All language subtitles for Taronga s04e08 What a Galah

Taronga, the zoo with the head -turning
view.

But dig a little deeper.

I just planted that.

And you'll discover there's a lot more
to Taronga's two zoos than meets the

Hello. What's it doing?

From their devoted keepers. I watched
him being born, so him and I have an

amazing relationship.

To their first class vet team. So just
here, that's the lump.

Taronga's passionate staff.

Laying on that dirty floor was so worth
it. Are themselves a special breed.

A lot of slobber there, bud.

Ensuring nothing but the best for the
animals in their care.

So impatient.

Good girl. Hang on.

On this episode.

Hey, buddy, that's it.

From a real rodent. They'll actually eat
their own poo.

To the real queen of the jungle. They
are a dangerous animal that you're

with. You have to know your job and know
your role.

Team Taronga.

They're impressive.

Get up close and personal.

Oh, look at that.

Anxious times for a very special
arrival.

It's pretty thin. You can see the ticks,
like masses of ticks on it. So the next

phase is actually going to be very
challenging.

And the secrets of convincing a galah.

We're going to give him lots of feeds to
make this a very positive place to be.

To soar like an eagle.

For staff at Taronga Zoo, working here
is more than a job. It's a labor of

Good boy.

Caring for animals comes with enormous
rewards.

Yeah, OK, thank you. But also has huge
challenges.

For keeper Ellen, just preparing their
meal can be tricky.

Today I am prepping our lion meat for
our seven wonderful lions.

We have Dad Ato, Mum Maya, the two male
cubs, Kari and Lizuko, and our three

female cubs, Ayana, Malika and Ziri.

They don't necessarily get all of the
nutrients they would out in the wild, so

we supplement it with our vitamins here.

Our male adult lion isn't a massive fan
of chicken.

Generally, when we hopper the food
through to him, he kind of turns to the

of the hopper, looks at us and is like,
really, you don't have anything else for

me? But he will eat it.

Ellen is about to face a much bigger
challenge than preparing dinner.

Malika, one of our female lion cubs, is
having a general anaesthetic for her

annual health check, which we do on all
of our animals.

Malika has never had a general
anaesthetic before, and Ellen's never

administered one.

It will be my first time pole injecting
an animal for an anaesthetic, so it's

definitely very nerve -wracking.

It's essential for all of the drugs to
go into her at once so that it's a

procedure. She goes down really calmly.

And if that doesn't happen, then
unfortunately we may need to dart her

things like that. So it's definitely a
little bit stressful.

This is Ellen and Malika's last dress
rehearsal before the real procedure

tomorrow. I've been training her over
the past year or so for a pole or a hand

injection.

I will have a second keeper who's the
feeder and I'll feed while I'm down the

other end.

So I'll ask her to drop and then I'll
click your reward and we'll see how we

from there, what she's doing.

For safety reasons, the procedure will
be performed in the back of house den.

For me to be able to touch her,
originally it starts with a bamboo

Touch.

Good girl.

Also a blunt needle on the end of a pole
as well.

Drop. Between them, Malika and Ellen
have the routine down pat.

Touch. But it needs to be.

Tomorrow the vets will be inside the
mesh with her while she's under

Finish.

We'll get Malika. Good job.

Taronga's labours of love happen far
away from the zoo also, like here at

Lakes on the New South Wales mid -north
coast.

It's a paradise for both dingoes and
humans, but that can lead to problems.

You can be driving right through the
course and they can be, like, I don't

two metres off on the side and that big
stuff and you just would never know.

Six wild packs roam the beaches.

the bushland and, unfortunately, the
towns.

When you come to an area like the Mile
Lakes region, you encounter dingoes

living in the town of Hawksnest.

You'll see them walking down the street
and that in itself raises a whole other

bunch of challenges around managing
them.

Shall we go for a cruise down to that
car park at the back of the beach and we

can start tracking from there? Yeah.

It's fair to say behavioural biologist
Ben from Taronga and his colleague Neil

from the University of New South Wales
are dingo fans.

It's worth keeping an eye out because
they do just wander through the town.

They're searching for ways to change
dingo behaviour to prevent conflict with

humans. The Mile East Dingo Project
started with the objective of developing

ways of managing dingoes so that we
didn't have to kill them.

People are sometimes tempted to feed a
lean dingo and as the saying goes, a fed

dingo is a dead dingo. It's a really
good way to turn them into a problem

animal. So we put collars on the dingo
and we follow them around and see what

they're getting up to.

For the last four years, Ben and Neil
have been tracking local dingoes. to

better understand where they go and why.

Maybe head to that high spot up on the
dune first and see if we get a signal

from up there.

Okay. Sounds good.

This morning we're going to do a bit of
radio tracking in this area here,

looking for our collared dingoes. We're
going to start up on top of the dune at

the back of the beach because that's a
nice high ground which should give us a

good long -distance radio reception.

Oh look, tracks just here. They're in
the right spot. Let's go up to the spot.

Hopefully they're still around.

This morning I'm looking for the dingo
that we've nicknamed Andy.

Andy's the dominant male of this pack
just here.

We collared him just over a year ago.

One of the reasons why we want to find
him now is we're coming into the

season, so we want to see if he's
partnered up with another mate and who

might be.

In Australia, dingoes are the top
predator, the apex predator, so

them and having them in the environment
is really important ecologically.

Andy the dingo is playing hard to get.

We're not getting a signal for him here
at the moment, so our next step will be

to go and look in the scrub between here
and the edge of town.

It's time for Malika, the lioness's,
first health check.

It's not something anyone is taking
lightly.

Here's the vet bag, emergency, and the
blue one. So today we're going to be

doing the anaesthetic of Malika in her
inside dens.

The heart's racing this morning. It is
pretty crazy to be so close and personal

to, you know, one of the best predators
on the earth. So excited, nerve

-wracking, but excited.

I think there's lots of healthy
adrenaline in these procedures.

Everyone's really well trained, but they
are a dangerous animal that you're

dealing with. You have to know your job
and know your role and know that what

you're doing is risky, but you're doing
it in the safest way possible for the

cat and for yourself as well.

Push it, sweetie.

The first and most important element of
today's procedure is ensuring the

anaesthetic works correctly.

So this is the pole syringe.

And I'm going to fill this with the
anesthetic, and then the keepers

inject the anesthetic because the lions
are used to them. But we do get a bit

excited when we're doing any kind of
dangerous animal because we need to be

careful. Just double -checking my doses,
0 .23.

No one is more anxious than Ellen.

It's her first time administering the
anesthetic.

No pressure. No pressure at all.

The first attempt has missed.

Drop.

Set.

Luckily enough, with the training that
I've been able to do, she did drop a

second time for me and allowed me to get
the pole injection in on that second

go, which is amazing.

Good girl.

You're OK, sweetheart.

I'm going to go in.

With the injection in, it's up to vet
Kimberley to decide when and if it's

to enter.

So I'm just kind of waiting to get the
all clear that Kimberley's happy, Liz is

happy with the way the anaesthetic's
going.

Poke her ear and around her eye to see
if there's any response.

No blink response. I think she's quite
deep. She went down very quickly, which

is good. The next point of call, I'll go
in and shackle.

and have her attached to the mesh and
cargo net on the top until everyone's

completely happy that she's at a depth
that's safe for us to all go in. Let's

see if I can feel.

There's no jaw tone.

Okay, that's good.

Yeah, this is kind of the nerve
-wracking part, to say the least.

While I'm going in, all of you should be
outside.

Malika seems safely asleep.

You going behind me, Rob? Yep.

But everyone's holding their breath as
Kimberley goes through the door.

Coming up, a national icon... Oh, wow.

..in real trouble.

It's pretty thin. The really plump
platypus, you wouldn't be able to squish

those edges together at all.

And the world's biggest rodent. Three,
two, one.

But what brought a tear to his eye?

Let's grab the rope and see if we can
crank that mouth open.

At Taronga's Wildlife Hospital, a very
special patient has just come through

door. Hi.

What have we got here?

We have a brand new little juvenile
platypus. Wow.

Just come in this morning. Yeah, yeah.

So we found it up in Rimba, up on the
central coast, on a rural property, just

in the yard, under a bush. Okay. The
dogs were barking at it. They don't

they got to the platypus.

Vets only see a few of these a year, and
it's a special moment when they do.

Must be small, isn't it? Yeah, a tiny
little beak.

Oh wow, there you go.

That is beautiful.

I can see already it's got ticks, quite
a lot of ticks on it. It may be that

that burden of ticks is actually having
an impact on the animal in terms of

maybe it'll be quite anemic.

To properly examine the platypus, it
will have to be anaesthetised.

One way of assessing body condition in
platypus is what's called the tail

index or the tail fat index, and you
squish the tail together.

Like a really plump platypus, you
wouldn't be able to squish those edges

together at all. So the condition is
pretty thin.

The scale is 1 to 5, with 5 being a very
poor condition.

So I would say it's about a four out of
five.

It's actually really exciting having
this little platypus here because, in

platypuses are my favourite animal. You
know, just the most bizarre creatures.

They're just this mixture of birds and
reptiles and mammals and, you know,

anatomically and physiologically,
they're just so unique and, yeah, it

makes them a fascinating animal.

2 .6.

Their numbers are declining.

They're very impacted by a lot of human
activity, building dams, changing water

flows, agriculture.

Obviously, predators such as foxes and
dogs and cats also impact them.

If the platypus has been bitten, X -rays
will show up any internal injuries,

like broken bones.

OK. It's also ventral. Get the mask off.

Looks pretty good though. There's no
injuries that I can see.

I can see the ticks, like masses of
ticks on them.

All those little dots there are the
ticks. One there as well. There.

Cluster there.

One there.

The medication here would kill the
ticks.

Just wipe it over the areas where the
ticks are.

Lizzie's going to give it some fluids
while I'm doing this.

So the next phase is actually going to
be very challenging for us. The

requirements are quite specialised in
terms of the food and their environment

that they live in. They can be quite
picky with the food that they choose to

and the temperature of the water is
really important as well and the

side of things is going to be a very
significant part of ensuring that this

little girl recovers well.

The zoo team will need to work around
the clock if she's to have any chance of

survival.

Malika, the lioness, is undergoing her
first health check.

When I first go in, until I get her 100
% stabilized, she'll be, I'll just slip

her on her side, she'll be right where
she is. Yeah, I'll just come in with you

and I'll stand in the front corner.
Okay.

She's been given her anesthetic shot.

You're going behind me, Rob? Yep.

Vet Kimberly needs to make sure she's
really asleep. Okay.

Ellen? Yeah.

She's looking for any sign of reaction
and hoping she doesn't get one.

Anything? Not really.

No jaw tone.

No blink reflex.

No, we're good.

You can come on in, Liz.

Malika is safely asleep.

Cargo net on her. But she needs to be
secured just in case.

Andy, can you do the cargo net and the
hobbles?

Yeah.

We're doing a baseline health check on
the lion because we want to know what

normal values are. You know, what's her
normal weight? What's her normal blood

work look like? And then we can compare
and know if she's got changes in her

liver function or she's got signs of
infection.

With Malika now receiving anesthetic via
an IV drip, the net and hobbles can be

safely removed.

If we can just roll her over.

Is that the head?

Yeah. One, two, three. Because I need
the left side up.

Okay, cool. Thanks.

I might just look in her mouth if you
don't mind.

Sure.

Okay, can you just pull the jaw?

It's a rare perk of the job, being able
to get so close to such a powerful

animal. Can you check the front claws
and just make sure there's no ingrowns

anything?

God, they're impressive.

Okay, that's a COVID vaccine.

Left shoulder.

COVID can be caught by zoo animals.

So Malika will now join a study on the
vaccine's effectiveness.

She's perfect, isn't she?

She's so pretty.

Within half an hour, the checkup is
complete.

Everything looks perfect.

Okay, let's let her get up.

I'm reversing her.

It went really smoothly, didn't it?

So we'll do the baseline bloods and
we've got her serum for the COVID study.

Vaccinated.

Yeah, I'd say she's got a really clean
slate of health. A few hours later,

Malika is fully recovered and back with
the pride.

Ellen's first anaesthetic has been a
success.

Everything went really smoothly, which
is amazing.

She's recovered really, really well and
we've been able to place her back with

her family and that reintroduction was
really fantastic to see because they're

all a little bit worried about her,
wondering where she was, but they're all

back together and happy now.

A two -and -a -half -hour drive north of
Taronga in Mile Lakes...

Conservationists Ben and Neil are on the
trail of a male dingo called Andy.

So this is a good spot. There's a
walking track that goes down the side of

golf course here.

He's proving elusive despite wearing a
tracking collar.

Well, you reckon we have a track just up
here?

Yeah, I think this would be good.

I mean, this is pretty much where you
would expect single males to spend their

day at the golf course.

Okay.

I'm getting a little bit of a signal. Oh
yeah?

Yeah, over here just in the bush.

Over this way.

I think he's going to come out of the
bush and cross onto the golf course. Oh,

yep.

Here he comes.

Oh, yep, yep.

Finally.

Collar's looking really good. It's
moving.

Freely, and he looks in really good
condition.

Oh, hang on.

Have a look at that. He's got quite a
big wound on his flank.

Look at that.

Can you make it up?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, he does.

The wound appears clean and superficial,
so Neil and Ben feel veterinary care is

not required.

Looks like a bite.

Maybe from another dingo, do you think?

About time of year again, going into the
breeding season.

Where we see a bit of aggression.

So what I'm going to do now is connect
up this download antenna.

Every hour his collar will record a
location.

We're able to download the data from the
collar onto the laptop and we'll be

able to see where this collar, therefore
this dingo, has been in the last month

or so.

He's clearly not concerned about being
out on the golf course. He's sitting

there with the lawnmowers running in the
background and he's not phased by it,

so he's definitely a golf course dingo.

Absolutely.

We've been tracking Andy for almost 12
months now, so we're starting to get a

really good understanding of his
behaviour and his relationship with the

Hawksnest. He's obviously comfortable
and familiar with people, but he still

maintained enough of that dingo instinct
to stay away from us and not wanting to

approach us. So that's what we want to
see from the dingoes in the town, that

we're not seeing any of those concerning
habituation behaviours where they might

start to approach people.

Andy's data has been downloaded.

revealing exactly where he's ventured
over the last month.

That's like the standard range. So we've
got his home range sort of encompasses

most of the southern part of the town, a
lot of that beachfront there.

Yeah, so that's good to see. He's
healthy, he's doing well, and great to

data. We'll get a lot of information
from that when we look at it in a lot

detail. With the help of Andy and his
pack, Ben and Neil hope to work out the

dingo movement patterns and how they can
encourage them to stay away from

humans.

Coming up... This is an important part
of the first sets of training.

..will Taronga's latest additions...
You're a pro, Jetta. Like he was made

it. ..make real galahs of themselves.

That's a safe perch. That's a very good
perch.

And the little platypus.

Time to eat.

In the fight of her life.

There you go.

You get snuggled up in there.

So this is not something that we ever
trained Warren to do, but he's insane.

One of the most fun things to do at
Taronga is the free flight bird

There's magic in the air as they swoop
overhead.

Free to fly away, but choosing to stay.

It looks easy, but it takes months of
preparation.

And for two rescued galahs, Jeddah and
Jirigi, it's the first day at school.

Good morning, everyone, to your
stations.

So we are here with our beautiful
galahs, and today is an exciting day

they're starting to do training. So very
important for these birds to practice a

lot of skills before the brief light
presentation.

So we're going to have a couple months
ahead of us in training, but it's a very

exciting time. We'll start with the
basics, the ABCs, baby behavior, and

eventually, hopefully, they'll be flying
long distances.

Hello.

What do you think?

Good job.

So this is an important part of the
first steps of training.

This is called a nagel.

It's a specific term we use here at
Taronga.

And it simply means like their crate or
their transportation enclosure that they

go to and from to. So it's the first
step we want them to practice because

in this has to be the most reinforcing,
the most fun place where you get tons of

seeds. So as a first step to any
training, there, you saw there's a

of hesitation.

You slowed down in that step. That's not
a problem.

We'll try again, leaning forward.

Nice job.

But you can see she's choosing to go
inside that nagle.

And they stay really nice and calm
inside.

And we can shut this door.

Then we know it's time to move on to the
next step.

So this is the first time that they've
ever seen...

This step stool, again, we're going to
give them lots of reinforcers, lots of

seeds to make this a very positive place
to be.

And this is an important part of their
training because eventually this perch

will move further and further and
further, and they're going to fly these

distance A to Bs.

So we'll see if they're comfy. Oh, easy.

You're a pro, Jetta. Like he was made
for it.

Jeddah has parked with flying colors.

Time for Jirigi to step up.

So this is a new perch.

Sometimes novel things can be a little
bit scary.

Yeah, that crest up. The eyes dilated a
little bit.

But they're still leaning forward.

So it's really good information that I'm
still able to move forward.

But maybe slow.

What do you think?

Oh, that's okay.

Good job.

Chris is safety.

Slowly bring them forward like we did.
Sometimes a step up is easier than...

Eventually, the galahs will fly 100
metres in the open air.

But for now, Jiragi still has a lot to
learn.

That's a safe perch. That's a very good
perch.

Hey, boys.

How we doing?

Keeper Jacob is crazy about capybaras.

They seem to like him too.

Or maybe it's just the breakfast.

Hey, buddy.

Enough of those.

Capybaras are the world's largest
rodent. They're closest relative to

rodents like guinea pigs, beavers.

They live across South America in a lot
of jungle areas. So we're talking the

Amazon, Peru and a few other countries
throughout South America.

They look small and stout, but they're
really fast. They can run up to about 35

kilometres an hour.

About as fast as a horse.

These guys are amazing swimmers.

His feet are partially webbed. They can
actually hold their breath for about

five minutes.

There's not much Jacob doesn't know
about capybaras.

And some of those things, he probably
wishes he didn't.

So capybaras, they'll actually eat their
own poo.

When capybaras eat their food, grasses
ferment in their gut. And once that goes

through in the form of poo, they'll
actually reconsume that because there's

lot of nutritional value still in that
food that they need to absorb.

One of the capybaras has what Jacob
hopes is a simple problem.

But the fear is it could be something
more sinister.

So over here we have Rodney.

Now, Rodney is...

Had a little bit of trouble with his
eye.

He's just had a little bit of discharge.

So we're a little bit concerned because
it can sometimes mean that there's signs

of dental issues.

Because these guys' teeth are constantly
growing and there's a lot of action

happening here, there can be a lot of
pressure and potential infection that

occur around the teeth that can actually
affect the eyes.

Left untreated, infected teeth will
eventually kill a capybara.

So Rodney has an urgent date with the
vet.

At the wildlife hospital, it's been a
tough week for the juvenile platypus.

To help her put on weight, she's been
virtually spoon -fed six times a day.

For her, when she's feeding, we're
trying to keep the water temperature

about 28 and 31 at the moment.

That seems to be where she thrives at
the moment with her eating.

The duck is the thermometer and the
water bath is there because platypus

naturally feed under water.

She does enjoy maggots.

We know all the things that platypus
should like.

We're going to add black worms.

That will give her a nice little
selection of bones.

That way we ensure that she's continuing
to eat well and that she's putting on

weight.

Even with the dedicated care, there are
no guarantees with platypus, and the

first few days were touch and go.

All tucked up. Wake up, little one.

Time to eat.

There you go.

There you go.

When she first arrived, she was about
320 grams, so she did

lose a fair bit in the first couple of
days, and she's just now started to

increase in weight again.

Try another cricket.

There you go.

We're not so keen on the crickets this
afternoon.

Platypus are obviously one of those
iconic Australian species and very few

people do get to look after a platypus.
So to have the privilege of having one

in care and to be able to spend a lot of
time hands -on with looking after her

is very special.

You're going to come out, okay.

You can come out for a little while.

Okay, so come on. There we go.

You get snuggled up in there.

She's probably full now. She's filled
her cheek pouches up. The way she's

grinding her bill there.

So she'll be extracting the food out of
the cheek pouches into her bill and

she'll grind away, help the digestion
and then she'll swallow that.

We're going to call this feed done.

Tuck her in there.

She's improving, but the platypus isn't
out of the woods yet.

For staff, there are plenty more
sleepless nights ahead.

You're done.

One, two, three.

Rodney the capybara has been given an
anaesthetic and transferred to the

hospital. Beautiful.

At 35 kilos, it's no small job.

So Rodney is one of our capybaras. He's
four and a half years old.

He's had some white, puffy discharge
from one of his eyes. So we're

that he's actually got a blocked tear
duct.

So we're going to try and pass a little
catheter into it so that we can give it

a really good flush and see if there's
anything lodged in there, see if there's

evidence of infection.

First, Jess wants to rule out another,
more serious possibility.

The tear duct runs down your face sort
of internally and pops out just towards

the tip of your nose, which is why if
you're having an ugly cry, the tears

out your nose as well as your eyes.

If there are any dental problems, that
can push against the tear duct and cause

an obstruction.

So one of the things we'll also be
checking today is to make sure his teeth

in good nick.

So let's grab the rope and see if we can
crank that mouth open.

Yeah, that's awesome.

Both the cheek teeth and the insides of
those big front teeth.

continuously growing. And that's a
reflection of their really abrasive

They need to have teeth that are
constantly coming through. Otherwise

get worn down and they starve.

That looks pretty good to me. Perfect.

Fortunately for Rodney, his teeth aren't
causing his eye issue.

Jess needs to know what is.

This is a little bit of a yellow stain.

If there's any trauma to the surface of
the eye, you'll pick up the dye.

And it'll also come out his nose and
tell us that his tear duct is patent, so

that's quite good.

And we've got no uptake on that one
either.

So it just means there's no scratches on
the surface of the eye. One of the

reasons that eye might have discharge is
if there's a scratch and it's

uncomfortable. I didn't think that was
going to be the case with Rodney because

there's no indication that the eye
itself is uncomfortable. There's no

of the tissue around the eye.

But it's worth checking on the same.

All right, can we take his mask off? And
I'm just going to have a look at his

nostrils.

So I'm interested to see whether the
stain comes out his nostrils. It should

glow, but it's not.

With no dye emerging from his nose, it's
likely there's a blockage somewhere in

the tear duct.

Jess will try to clear it.

Numb it up a little bit.

I'm just going to try and flush the tear
duct.

It is just there.

Can you see that tiny little opening?

That's what we want to catheterize. So
this is just a soft little hollow

catheter.

I'm just going to give it a flush.

Flush anything that might be occluding
the tear duct out.

That was a blob of pus that had come
out.

We've got two little openings to that T
-deck. One's on the lower eyelid and

one's on the top eyelid. So they both
join kind of like that and then run

And as I've been flushing the lower
ones, pyrrolent material has been coming

the top one, which is what we got a
sample of. So we'll be able to culture

and see if there's a particular bacteria
that's growing in there that we might

be able to... Oh, look at that.

So that's just a big old glob of pus.

The galahs debut at the free flight
presentation is just three months away.

Training is stepping up for the two
budding stars.

So this is Jeddah and Jirgi.

They're here in the Blue Mountains
Bushwalk Aviary and it's a nice safe

them to learn how to practice flying
around other birds and interact with

The net -covered aviary is a safe place.

If Jeddah or Jirgi gets spooked, they
can't fly far.

We're going to do some in and outs first
with the birds and make sure that

they're comfortable going in and out of
their naggle.

And that was great. You can see she was
leaning back inside, so that's awesome.

We can take that as a yes for going to
the next step, which is going to be some

short distance flights called A to B.

The presentation flight will be 100
metres over the audience.

But you've got to start somewhere.

Jeda. Good job.

And we can do one more?

Mm -hmm.

Once again, Jeda knows exactly what to
do.

Awesome. So short distance, we've seen
no hesitation.

That's our sign to move on to the next
step. And we're going to try a really

long one. You have to kind of maneuver
between some trees.

Ready?

Good work.

So we're going to work Jirgi now. We'll
do the same test.

I'll just do one scene.

She soon gets the hang of it.

So both of the birds have done really
well today.

No worries. So that was really
important. Great job. Welcome back.

It's very exciting. I think both of
these birds are probably ready for the

step, which will be to fly outside and
hopefully very soon be in presentation.

Good job.

Coming up. I'm just going to try and
flush the tear duct. All eyes on Rodney.

Have a look at them under the microscope
and we can see what white blood cells

there, so it's definitely pus.

Three, two, one. But will there be more
tears at bedtime?

We'll watch him to make sure he's doing
all right.

Rodney the capybara has a runny eye.

Jess thinks she's worked out why.

So that's just a big old glob of I think
what's probably pus.

That's just come jetting out of that
tear duct.

And onto my finger.

Mmm.

Thank you. And there was none of this
coming out of the other tear duct, so it

does suggest that, yeah, definitely a
tear duct problem.

Now, we've had a look under the
microscope, and we can see what white

cells there, so it's definitely pus.

That seems to have accumulated in the
tear duct somewhere between the opening

and where that blockage is sitting.

Certainly Rodney hasn't been showing any
signs of eye pain. He's not had any

squinting? No, no squinting or looking
like it's uncomfortable at all. Hasn't

been rubbing it.

The path will be sent to pathology for
testing.

It's hoped the solution will be as
simple as antibiotics to clear up

infection.

For now, Rodney will be returned to his
exhibit and woken up.

So that is his reversal.

Well, let's take a few minutes to take a
check.

He's recovering really well. It's only
taken him 10 minutes to sort of come to.

We won't let him back out with the group
just yet. We'll probably wait until

he's up and about and motivated to eat
and drink, which might take maybe an

or so, and during that time we'll watch
him to make sure he's doing all right.

Rodney is soon ready to rejoin the gang.

Hey, buddy, that's it.

He's back outside. He looks very happy.

It's good to know that there's nothing
wrong with his teeth and it was all

purely to do with his tear ducts.

Capybara's teeth are very important to
them, so it's good to know that his

are nice and healthy.

Rodney's obviously had his tear ducts
flushed and a lot of pus came out during

that. which is great because it means
he's probably going to feel a lot of

relief.

He's back with his brothers now and
everything's back to normal.

The Galahs free flight exhibition is in
just two months.

It's time to give them their first truly
outdoor training.

They're performing without a net.

So we are headed to the concert lawns
today. It's an exciting first step,

time ever being outside.

Good morning. This is when the training
wheels come off.

Exciting? Nerve -wracking.

Previous to this, we've been flying in
aviaries, which are always netted, as a

safe opportunity for them to practice
all of these skills for flying.

We've chose this area because it's
really covered.

It still allows for a lot of wind to
move through the environment and all

that the birds will eventually need to
learn how to fly with.

So wind, other birds, there's cockatoos
and lorikeets flying all over the place.

But it's a really beautiful spot because
it's very sheltered. There's tons of

trees around us.

tons of landing opportunities so if our
birds were to ever get nervous and to

fly off our hand hopefully they land
somewhere safe nearby and then they can

come quickly back to the hand all of
these are important steps to their

progress so this is

jetta and you can see with their body
language that they're leaning really

to get back into that nagle that's
exactly what we want to see chris are

ready are you ready okay we're gonna do
A short A to B.

Nice.

Ready?

Good job.

Perfect. I think that was great. You
want to back up a little bit?

Ready?

Superstar.

Checked me.

Once again.

Jeddah is a natural.

Now, Jirigi.

It's a big, wide world out there, with
nothing to stop her if she chooses to

away. So we're going to go for a longer
flight.

You've done so good with your short
flight.

She's done it. My favorite part about
training these birds is just really

watching them grow.

It's wonderful to see them navigate the
skies and kind of take flight in a sense

and become confident individuals who
know how to navigate with wind patterns

other birds in their environment.

It's just a really special and magical
thing to see.

Yeah, I think they're ready for the next
step.

Next step, the big event. But can they
perform the all -important 100 -meter

flight in front of a full house?

Next. When you look at her, you really
don't mind.

It's crunch time.

She's a good little brat.

For the little platypus.

It's hopefully going to survive and pull
through. It's all about the critters.

And pre -flight nerve.

Welcome to pre -flight presentation here
at the Taronga Zoo.

As the big day arrives for Jeddah and
Jirigi.

So this is what we've been working for
for months now.

It's 5 .30 in the morning.

Keeper Rob is part of the team looking
after the platypus.

He's got the day's first feed.

Whether it's cleaning out water bowls or
organising breeding programs or coming

in at still dark to make sure some
little munchkin is hopefully going to

and pull through. It doesn't matter what
it is, but it all comes back to it.

It's all about the critters.

She likes the water temperature about 30
degrees.

When we first saw this little platypus,
she was essentially emaciated, very

weak, anemic.

And to be honest, I don't think she
would have survived.

And now she's thriving. It takes a lot
of work to get them to start eating and

things like that. And the team here put
an enormous amount of work into feeding

her six times a day.

Sometimes it takes two hours to get all
the food into her and get her used to

the different food items. And they've
done an incredible job.

I've been doing 6 a .m. feeds. Oh, that
was a big yawn.

And 5 .30 and 8 .30 p .m. feeds.

Mind you, when you look at her, you
really don't mind.

She is a good little brat.

On the scales.

344 .6, so you're up about 7 grams or
thereabouts, I think, from this time

yesterday morning.

Time for breakfast.

This isn't the first little platypus
like this I've dealt with. About 26, 27

years ago we had a little platypus come
in that we called Annie and she was one

of the very first platypus ever
successfully hand raised.

She'd been chewed on by a dog before she
got here so she was even in a worse

state than this little one.

So at least now this little one's got
experience from what we've done in the

past which does make things a bit
easier.

Rob's knowledge is making a huge
difference.

The platypus is on the road to recovery.

Behaviourally she's great, she's
exploring, she's interested in things.

still be in hospital for quite some
time. She's got a long way to go before

feel that she's ready to go out into the
zoo or in fact be released. It's still

a fair way down the track before that
would actually happen.

That's probably one of the biggest
senses of achievement. You've taken

that was really, really thick and in a
bad way, and you've got it better.

Oh, it is bedtime, is it?

After three months' practice, the big
day has finally arrived for Jirigi and

Jedha. Their first... free flight bird
presentation.

It's awesome to have a free flight
presentation here at the zoo because it

really helps to inspire conservation,
caring and action when you see how

these birds are. So we are excited to
see how they go with such a large crowd.

Even though Megan has been training
galahs for over 10 years, there are

few butterflies around.

Welcome to Free Flight Presentation here
at the Taronga Zoo.

My name is Megan, and you're in for a
bit of a treat this morning. We have two

new birds new to the presentation.

Their names are Jeddah and Jirgi.

They're a tiny pink species of cockatoo,
also known as a galah cockatoo, and

this is their first time that they're
going to be flying in the presentation

today. With months of hard work on the
line, it's time for these birds to

Okay, I think we are ready to go, so
let's see how these birds do.

It's very exciting.

Jetta's on his way.

Awesome.

Whoa. Here comes Jurgi.

Pretty cute, don't they?

They have done an awesome job. We've
been working with these two birds and

others for months now.

It's such an awesome sight. There goes
Jurgie.

And Jetta's checking if there's any more
snacks.

She's on her way home. Thank you so much
for being here with us.

It's awesome. We have such big crowds
and the birds are completely confident.

So this is what we've been working for
for months now.

And it's awesome to finally see it come
to fruition.