All language subtitles for Taronga s04e10 The Singing Gibbon.eng

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.

Sorry, 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.

It mightn't sound like it.

But this is a love song.

Kayak hasn't sung it for six months.

Let's go!

Come on, buddy! Last one! So just who
got him singing again?

An around -the -clock mission... We've
been planning this for nearly two years

now. ...to save the platypus.

And... All aboard the Taronga Express.

Hopefully we'll get some brilliant
sightings. A global odyssey inspired by

I had tears rolling down my face when
that happened.

Of all the animals Taronga has been a
home or a help to, one species is

to most tasks.

It's one of the least understood
creatures here.

And it's in trouble.

Platypus is a big focus for Taronga.
It's our emblem.

It's one of our legacy species.

They talked about platypus being the
silent victim of bushfires and drought.

The research shows the platypus
populations are in decline.

There's living proof of those fears just
south of Sydney.

The Royal National Park used to be home
to healthy platypus populations, but

none have been seen for decades.

Thanks to a massively ambitious project,
that is all about to change.

We call this a local extinction event,
so it's really important that we find

habitat that can support platypus and we
can start to put populations back.

The plan is to source 10 wild platypus
in other rivers in New South Wales.

and relocate them to the Royal National
Park.

To help find them, Phoebe needs to test
a number of rivers throughout the state.

I'm going to do eDNA testing.

This involves taking a litre of water
from these sites up to a syringe and

we filter this water so that only the
particles of the platypus are stored in

the filter.

This will then tell us if platypus are
currently living in that river system.

Having identified sites where platypus
live, the team are setting traps at

site number one in the snowy mountains.

Shallow nets are set, and from dusk, the
rescue boat is ready to go.

But no one expected success to come so
quickly.

The little female is anaesthetised and
samples taken.

We end up catching seven, but we want to
make sure that we leave some in the

source sites and get a good spread of
genetic diversity, so just two from the

first site today.

The journey to a new home begins, but
first there's a stop at Taronga Zoo.

Communication between animals can happen
in a range of ways, through touch,

smell and sound.

A gibbon species can actually manipulate
their vocal cords a little bit like we

can and they have an array of different
communications that they can do with

those vocal cords. They do duet to each
other, so a male will start the duet and

then the female will come in at the end
and finish that duet.

The coat colour of a white -cheeked
gibbon varies with age and sex of the

animal. But by adulthood, the females
are a beige colour and the males are

black. White -cheeked gibbons are found
in Southeast Asia and they're critically

endangered in the wild with less than
500 individuals left.

They're what's called a true monogamous
primate. However, if an animal died in a

pairing, that gibbon would then go on
and find another pair. But they do stay

that family group where there's often a
mother and a father and then a few

generations of offspring before they
disperse.

Sadly, Kayak, the male gibbon, lost his
long -term partner Nellie six months

ago.

Kayak definitely did grieve for Nellie.
They go through a grieving process and

his behaviour did change, but we just
changed the way we worked with him. So

upped our interactions with him, so we
spent a lot more time with him. We've

upped his training, we've upped his
enrichment to make sure that he's

lot more from us because he doesn't have
Nellie in there to comfort him now.

After she passed, Kayak was silent for a
while, so we only have heard him

starting to call in the last month or
so. The fact that we're hearing Kayak

calling again is a good indication to us
that he's ready to find another mate.

And it looks like they may have found
her at Perth Zoo.

So Kayak is about to be transferred to
meet his new partner.

It's always very bittersweet. Gibbons
are a favourite of mine, so I have a

spot for them, and especially Kayak. So
it is going to be very difficult to see

him go, but I am very happy that there
is a lady waiting for him, and he's

to have a second chance.

When we send animals to other zoos, we
want to make sure that they're healthy

and in tip -top condition. So he's going
to have a general anaesthetic, where

the vets will give him a once -over,
we'll do x -rays, bloods, and just make

sure that he's well and healthy and OK
to travel.

Gibbons generally are quite sensitive,
so they know everything about their

environment and anything subtle that
changes, they pick up on it straight

Part of Kayak's training has been to
receive a hand injection from Beck.

And hopefully he won't catch wind that
today it's going to happen for real.

It's a super exciting day.

as the first platypus selected for
relocation land at Taronga.

Hey! So I've arrived from the snowy
mountains. I have one female and one

platypus.

The boy has been rustling around the
whole ride home, so I think he's quite

active one.

So the keepers will have a fun time
trying to get him out and into the new

facility. Taronga's new platypus
facility is huge.

Each platypus will have their own 9 ,000
-litre water tank outside, connected by

a tunnel to indoor sleeping boxes.

All right, well, we might take them both
over then.

We've been planning this translocation
for nearly two years now with National

Parks and Wildlife Service, WWF and
University of New South Wales.

So to have these first two platypus on
site for the first ever New South Wales

platypus translocation is really
exciting.

I'm just going to let Larry know that
they're here.

We've got wriggling. It's a good sign.

By platypus standards.

This male is enormous.

The big one, the boy's huge.

The female is smaller but looks just as
robust.

She's a very healthy looking girl.

Both platypus will be given a quick vet
check.

What a beauty.

He's a chunky little boy.

My gosh.

Just want to, in terms of ageing, I just
want to see the spurs.

They're big.

Yeah.

Male platypus need to be picked up by
their tails to avoid the venomous spurs

their hind legs.

It's the safest and most comfortable way
for them to be handled.

You're happy then? That's good, yeah. He
looks good. We won't disturb him too

much. He's been through a lot already.

The female also passes her first
inspection with flying colours.

Are you happy with how they look, Larry?

Yeah, they look great. I mean, beautiful
animals.

Really in great condition, great body
condition. Obviously, it was a very

cursory look, but they look great.
Perfect, yeah.

That male's huge.

He's great. He's huge, yeah. Yeah,
lovely animal. Yeah, I think it's a good

start getting these two.

It's pretty exciting, isn't it? Two a
day.

Is that your plan, two a day?

Two a day for five days, or ten?

Yeah, we're really happy with how that
went. The vets are happy, Larry's happy,

the keepers are happy.

They will live here for the next week or
so while we bring in platypus from

other locations.

And then in about two weeks' time, we
will release them all as a cohort into

Royal National Park.

Even though the first collection has
gone well, these platypus cannot be kept

here for too long.

So Phoebe hopes her next round goes just
as smoothly.

Coming up... Atto, tail.

Up first for Taronga.

Now they just need Atto to lie still.

And... Ready, kayak?

The game that got kayak singing again.

Let's go!

Come on, buddy!

Six months ago, this lovely mating call
was what visitors might hear as they

swung past the white -cheeked gibbon
exhibit at Sydney's Taronga Zoo.

But when female Nellie died, her partner
Kayak became silent as he went into

mourning.

With lots of extra TLC from the keepers,
Kayak has nearly returned to his old,

boisterous self.

And even better, he's been found a new
partner at Perth Zoo.

They're so clever.

It is going to be very difficult to see
him go, but I am very happy that there

is a lady waiting for him and he's going
to have a second chance.

Today, Keeper Bec will give Kayak a hand
injection.

ahead of a general anaesthetic so the
vets can do a full health check before

travels.

As soon as he has received the
injection, our vets and nurses come down

away because it's very unpredictable how
the effect of the medication will be on

Kayak.

Today, the aim of this procedure is this
pre, what we call a pre -shipment

health check.

And there's a lot to do. We'll be
getting blood.

We'll be doing TB testing.

Because we never know, a visitor might
come, you know, from a country where

there's a higher prevalence.

So just giving him a good check over,
making sure that there's no

You can see the incredible flexibility
of this joint.

Anatomically, it's quite different. It's
more like a ball and socket joint,

get in a shoulder joint like that. You
can see how flexible that is, and the

joint, which is very movable, and they
have this incredible flexibility of the

wrist, much more than we would have.

Has he put on much weight? A kilo, yeah.
He's got like little fatty bits there.

His love handles are much higher than...
Look, he's getting older, so...

He's allowed to have love handles.

Yeah, COVID lockdown.

We can feel at the end of his penis it's
quite rigid and non -human primates

have a little bone in the end of their
penis. Obviously humans don't. It's

probably a good thing.

All right, well, let's get the catheter
in and get some blood from him.

Strangely enough, humans are actually
quite difficult generally to get blood.

They don't have nice big veins like we
see in some other animals and in people.

Okay, on, pressure on.

The canine tooth has got a slab
fracture.

Seems a bit loose, that tooth, actually.

There could be, like, tracts of pus.

Fractures and pus, that combination is
never good.

This tooth here, if you compare it to
that one, for example, there's a lot of

bone loss around the root of the tooth,
and...

It's a bit darker around the tooth. That
would indicate infection.

And the ideal thing would be to take
that tooth out.

Oh, yeah, that might do.

Do you want a wedge or something? And
Larry decides there is no time like the

present. OK, Deb, I'll need a tray of
instruments here.

Excellent.

The root's broken, so I thought there
was too good to be true.

The root cannot be left in there, so
Larry goes in again to remove the rest.

So there's the tooth there now.

So the fact that it came out so easily
is because it's so infected and nasty.

With the tooth gone, there's only one
more test to do.

With all our primates, we do
tuberculosis testing because, like

susceptible to tuberculosis. Most
animals catch TB from people. So we do

tests, one of which is a chest X -ray.

Good, OK, we're done with those guys.

Let's start getting this COVID
vaccination into him.

COVID is another disease that primates
can catch from people.

OK, I think we should get him in there
because he could potentially wake up

quite quickly, like now.

OK, in he goes.

And on his side.

He's 30 years old, so, you know, he's
elderly, but Kayak is in beautiful

Are you ready to go home?

The date for sending him to Perth Zoo
has not been set yet, but it'll be in

next month or so.

Oh, such a relief, honestly. This day's
gone so well. Everything was according

to plan. I couldn't have asked for a
better outcome.

The team at Taronga are always looking
at better ways to look after their

animals. And today, Keeper Ben begins
training on what will be a triumphant

first, if it comes off.

So today we're going to do a training
session with Atto, our male lion.

We're going to be doing some blood draw
training.

Basically, we do lots of training for
husbandry behaviours. So the big cats

a yearly vaccination, so they get the
same vaccination as a domestic cat.

we actually recently gave them the COVID
vaccine, and after having that, the

vets have asked us if we can collect
blood from those animals to see how

effective the vaccines were.

So with Aso, we've been training him...

to draw blood from his tail.

So we're going to use a blunt flushing
needle, so just something that mimics

needle, but it's not going to hurt him
in any way.

So we can just push that onto his tail
to get him used to being touched in that

area. Down.

If you can just creep him forward a
little bit.

One more, just a tiny bit further.

Yep, that's perfect.

Atto, hip.

Hip.

The clicker view is our way of
communicating with the animal. So it

exact behavior that we want Atto to do
and the reward.

Tail.

So you'll see that I'll click. That
means that's the exact behaviour that

rewarding him for. And then Deb will
give him the reward.

I've just moved away a little bit.

I think that might be it for today.

A little bit distracted, but I think
we've still got a few good repetitions

there. That's good.

But, yeah.

I will get attention.

That session was really good. We got a
few good touches with the blunt

needle. Hopefully, with a bit more
practice, we'll be ready.

for a blood draw within the next few
weeks.

Coming up, what Taronga keepers do in
their downtime.

Always wanted to go over and help out a
little bit with wild giraffe and

conservation in general.

And after months of rehearsal.

We don't know how Atto's going to react.

It's time for Larry to enter the lion's
den.

Kayak, the given, will soon be on the
move.

He passed his recent health check and
the keepers can now begin preparing him

for a flight to Perth to meet a new
partner.

Kayak's doing really well after his GA.
So that was his pre -shipment health

check. Everything went smoothly.

Now we get to progress on to our next
step, which is crate training.

Hi.

Kayak touch.

Good. Good boy.

Come on, come a bit closer.

That's it.

Well done.

Oh, he's coming.

Nice work, buddy.

Touch. Good boy.

This is our target stick. There you go.
We'll present that through the mesh, and

Kayak has learnt that he comes along,
touches the end of that with his hand,

then we'll reinforce that with a nice
high -value food.

Let's go.

And this is going to be really handy for
that crate training when we want him to

progress into a space that's quite new.
I can present something that's had a

nice reinforcement history to be like,
follow this target and I'm going to make

it worthwhile. And that way I can also
gauge how he's feeling because that has

the nice history there with it.

He's really warmed up. Come on, buddy.

Hello, you.

Good job.

It's a two -way communication, so I need
to make sure I'm listening to him and

he'll communicate with body language.

Is this your foot?

That's your hand, buddy. Where's your
foot?

Oh, sorry. My bad.

I have to allow him that opportunity to
say no thank you, and then it becomes my

responsibility to make sure that I go
back to the drawing board and come up

ways that I can get him to say yes,
please.

Stick training has been good fun so far,
and ideally, introducing Kayak to the

travel crate will also be a hit.

All right, he's coming.

Kayak! To keep a job, to be able to get
there, I don't stand a chance of being

able to run all of those laps by myself,
so it's important that we have two of

us.

After six months of training, Ato, the
five -year -old lion, is about to be

part of a Taronga first.

We're just preparing some of the meat
for his session.

Atto's not very picky when it comes to
his meat rewards, so he's got some beef

and some pork today, and Larry is going
to come over and have a go at actually

taking a blood sample from his tail
while he's getting some meat rewards.

This is the first time that we've
actually ever attempted to take blood.

from a lion's tail or a big cat tail.

So it's a really big day. We don't know
how Atto is going to react with Larry

being there.

The only thing that's a little bit
concerning is the amount of time and the

amount of food that we can give him for
the session before we run out of food.

Senior vet Larry will be hoping for as
much time as he can get.

The blood drawn today will contribute to
important research.

We've been doing a trial with a COVID
vaccine that's been made for animals. We

know that animals can get COVID, and the
big cats particularly, and particularly

lions, are very susceptible to it. And
there have been several lions that have

actually died from COVID in countries
overseas.

And this will be an opportunity to get a
blood sample and we can send that off

for testing to look at the antibody
levels for the SARS -CoV -2 virus.

OK, well, I'm good to go.

OK, once he gets into position, Deb will
just be continuously rewarding him?

Rewarding him, yeah. Well, let's hope he
performs.

And more importantly, I hope I perform.

Here he is.

You ready?

Yeah.

Do you want to get him up a little bit?

What?

Hail.

Hail.

Okay, that's good, Deb. You can pre
-feed now.

The key is for everyone to move slowly.

But that meat supply Deb has will only
go so far.

Hopefully, this nearly 200 -kilo lion
will stay still long enough for Larry to

get the needle in.

Ready.

Taronga's lonely Gibbon kayak is about
to make the long flight from Sydney to

Perth. to meet his new partner.

Okay, got everything we need?

So the keepers need him to think sitting
in a travel crate is just fabulous.

I'm setting up the puzzle feeder here
for Kayak. It's one of his favourites.

I've hidden a few of the higher value
items, his banana, a bit of kiwi fruit

today. He has to actually come in here
and use those claws to kind of move it

back to find that banana.

The end goal with this crate is to have
him feel as comfortable as possible.

Because this is what he's going to
travel all the way to Perth in. We want

build as many positive associations with
it as we can.

Even the fact that we've put the same
type of bedding in here at the moment

he'll be traveling with. So that on its
own has a different smell. So we want to

make sure that he's okay with that
particular type of smell.

Again, pairing that with good things.

These are not for decoration. It's
actually a part of his diet as well. So

an extra tasty treat. And we tried to
find the yellow ones with that little

of pink inside. They are his favorite.

And these are some kiwi slices that are
quite nice and high value for him that

I'm actually going to poke through the
holes in the crate.

And these are the holes that Bec and I
are going to be feeding him through when

he does enter the crate more as well.

This is just a nice little piece of
capsicum that I've cooked some oats and

berries and stuffed on the inside.

Popping something like this inside the
crate for him is really inviting and he

is likely to want to go in and get it.

This particular session, it's all about
him.

Alex and I are actually going to leave
the building.

So we'll give him access and he can come
in, choose whatever time he wants to

do, hang out as long as he likes without
any pressure from us, and he can just

grab that and head back out if that's
what he feels like doing. All right.

Here he is.

I think he's progressing pretty well.
Yeah, me too.

Really well.

I mean, you're the one travelling with
him. Yeah, and I think these little

sessions that I can do with him
throughout the day when I'm down there

going to further build on the rapport
that we have built on over the last few

years, which will be nice for him when I
go with him to Perth as a familiar

face, someone to help settling him in on
the other end. Yeah. So, yeah.

Especially when he meets his new lady.
Yeah, and his new keepers as well.

A long flight to Perth will be a first
for Kayak.

And nearby, Lion Atto is taking part in
what will hopefully be another first at

Taronga.

OK, that's good, Deb. You can pre -feed
now.

Attempting to take blood from his tail
without anaesthetising him first.

Ready.

While Deb keeps Atto happy up one end,
Larry is able to draw not one, but two

vials of blood.

We could keep going. Yeah.

That was easy, wasn't it? We're done,
mate. Excellent.

Just put your finger on the hole. Yep.

Atto is looking as happy as Larry.

So we'll just finish him off on that big
reward.

Cool.

Red gold.

Yeah, we know we can do that now.

There we go.

You need a big hug, buddy.

Cool.

Didn't even flinch when the needle went
in.

We've got two blood tubes, so we can
actually do like a routine health check

screen on him.

And then we'll have plenty for the COVID
serology.

Plenty there.

Great.

Thank you. Excellent. Look at him.

King of the jungle.

See him.

The blood draw went better than anyone
could have hoped for.

And while the COVID analysis won't come
back for a while, Larry is pleased with

all the other findings.

We've just received the results of
Atto's blood test. We did a basic health

screen here at the zoo and it's all come
back completely normal.

Basically what we did, we looked at the
blood cells and we looked at the

chemistry in the blood and it's all
perfectly normal. So he's certainly in

shape.

Generally, we wouldn't actually, you
know, we wouldn't anaesthetise an animal

specifically to get a blood sample,
particularly a lion because it's such a

procedure. So we do it
opportunistically. Whenever we're

know, an animal for another reason, we
might get a blood sample. And

particularly if it's a general health
check, we would get a blood sample.

But now, of course, that ATO is trained
for blood collection, we can do it

pretty much any time we want to.

Still to come, the lengths Taronga
keepers go to. It's incredible to see

the tigers I care for in Sydney are so
much like their wild Bengal relatives in

India.

It's been an exhausting week, but Phoebe
and her platypus conservation partners

have managed to trap and safely
transport 10 wild platypus to Taronga

So it's this one? Yes.

Six females.

and four males.

They'll all be released into the Royal
National Park, where platypus have not

been seen for decades.

We're just taking this platypus down to
the wildlife hospital now for vets to

have a look at her.

So we'll just put her in this little
induction chamber, Rob, to get her to go

sleep.

So what we're doing with this little
platypus today, we're going to do a full

health check.

and take a whole range of samples and we
are going to put what's called an

acoustic tag so it's a little tracking
device so we'll insert that actually

her abdominal cavity so just get a
little face into the mask and we'll make

she's nice and sleepy so yeah this is
our first one for the translocation so

it's pretty exciting okay let's give her
a good check over can i have a light on

a stick please so this is a measure of
the body condition so

They store the fat in their tail.

Rookie vet Jess is writing a thesis on
platypus.

Platypus has lots of amazing
adaptations.

They've got these amazing Swiss army
knife feet where they've got swimming

adaptation when it's fully extended, and
then they've got digging mode with the

claws, and then they've got walking
mode, which is where they kind of

along. So cool.

You think that white patch there is
their eye, but their eye is actually

above that. They've got very small eyes.

They can definitely see. They've got
quite good eyesight and they're quite

at detecting movements.

So any sharp, sudden movement, you know,
if you see them foraging and they will

dive. And then their ear is just behind
that eye where that darker patch of fur

is.

And they don't actually use their ears
or their eyes to find their food. When

they dive, they close their eyes fully,
they close their nostrils, they close

their ears.

which means they rely on that incredible
bill, which is an amazing little bit of

evolution, to detect their prey. When
any living thing moves, it generates

little electrical impulses.

So when their prey, which might be
insect larvae or little crustaceans, are

moving in the water, they're able to
pick up that electricity, hone in it and

catch them.

Right now...

This evolutionary miracle is about to be
fitted with her very own tracking

device. Okay, well let's get ready for
the surgery.

So the implant goes into her abdomen and
we'll make a tiny little incision in

the middle here.

We don't want to clip too much fur
because they rely on their fur coat for

insulation.

It's only a very small incision, very
minor surgical procedure.

But we do need to maintain sterile
technique because this little device is

to be sitting inside the animal for the
rest of its life.

Ready for the incision?

Yep.

For such a powerful device, the tracker
is tiny, barely the size of a jelly

bean.

There you go, popped in.

See there, it's disappearing into the
animal.

Okay, done.

They've been used a lot in platypus and
many other species and there doesn't

appear to be any apparent adverse effect
of having that in the animal.

And certainly with the platypus, they've
been recorded for a long time after

they've put them in and there's no
adverse effect at all.

There's one last job to do.

A second temporary tracker will be glued
to her back.

Again, it's tiny.

The second tracker is designed to fall
off after three months.

Until then, it will provide even more
information to researchers about how

platypus is faring in its new home.

The technology is phenomenal with being
able to monitor these animals after

release, but of course it's critically
important that we have that information

so we can determine the success of the
whole translocation.

OK, I think we are done, guys.

One down, nine to go.

Waking up, girl?

She probably doesn't realise how
significant and important she is in re

-establishing a population, a whole
population of platypus in the Royal

Park.

Taronga zookeepers like Jen are
dedicated to their job and devoted to

animals in their care.

But some go one step further and take
this passion with them on holidays.

For a lot of people, going on holidays
might just mean an overseas trip or

to the beach or something, which I 100 %
like to do as well.

Over the last five to ten years, I've
morphed my holidays into a working

holiday, so to speak.

I get contracted to go to different
countries in Africa to help translocate

rhinos. So translocation basically
involves moving animals from a high

area to start a new population somewhere
else in a safer area.

Every time I do a translocation, you
learn.

A lot of the work we do here at the zoo,
or the management of the black rhinos,

stems from those trips. So black rhinos
are thought to be a very solitary

species.

Seeing them or spending so much time
with them in the wild, they're a lot

social than we know.

We try and mimic that here at the zoo
now.

It is work, but it's a different type of
work. It's very gratifying that you can

contribute tangibly to real -time
conservation for a species that is under

threat at the moment. They are actually
at the tipping point where they could be

gone forever within our lifetime, which
is horrendous to think.

So that's where my passion comes from
now, knowing that I can tangibly help on

the ground. I'm not a billionaire, but I
have a unique skill set that can help

this process.

I get a lot out of it. Yeah, yeah,
definitely.

Jen only disappeared on her rhino
expedition for a few weeks.

Keepers and married couple Geordie and
Lockie took a full 18 months off to

volunteer for the giraffe conservation
project in Namibia.

When you think of the African continent
and you think of wildlife, a lot of

people have that classic image of
giraffes roaming across the savannah.

But the reality is their numbers are
decreasing so sharply and that might be

thing of the past.

So they often kind of call what's
happening to giraffe a silent extinction

because no one really realises that they
are in trouble.

I've been very passionate about giraffe
throughout my career and I've always

wanted to go over and just lend a hand
and help out a little bit with wild

giraffe and conservation in general.

Their role was to monitor wild
populations and escort wildlife vet

volunteers to get their first glimpse of
a wild giraffe.

There's nothing quite like it, you know,
coming around a bend and seeing one of

these guys pop up in front of you. It's
just, yeah, there's nothing really like

that, is there?

It was a real privilege to work with the
Giraffe Conservation Foundation. They

really are the leading organisation for
giraffe conservation in the world.

Basically trying to learn as much as we
can about desert adapted giraffe.

When you're looking at an area that gets
less than 100 mil of rain every year,

so really, really harsh environments, so
seeing how animals can not just adapt

but thrive in those environments,
especially an animal as big as these

it's really a magical experience.

It gave us, I suppose, a renewed sense
of purpose, kind of realised why we got

into this industry in the first place
and made me come back and really want to

spread the message as much as we can and
be able to back it up with stuff that

we'd actually seen in the wild and we
can actually tell people's stories and

to inspire more behaviour change and
inspire people to care.

Next. A landmark day. A mix of
excitement and relief.

As ten healthy platypus are released
into their new river home.

Platypus have not been seen in the
rivers of the Royal National Park, south

Sydney, for decades.

But today, the first ever translocation
of ten wild platypus will reach its

climax, with four males and six females.

released into the park.

Two years' worth of planning and then
about three weeks at Taronga. So to

release them today is a mix of
excitement and relief and anticipation

what they do and how they thrive.

I think the whole Taronga team has
formed this love for these ten platypus

the last month.

So I wish them all the best and I can't
wait to hear what they do from the

acoustic tags and radio tags.

So we're right at the beginning of
breeding season, it's why we chose this

of year, so that we could release them
when they're in peak condition, and it

means that in the next coming months we
might see them starting to interact with

each other. So we'll track these
platypus for up to three years, which is

battery life of the acoustic implant,
and that will allow us to see how

going, where they've made their burrow,
which animals are interacting with which

other animals in the area.

I'm feeling really excited to have the
platypus back here in the Royal National

Park after 50 years.

We just released the last four males,
but now we have all 10 platypus in the

first translocation of platypus in New
South Wales.

The applause is nice when it comes, but
it's not what most keepers at Taronga

are looking for.

I've had a great passion for chimps ever
since I was a small child.

Chimpanzees are endangered and their
numbers have been declining for a long

time. It's really important that we do
something to help preserve their

out there and look after these animals.

I was super lucky to get to go to
Chimpunga, which is in the Republic of

It's the largest chimp sanctuary in
Africa.

and it's run by the Jane Goodall
Institute. So when I arrived, a little

-year -old boy had been caught in a
snare and he needed more general care,

which is where I stepped in.

The first time I met Mutumba was quite
incredible.

He came into the room and he came over
to me and he put his hand up to my

which is a greeting in chimpanzee.

So that was pretty special. I had tears
rolling down my face when that happened.

So he had to be with a carer 24 -7. So
he slept with me and

he would have nightmares every night
from the trauma that he'd been through.

Those slowly eased and he stopped having
nightmares towards the end.

He's now living on an island in the
forest with other chimps as well.

So it was quite an incredible
experience.

Meanwhile, one of Taronga's longest
-serving carnivore keepers, Louise, is

holiday in India, hoping to see and
learn about tigers in the wild.

So here we go. We've got to hand over
our passports in a second, heading to

park, and hopefully we'll get some
brilliant fighting.

Louise has joined an organised safari
driving through several national parks

where Bengal tigers are protected.

On the very first day that we were
there, we got to see our first tiger in

wild, and it was just amazing.

It's something that you can't really
describe unless you're, you know, to see

tiger. I've worked with these animals
for 29 years for such a long time, but

actually be sitting there in a little
open -top jeep, feeling quite

and have a big Bengal tiger just sitting
there.

After about half an hour, she got up and
she literally just walked across the

road in front of us and she started
calling.

And to hear a wild tiger calling right
in front of you, that was just

incredible. It's wonderful.

It's incredible to see that the tigers I
care for in Sydney are so much like

their wild Bengal relatives in India.

Returning to Sydney...

Louise is feeling more invigorated than
ever about the work she does.

We're helping to prevent a catastrophe
in the wild. We've got an insurance

population here and it makes me more
passionate to do what we can.

And I know that what I'm doing every day
is helping to save a species.

Having a tiger look you in the eye in
the wild, that lets me know that what

we're doing is a good thing.

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