With such a tricky surgery underway,
Senior Vet Larry has popped in
to see if he can offer Gabby any help.
LARRY (off-screen): We see sort of unusual, bizarre things
quite often here in the hospital.
Animals that have swallowed various things.
To me it's just interesting to see, you know,
how we can deal with it.
Gab's obviously doing a great job getting down to it.
GABRIELLE: So I can't see it. I can only feel it.
LARRY: The challenge is that because it has been there
for a long time, it's well embedded in and surrounded by tissue.
Probably the tissue has grown
all around the top of that skewer
in probably an attempt for the body to get rid of it.
(beeping)
GABRIELLE: I can feel something.
NARRATOR: After some exploratory surgery,
Gabby has finally found the end of the metal skewer.
GABRIELLE: That's the head of it in his stomach.
The stomach is twisted around,
and then it goes, I can feel it, but it's all encased in tissue.
I can't feel any metal.
(beeping)
LARRY: Have you got some big metal cutters?
GABRIELLE: No, but we'll need some.
LARRY (off-screen): Might be worth preparing, like
getting the big bolt cutters
and putting, soaking the end in some stuff.
NURSE (off-screen): Sterilizing them. Yeah.
GABRIELLE: See, I just want to make sure
this is not intestine looped...
LIBBY: So you mean there is tissue inside that hole, Gabby?
GABRIELLE: The tissue has gone through the loop.
NARRATOR: Unfortunately for the lizard, it looks like this skewer is not going anywhere.
NARRATOR: Sun bear Mary is in estrus,
meaning she is ready to mate
with the male sun bear, Mr. Hobbs,
and this has got the carnivore team excited.
ELLEN (off-screen): Fingers crossed.
BEN: Yeah, fingers crossed this time
that we get a little sun bear cub.
NARRATOR: Since the bears are kept separate all year,
this will be the first time in five months
that they'll be together,
meaning keepers are unsure of how they'll react.
CAITLIN (off-screen): I haven't seen the pairings yet.
Do they normally go well together
when they are in together?
BEN: Yeah, they're generally pretty nice to each other.
Mary is really nice to Mr. Hobbs when she's in estrus.
Not so much at any other time.
As you know, Mr. Hobbs is pretty old as well,
so it really brings him out of his shell a little bit
and he becomes a bit more active and more boisterous
and it really gets the two interested in each other.
So yeah, it's really nice to watch.
NARRATOR: Before bringing them together,
they always conduct a controlled introduction,
behind closed doors,
to make sure there'll be no signs of aggression.
BEN: We’ve got Mr. Hobbs in Pen C...
...and Mary has A & B.
ELLEN (off-screen): Mary basically gives all the signs to Mr. Hobbs
that she's in estrus.
So if she is in estrus
we see a lot of behaviors like clucking between the two.
(clucking)
Hobbsy will cluck to us occasionally,
but he will only cluck to her
when she is in that estrus cycle.
CAITLIN: It’s safe to unlock B C.
BEN: There’s some nice clucking there...
...from Mr. Hobbs towards Mary.
Some nice friendly vocals.
Ready guys?
Ok, here he comes.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: And happily the keepers
have no cause for concern
as there is an instant chemistry
between Mary and Mr. Hobbs.
CAITLIN: This is good.
BEN: This is really good.
CAITLIN: This is similar to what it looks like...
...when I've seen her parents mate.
BEN (off-screen): Yeah?
CAITLIN (off-screen): They were showing all the right signs
at the slide and everything.
I think it all went really well.
We don't think today was the day.
We think maybe our next couple of days
might be the target estrus period.
So you kind of have a couple of days to play with.
(clucking)
BEN: There's always tomorrow, so we'll try again.
Come back in and do it all again tomorrow.
NARRATOR: Fortunately it didn't take long
for Mary to warm up to Mr. Hobbs.
CAITLIN (off-screen): When it comes to breeding with sun bears,
we know that there is a lot of anticipation on it.
We always know in our job sometimes
it's just not going to happen
and you can't get too disheartened by it,
but that makes it more exciting when it does happen
because that's always fantastic.
NARRATOR: So for the next week
they'll spend day and night together,
which will hopefully end
with an incredibly rare sun bear pregnancy.
♪ ♪
At Taronga's Wildlife Hospital,
vet Gabby has found the end of the metal skewer
that the lace monitor has swallowed
and is in the tricky process of trying to remove it.
GABRIELLE: It's just too tough.
NARRATOR: But after being inside the lizard
for the past month,
the body has grown tissue all around the metal loop,
making it tough to get ahold of
without causing any more damage.
LARRY (off-screen): Once you get it out, a lot of the healing
is going to be up to the animal, isn't it,
because you're not going to be able to repair all the...
I suppose they're pretty tough animals.
NARRATOR: But not as tough as the metal,
so Gabby has called for the big guns
to help try and extract the skewer from the lizard.
LARRY (off-screen): Where do you want to cut down?
GABRIELLE: Here.
LARRY (off-screen): Okay? GABRIELLE (off-screen): Yeah.
Oh! That was easy.
LARRY (off-screen): That's interesting. That's just all broken off.
WOMAN (off-screen): Take it away?
GABRIELLE (off-screen): Take it away.
LARRY (off-screen): Okay.
LIBBY: This is a part of a skewer, a barbecue skewer,
and this is part of the round part of the skewer
that's been cut off.
NARRATOR: With the round end now gone,
Gabby is hoping the rest of the skewer
can be removed without any resistance.
GABRIELLE (off-screen): Larry is going to pull it out from the other side now.
LARRY: Okay, it's slipping out really easily.
(cheering).
NARRATOR: Success.
LARRY: Gab's exposed the, I suppose,
the head of the skewer, the ring part at the end of it,
and we cut that off and just pulled the rest of it out
through where it was coming through the skin.
There you go.
There's the whole thing.
LIBBY: Amazingly clean, really, when you consider
it's been in there for probably quite some time in that animal.
GABRIELLE: I'm really happy that the skewer is out
because I thought it was going to get stuck
coming out of the body cavity.
Because it was wrapped in tissue.
Reptiles are really tough.
The fact that he's had this going through his body
is amazing.
The biggest risk for him now, aside from infection,
will be food getting caught in his intestine,
like a blockage,
just because it's been pulled in different directions.
NARRATOR: The skewer may be out,
but this lizard's survival is far from guaranteed.
GABRIELLE: His chance of survival
is probably, say, 50/50 at this point.
It's hard to say.
NARRATOR: Three days have passed,
and meerkat Zalani's injured leg is not healing.
LOUISE: Alright. All good?
NARRATOR: So head of carnivores, Louise,
is taking her to the wildlife hospital for a scan.
LOUISE: Hello, my little ones.
I know you're all starving.
We haven't been able to feed you yet, have we?
'Cause our princess has to have a little anesthetic.
So this morning we've got Zalani, our meerkat,
who's going up for an anesthetic.
We just want to have a look at that foot
and see is there anything going on.
You know, maybe she's got a little fractured bone or something.
We want to know why the lameness keeps coming back.
NARRATOR: And because of the meerkats' complex social structure,
this is time-sensitive.
LOUISE (off-screen): We cannot afford to take her out of the group for very long,
so any anesthetic that we do, any treatment we do,
it has to be fairly quick
so that she's not kept away from her family for long.
Because when you are living in that strict social hierarchy,
if you're missing for too long you could lose your place,
and that's going to be disastrous.
Alright, my baby girl.
Alright, little miss, let's get you in to see the vet.
NARRATOR: For vet Kimberly,
the fact that Zalani's leg isn't getting better
has raised concerns
that something more serious is going on.
KIMBERLY: Well, it's weird that she keeps becoming lame
when she goes off her treatment,
so I just want to make sure there's not an abscess or a fracture there.
LOUISE: Absolutely, yep.
Alright, I will be interested to hear what you find.
KIMBERLY: Okay.
LOUISE (off-screen): Thank you so much, Kimberly. Thank you.
KIMBERLY: Call you when we're done. Thanks.
She's not very happy.
(barking)
Well, she's sitting there holding her left paw up.
Her left front paw is the paw that's lame.
(barking)
KIMBERLY (off-screen): Okay.
Okay, oxygen.
Do you want it higher?
LIZ (off-screen): Yeah, 5% is good.
KIMBERLY (off-screen): Then go to five.
I'm just going to have a good feel of this left, yeah.
LIZ (off-screen): Sore.
KIMBERLY (off-screen): She's not happy with that.
So the two things I'm worried about
is whether she's sprained herself or has a fracture,
and then the other thing is whether she has an abscess,
which would be an infection under the skin.
Sometimes these guys bite each other
when they are trying to,
you know, move up and gain hierarchy in the group.
So it could be she has an infection under her skin.
We just want to make sure that's not going on.
So we'll take some x-rays and see what we see.
♪ ♪
All I'm seeing is the soft tissue swelling,
so I don't think we're dealing with a broken bone,
which is good.
Just maybe move it down
so I have just the arms in the center of the plate.
And put them in this... just a 90-degree...
LIZ (off-screen): Okay, yeah.
KIMBERLY (off-screen): ...hold.
LIZ: Alright, that's all good to go.
KIMBERLY (off-screen): Great, thanks, Liz.
I'm just looking for symmetry in the two sides,
and everything looks equally balanced.
I don't see any obvious orthopedic problems,
so I don't think anything is broken.
I'm happy with the x-rays.
We'll wake her up, get her back in the group.
LIZ (off-screen): Yep.
NARRATOR: She's already on her way back home,
but there's still no medical answer
to explain Zalani's problem.
KIMBERLY (off-screen): I guess the verdict is there is definitely
still a lameness in the left front leg.
It seems to be isolated more to the elbow.
I don't know if it's a sprain
or if there might be some underlying infection
in the tissues around the elbow.
So we're going to leave her on the anti-inflammatories
and put her on some antibiotics,
which we gave the first shot today,
and see how things progress.
NARRATOR: While the procedure has taken less than an hour,
it could be weeks until this little meerkat
is strong enough to hold her position in the group,
but keepers are hopeful she'll be alright.
LIZ: Yep, take her back to be with the group.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: One of the most iconic
and instantly recognizable animals in Australia
is the koala.
Taronga have a population of 24 koalas,
but that number is constantly changing.
LAURA (off-screen): So we're really lucky here at Taronga,
we have a really successful koala breeding program.
Right now is a fantastic time to see our joeys.
So mum here, Wattle, she is a four-year-old female,
and she's got little Matteo
sitting on her back at the moment.
When Matteo is ready to leave his mum,
he'll go into a crèche with the other young joeys
to learn how to be a koala.
He still piggybacks around on mum when she's walking around,
and when she sits still, he'll get on her belly
and they'll have a nice little rest together.
You can see Matteo there
awkwardly trying to get onto her back.
Getting into the backpack...
You're facing the wrong way, buddy.
(laughing)
You never know what they're going to do,
but that's certainly not the usual way to travel.
(laughing)
He looks a little uncomfortable about the whole thing, too.
That's it, buddy.
Good job.
NARRATOR: The one thing you can be sure a koala will do
is sleep.
LAURA: They do sleep 20 hours a day.
So that's what you get most of the time when you see them.
NARRATOR: And when they're not sleeping,
they're eating, and boy, do they eat.
LAURA: We are going to go and feed Wattle and Malley there,
so if you want to grab that and follow me.
You hungry? You want some of this?
NARRATOR: Every day koala keeper Laura
and her helper Jennifer
swap out the eucalyptus branches,
ensuring the koalas have access to plenty of fresh leaves.
LAURA: If you look here, this was yesterday's or two-day-old food.
They've eaten all the bits they like from it,
and so we're going to give them fresh stuff
to make sure they're happy.
So we'll take this out here.
Koalas eat around 10% of their body weight in leaf every day.
Now a leaf doesn't weigh much,
so that's a large volume of leaves you've got to look for.
So the tips of eucalyptus are the soft, sweet, juicy ones.
So they're full of water.
They don't need to drink anything.
They're getting all their water from the leaf.
Also it's much easier to digest this soft little leaf
than it is this big hard leaf,
and they're already doing a lot of work on eucalypts.
What she's eating right now,
it's going to process over about the course of a week
when she will finally poop it out the other end.
So whilst it looks like she's really lazy
when she's sleeping, she's doing tons of work.
It's just inside, and we can't see it.
NARRATOR: While the adult koalas eat eucalyptus,
it's something the joeys have to work themselves up to.
LAURA: Eucalyptus is toxic to most species, including us.
Koalas, they're really specialized.
So they have a completely different digestive system,
but for Matteo to start eating leaves,
he does something a bit gross first.
He actually eats his mum's poo.
It's not just regular poo, though.
It is called pap, and it's a really special mixture
that comes from her cecum and it's full of bacteria,
and that bacteria is important
for these guys to be able to digest their leaf.
It's actually part of the process.
NARRATOR: But koalas are very picky eaters
when it comes to their leaves.
LAURA (off-screen): So if you watch her there
she's generally smelling the leaf
before she will put it in her mouth.
So their sense of smell is the most important of their senses.
It's how she chooses her food
and how she interprets a lot of her environment.
So their eyesight is not thought to be very good.
So you can see there right up to the nose,
yep, that's what I want.
And if it's not what she wants, she'll let it go and discard it.
NARRATOR: Despite their quirks,
Laura loves working with koalas.
LAURA (off-screen): They're interesting.
They're super unique.
They're not like any other animal.
Their food source is a challenge.
It's always something to learn.
There are so many varieties of eucalyptus
and how the koalas use them
is kind of an endless fascination to me,
and look, we've had babies since the day I started,
and you just never get sick of it.
DEB: Come on, guys, you know the routine.
Go, go, go, go, go, go!
Go, go, go, go, go, go, go!
Coming over?
NARRATOR: It's been a couple of days since Zalani's x-ray,
and keeper Deb has been closely watching
the injured meerkat's progress.
DEB (off-screen): There it is.
Zalani, Zalani, here it is.
Go, go, go!
Hello.
So this is Zalani here,
we saw Zalani was really lame in her front foot.
She was holding it up and wasn't what we call weight-bearing,
so wasn't putting it down on the ground to walk
as she would normally walk.
She was put on a slightly higher dose
than what she was on of pain relief
to give her a little chance to heal,
and that has done exactly what we had hoped it would do.
So she's back to her normal self.
So today we can see her moving around fine.
She's using it fine.
She's digging in the exhibit here, so, yeah,
we're really happy with how it's gone
and it means that we don't have to go any further.
NARRATOR: The keepers are also happy
that a healthy Zalani
has been able to hold her position in the group.
DEB (off-screen): So Zalani will be fine.
Within the group, Zalani is still quite a strong member.
There is still one individual
that she did have a falling-out with
that we do have to do some introductions back with her,
so we're just waiting for the right moment
to start that process,
but we're hopeful that with Zalani completely healed
that she'll have that strength
and also obviously have the assistance
from her other family members
to assert her dominance over the other individual.
We're keeping a very close eye on them.
We're doing lots of observations
to make sure everyone is really cohesive.
So that's what we've got to do in the next few weeks.
NARRATOR: It's been almost two weeks
since the lace monitor underwent lifesaving surgery.
GABRIELLE: I'm relieved that he's still with us.
At the time I thought it was a 50/50.
It was a long surgery, and his insides were pretty abnormal.
LIBBY: So he's eating everything that's in there.
GABRIELLE (off-screen): So we have just got him on plain meat
at the moment with calcium,
because I don't want him to have any bones.
STU: Yep.
GABRIELLE: Yep, and is he pooing?
LIBBY: Yeah, he is pooing really well.
GABRIELLE: Good. LIBBY: Yep, weeing and pooing.
GABRIELLE: Excellent.
NARRATOR: Initial signs are good,
but reptiles take longer to heal than mammals.
GABRIELLE: It's going to take up to six weeks to fully heal.
And as long as he eats and poos and doesn't throw up,
then he's, it's just waiting for his wound to heal
and then he can go back.
NARRATOR: So Gabby's called in reptile keeper Stu
to handle this grumpy little goanna.
STU (off-screen): I'll just go in.
I'll grab him by the tail, then restrain him by the head.
LIBBY (off-screen): Just like that.
STU (off-screen): Just like that, without a hitch.
(laughing)
(hissing)
STU (off-screen): They're very strong. Very powerful.
A lot of power generated from their tail and their forelimbs.
♪ ♪
STU (off-screen): They're great climbers, so very muscular.
LIBBY: Wow.
STU: He's just got one claw on my belt there
so I can't lift him up much higher. If you want...
GABRIELLE: No, no, no.
STU: Is that okay? GABRIELLE: Yeah. It looks...
STU (off-screen): Do you want me to take him up higher?
GABRIELLE (off-screen): It looks fantastic. It's really, there's nothing, umm...
I'm just going to pop some antibiotic ointment.
Are you happy for me to do that?
STU (off-screen): Yep.
He's quite relaxed.
He's not struggling.
GABRIELLE (off-screen): The wound looks really good.
It's not pulled apart. It's not inflamed.
LIBBY: I can't believe it, Gabby, look at that.
Beautiful stitching.
GABRIELLE: Oh, thank you.
LIBBY: What a job. GABRIELLE: Thank you.
LIBBY: You're a hero.
GABRIELLE: He's an expert healer.
Okay, I'm happy.
STU: Yep. GABRIELLE (off-screen): Yep.
STU: Yep, excellent.
GABRIELLE (off-screen): Two weeks out, he couldn't be doing better, really.
So as long as he just continues on this trajectory
he'll be going back to raid some more barbecues in about a month.
STU: I'm just going to put him on this bench.
NARRATOR: It's been quite an ordeal for the lace monitor.
STU: There you go, mate.
He's pretty relaxed, that's really good.
NARRATOR: And remarkably,
despite initially fearing the worst,
all signs point to a full recovery.
GABRIELLE: Oh, that's great.
STU (off-screen): Look at him. He hasn't moved.
He's just soaking up that warmth.
NARRATOR: However, Taronga staff aren't too sure
this is the last time they'll meet this lucky lizard.
LIBBY (off-screen): He'll go back to West Head where he comes from,
north of Sydney.
There's a national park there.
Unfortunately lots of barbecues
and people having lots of food there, including skewers.
So I don't know whether he has learned his lesson.
Probably not.
But anyway, we'll see how it goes.
NARRATOR: Sun bears Mary and Mr. Hobbs
spent a week together in an attempt to produce a cub.
ELLEN (off-screen): Pregnancies aren't necessarily an easy thing.
There have only been two sun bear births in Australia,
Mary being one of those.
So being able to contribute to that breeding population
in Australia would be fantastic,
especially with Mr. Hobbs coming from Cambodia
and kind of bringing his story full circle would be incredible.
NARRATOR: Today, after three months of waiting,
Senior Vet Larry has come down
to conduct an ultrasound on Mary.
LARRY (off-screen): At this stage of the gestation
the fetus should be large enough for us to see.
So the guys have trained her incredibly well
to be able to facilitate this examination.
It will be amazing.
You know, you'll see how she presents her little belly,
her little shaved belly to us.
KEEPER: So she will be right here, in the middle.
LARRY: And if she's pregnant,
there should be a small fetus visible.
Some gel.
You would think that ultrasounding a sun bear
would be an incredibly difficult thing,
but the training that these guys have put in to her is phenomenal
and she is actually really, really compliant
with this ultrasound examination.
KEEPER (off-screen): Hey you, Mare Bear.
LARRY (off-screen): Here she is, beautiful girl.
KEEPER (off-screen): Hello, miss.
I am going to give her a bit of honey water just to say thanks.
Hello.
Alright.
KEEPER (off-screen): Just give her a few seconds.
Alright, Mary.
LARRY (off-screen): Yeah.
So we've got Mary here presenting very nicely.
Presenting the little pre-prepared shaved area.
And I've just got to get that touching her belly. Oh.
NARRATOR: While everyone is cautiously optimistic,
they're also aware that Mary and Mr. Hobbs
have been in this position quite a few times before.
LARRY (off-screen): Every time they're together and they mate,
we're hopeful that there might be a pregnancy
as a result of that, but so far that hasn't actually happened.
We've got a great view of her bladder there.
Nice and full.
She does have a nice, full bladder.
You're a good girl.
Yeah, just behind the bladder
I can see the horns of the uterus there,
which sadly are empty.
There is no fetus in there at all.
NARRATOR: It was not the result
keepers and vets were hoping for,
but despite the disappointment
no one at Taronga is giving up anytime soon.
LARRY (off-screen): I mean, you know, this is part of the deal.
We do our best with our animals to breed them,
but there's often things that are beyond our control.
KEEPER: No baby. LARRY: No.
KEEPER: Hopefully next time, Mare Bear.
You did really good.
LARRY: Yeah, she is amazing.
KEEPER: Good job.
REBECCA: We don't have a little baby in there, so it's sad.
It's my first time here with Mary going through this process,
so I was definitely fingers crossed,
fingers crossed, toes crossed,
hoping to pop the bottle of champagne,
but that's alright.
We'll keep going, we'll keep her happy and try again next time.
She's like, that was good fun.
KEEPER (off-screen): Yep.
Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.