All language subtitles for Taronga s05e02 Saving Koalas.eng

VIRGINIA GAY (NARRATES):
You don't get named

one of the best zoos in the world
by accident.

And a view as magical as this one is

only gets you so far.

Good boy.

No. This last year, Team Taronga
have been busier than ever.

Boom. Whoo!

With their two zoos
now bigger than ever.

Come on, handsome man.
Let's go.

So, this season,
we're taking you closer than ever.

(ELEPHANTS TRUMPET)

And as their colourful residents
get ready to make some noise...

(TIGER ROARS)
Oh, my goodness.

..let us show you
exactly who's who in this zoo.

Just always be watching
who's who, who's where.

(OTTER BARKS)

On this episode...

Freya to drone team.

A game of drones.

Can we
please get a flyover of 1501?

Taronga takes to the sky...

Lovely.
Oh, little jump.

..to save an Aussie icon.

Another one on the way,
so, under the pump.

The inside story...

They managed to all slip out
under this fence.

..of the great lion escape...

Heart stopping.

..that got Australia talking.

The
worst morning I've ever had.

And meet Clarence.

Clarence
is gonna be over the moon.

Determined to prove..

Yeah. This is better
than I could have imagined.

..he's no toothless tiger.

(TIGER ROARS)
What a good boy.

Straight into here, do you
think? Yeah. We can.

Every day,
Taronga's vets and keepers

work hard to keep hundreds
of animals healthy.

He's waking up
from this anaesthetic.

But this work doesn't always happen
inside the zoo's gates.

400km away in Cooma,
southern New South Wales,

the sun hasn't even drawn
its first breath.

Oh, it's getting muddy
on the back here.

And vet Larry has already set off
on a special mission

involving a treasured
Australian icon.

Heading out 00:02:15,959
is probably one of the most
exciting things that we do.

I love
getting out into the bush

and doing
field work and, you know,

getting your hands
on some wild animals.

Um, it's just... 00:02:30,880
A search team has already been
at work since 3am

using thermal imaging drones
to help find

one of the state's
recently listed endangered animals.

So, the first koala
is, uh, koala 16.K01

and its
coordinates are -36.298212.

They're
pretty close together.

They're
not too far from the road.

Koalas in New South Wales

are sadly moving
closer to extinction

due to habitat loss and disease.

So, we'll drive down.
Yeah.

And then
jump into that first one.

Oh,
and only one creek to cross.

(CHUCKLES)

So, Taronga has joined forces
with the state government

as part of its strategy
to try and save the species.

Alright.
Which way are we going?

Our first koala is 170m
that way into the bush.

How's
everyone going?

(CHUCKLES)
Having so much fun.

Gosh. Carrying a koala
out of this is gonna be awesome.

Oh, god.

Straight.

We arrive usually on-site
around between 6:00 and 6:30

and
we set up our vet station.

All good.

The goal of our project 00:03:50,279
of six koala populations
across New South Wales.

And
out of that, hopefully,

we'll
mitigate a lot of the threats

such as disease and climate,
for example.

This is a fairly critical
bit of equipment here.

This
is the anaesthetic machine.

Do we
want the heat mat out, Lars?

Um,
I think we should. Yeah.

What a great spot 00:04:10,359
Yeah. It's beautiful.
Yeah.

The workflow
is-is really important

because we've got to be
very efficient.

Um, we're, you know, 00:04:19,799
um, every day

and we need to get through
them pretty quickly.

This is all the colouring
equipment here.

Then Frey's got 00:04:33,119
We've got to consider at every point
the transmission of disease.

And I suppose the main disease
that we are con...concerned

about is chlamydia.

All the equipment
needs to be disinfected

thoroughly
between koalas.

So, really critical 00:04:49,479
the work we're doing
doesn't actually spread

the
disease among the koalas.

Do
you have radio on you?

Yeah.
I do, actually.

A
lot of deadfall there.

But before Larry
can examine a koala...

Uh, trying to find
our way through these trees.

..the ground crew
will need to find one.

Oh, there
are massive trees here.

Look
at the base of these things.

Push through that.

Mine
says 10m from here.

Mine stopped.

OK.
So, it's somewhere here.

Well, let's
just...let's triangulate it,

get around
and see what we can find.

So,
we're at the site

where the drone team found
the koala earlier.

We are
struggling to locate it

probably because there's
such thick understorey.

So, it's very hard to look up,
into the canopy to see.

It's also a very, very big tree,
um, with lots of branches

that the
koala could be hiding in.

Freya to drone team.

We're gonna get the drone
team to fly back over

and hopefully, they can assist us
with finding the koala.

STEVEN
(VIA RADIO): Copy.

Steven, can
we please get a flyover of 1501?

Copy.
I'll be over soon.

Thank you.

It's gonna be so difficult
to find it in this tree.

Taronga is wild with excitement
over the birth of a new baby.

Pygmy hippopotamus Kambiri

is a proud new mum
to her five-week-old calf.

Goodness me. You've put
on some weight, haven't you?

It's an exciting time
for the whole zoo

but particularly
for her devoted keeper, Tracy.

Well, I've known Kambiri
since she was born.

I looked
after Kambiri's mother.

She
is an amazing individual.

She is the best mother
I've ever known in pygmy hippos.

She
adores her babies.

She will stand guard over
them day and night.

She will leave food
if her baby needs her

and
she is so protective.

The pygmy hippo
is critically endangered

in the wild,
so, every new baby is precious.

They're
found in Western Africa.

It's estimated only around 3,000
are left in the world.

And they're not to be confused
with their bigger cousins,

the common hippopotamus.

They're only about a fifth
of the size of the common hippo.

They are solitary.

The female and the male
have adjoining territories

and they only come together
to breed.

Which means the new baby
hasn't ever met her dad,

Taronga's male pygmy hippo, Fergus.

Fergus
is a very interesting boy.

Well, we only put them together
when Kambiri is in estrus,

which had happened
on the fifth July last year.

And immediately,

she led him to the water
and they started mating.

Early October, we decided to
do an ultrasound on her

and straight away the vets
could spot a little backbone.

We were absolutely
blown away by this.

We were very happy.

And then
the very special day arrived.

It
does seem to be in labour.

There we go.
There's the sack.

It's very close now.

And she's
straining, she's pushing.

And at 03:05, she had delivered
a healthy baby calf.

There
we go, we have a baby.

We have a calf and it's moving,
so that's always good.

The young calf is thriving
under mum's dedicated care.

She's stacked on the kilos
and loves nothing better

than a swim in the pool.

We decided
to name her La Lolly,

which
means there is always love.

And when it comes
to a pygmy hippo baby,

there always is.

There's a change in the air
for Taronga's male Sumatran tigers.

And the wind behind that change
is Tamara,

senior carnivore keeper
and serious tiger lover.

Who
doesn't love tigers?

I certainly love them 00:09:08,439
And we hope that when people come
and see our tigers here at Taronga,

they maybe get a bit more inspired
about the tigers in the wild

that
need a lot more help.

There are only around 350
of these tigers left in the wild...

which makes Taronga's tiger group
incredibly important

to their genetic pool worldwide.

Currently
at Taronga,

we actually have 00:09:34,159
We
have the family group,

which is mum 00:09:42,670
We do have two individual males.
One is Clarence and one is Kembali.

Sumatran tigers are one
of the smaller tiger species

but their giant roar
can be heard as far as 3km away,

especially at mealtime.

(TIGER ROARS)

Hey. Hey. Hey.

Clarence,
just relax.

In the wild, 00:10:06,559
So, in zoo care, 00:10:08,199
because
we don't want aggression.

We wanna make sure
each member of the family

is getting the right amount of food
for their body weight and size.

So, you know, a 110kg male tiger
is gonna eat more meat

than
a 80 kilo female.

So, what we actually do
is feed them twice a day

in
small portions every day.

We do vary the types of meat
that they get each day

but our
males don't feed together

because it's just too hard
for us to avoid fighting.

(TIGER ROARS)

Hey, hey, hey.
You're OK.

Our males have 00:10:52,279
around
our hoppers in the dens

because they'll get
in small feeds each day.

They'd start sort of pacing
and get all excited

and some of the behaviours
weren't necessarily behaviours

we wanted to see.

So, Tamara has joined forces

with Taronga's
wildlife feeding team.

Who's gonna come
from that side, hey?

Yep.
He'll come out here.

And together,
they're getting into their heads

and the stomachs

of one of the world's
most endangered animals.

(TIGER ROARS)

Oh, my goodness.

Even though these animals
are born in zoo care

and they're gonna live their
lives in zoo care,

we
still want to represent

that
they are wild tigers

and they are representing
their wild tiger cousins

that are
actually out in the wild.

So, what can we do 00:11:53,240
Coming up, Marnie the pelican
really puts his foot in it.

Hop up.
Good job, buddy.

And...
Wait up. Wait up.

..it's crunch time
for this endangered species.

One of the areas that chlamydia
does affect is the eyes.

Hi,
Mila, you looking this way?

Over time, every animal
at the zoo, large and small,

builds a relationship
with their keepers.

Good girl.

Whether it's feeding time
or fun time,

the zookeepers and all the animals

learn to cooperate
with each other...

even the ones you mightn't expect.

So, we have four
Australian short finned eels

that live with us here
at the wildlife retreat.

Short finned eels
are local to the waters

of
Australia and New Zealand

and around
Papua New Guinea as well.

They're currently listed
as threatened.

Training the eels 00:12:53,919
but what I have gathered
is that they do have

a really
good sense of hearing.

They can also detect vibrations
as well.

We actually use a rock
to make a noise

and we initially trained the recall
by pairing the sound of the rock

with positive reinforcement
in their environment.

So, we would provide the recall
and then pair that

with
their food for the day

and then over time, they learn
that the sound of that recall

means that something positive
is coming.

There's one individual
that I feel as though

I've developed quite a
strong bond with.

It's
really beautiful.

And
from our training sessions,

I've learned 00:13:34,359
some
tactile enrichment as well,

so, he will come
and offer a physical exam.

Good boy.

Presenting
for a physical examination

is just one of the important skills

almost all the animals
need to learn.

Hello.

And that's especially true

for Australian pelicans,
Eora and Mani.

Hello.
Yes, hello.

Every day...
Hi, Eora.

..Keepers like Ben and Tanisha
will give this feathered pair

a thorough health check.

Um, I'll do Eora first. 00:14:12,880
Yep. No worries.

Uh, so,
today, we're gonna be doing

our regular foot check
on our pelicans.

This is something known
as a podoscope.

Uh, it's designed for us
to be able to really easily check

the
underside of their feet.

So, the glass roof allows
them to stand on it

and then to reflect their feet
image into that mirror.

Previously
to having the podoscope,

what we would have to do
to be able to check their feet

is a
little bit more invasive.

So, to move away
from something like that

is to train them to be able to do
their own health checks.

Hop up.

Good job, buddy.

Nice and still.

Being seabirds, 00:14:52,759
to something known
as, uh, bumblefoot.

Kinda splits open
the bottom of their feet,

easy for bacteria
or viruses to get in.

Oh,
you don't want that one?

Are you done?

Um, at the moment,
they're looking pretty good.

Can you hop off the podoscope
for me, handsome?

Come on. Let's go.

As dawn approaches
in Southern New South Wales,

the Taronga koala team

have just launched
a massive operation

to perform health checks
on wild koalas.

Step one is finding them.

Copy
ground team, um,

we can't detect the koala
in that tree.

Bec will start having a look
in the vicinity of that area.

The rising ground temperature

has made it difficult
for the drone crew

to find the koala's heat signature.

They
can move a fairly

substantial distance
in a short time.

Um,
it's been at least an hour

since we initially detected
this koala,

so, it could maybe have
gone several 100m.

STEVEN
(ON RADIO): Copy ground team?

Go ahead.

STEVEN
(VIA RADIO): Yeah.

It's definitely moved off
and I can't...see it.

I'm gonna keep having a look
for a little while

but,
uh, not very apparent.

Over.

Copy that. We'll
leave one or two people here.

They can't see it
from above or below.

It's
just so much understorey.

It's
like so high, though.

Flooding
it out for him. So...

Jacob, are you happy to
hang here, mate?

Yeah, mate.

Carly?
Yeah?

You can hang tight too and just do,
like, sort of circles around it.

Yep. Sounds good.

Alright. Brilliant.

So, the call is made to leave
two people to keep looking...

Alright, good luck.

..while the rest of the team
move to another location

where, hopefully,
they'll have more luck.

A bit
easier to see now even.

Exactly. Yeah. 00:16:48,320
Mm-hm.
I'm gonna go this way.

Like,
slightly to the left but...

thank you.

And with a little more light
comes a little more of that luck.

OK. Cool.

But now, for the tricky part.

What
are you thinking?

Just when it's down 00:17:09,679
Yeah.
That's what I was thinking.

What we're doing right now
is bringing the koala down.

So, basically, we've got
this big long extendable pole,

wavy, colourful, 00:17:19,759
And what we do is we extend it
up above the koala's head

and gently shake it

and that will encourage the koala
to come down the tree.

Nice. Coming
down. Nice and slow.

Nice. Keep it nice and casual.
That's really good.

They're just trying to stop her
from jumping across to other trees

where
it could be more tricky.

Good. 00:17:32,799
OK.
Let's keep it there.

Lovely.

Oh, little jump.

Just hold it there.
Just hold it there, Seth.

Yeah, just hold.
Just hold.

We'll just do a quick reset.
Yep.

Might
just get her noose over there.

So, Freya,
you're gonna follow me.

Got the noose?

(KOALA SCREAMS)

Yeah.
You're good. Lovely work.

Ready, Freya?

Let's
just wait for them.

Oh.

Hey.

Didn't get a good look
but we think this is a female.

She looks fully grown, so probably
somewhere around the 7-kilo mark.

We have a decent walk back with her.
Yeah.

I
think it was about 200m

that we've got to go
through the bush.

She's
getting heavier.

By the
end, she'll be 12 kilos.

(PANTS) Oh, OK.

Right.

This furry patient is weighed...

8.14.
8.14.

..and sedated before Larry gives her
a thorough examination.

Alright.
Get some swabs now.

Chlamydia, of course, 00:18:46,879
and one of the effects
of chlamydia is infertility.

Larry will send samples to the lab

but there are some tests
he can do right away

to look for signs of infection.

One of the areas that chlamydia
does affect is the eyes.

Get... they get terrible
conjunctivitis and keratitis.

I hate the eye ones.

So,
her eyes look beautiful.

So far, so good.

Let's
have a good look in her pouch.

But it's this marsupial's pouch
that will give Larry

a much better idea just how healthy
this koala really is.

There's
a little tick there.

Mani the pelican
has passed his health check

with flying colours.

Can you hop off the podoscope
for me, handsome?

Come on. Let's go.

Which means there's absolutely
nothing stopping him

from putting
his best flipper forward.

Good boy. Come on.

We've noticed that his feet
are really nice and healthy,

which means he's able
to come on a good walk.

These walks, uh, are really
good for their feet

getting a good workout
of their limbs

but it's also really good for them
having that enrichment.

It's because of this recall training
that Mani can enjoy

a regular walk outside his habitat.

Let's go.

He trusts his keepers
and his keepers trust him.

Good. Come on.

Even when he receives
an unexpected call.

Oh,
what's down there?

Those
are the seals, mate.

You know sea seals?

It's happening.
Oh, yes.

While Mani trundles along above,
down the hill...

Good boy.

..a very vocal neighbour
is also taking a stroll.

Pepper, go.

Hey, buddy.

So, this is Pepper.

He is a 16-year-old
California sea lion.

So, he was born at a zoo
over in Europe

and
relocated to Australia,

uh, when he was just
under the age of two.

So, he's been with us
for quite some time now.

Today, we're just practising,
uh, couple of recalls

between
myself and Dana.

Go.

Good job.

So, you'll see the keepers,
we wear a metal, uh, stainless ring

and
we've got a stainless pouch.

So, um, just tapping the pouch
makes a really, obvious sound.

Go.

We do these training sessions
on and off

to keep
the behaviour really strong.

That sound means I'm gonna get
something great, um,

so, I'm gonna pay attention
really, really quickly

or come to that-that, keeper
who-who's giving me that signal.

Go.
Our boys get really big.

Pepper's
212 kilos at the moment.

We need to know 00:21:33,839
and in-in the event
of something going wrong...

Go.

..we need to know that
we can call them back

to the-the keeper 00:21:39,919
We've
never, in my time here,

had to use it in the event
of emergency

but that's
why we have her trained.

Because, you know,
another animal crosses paths

or they're running through an area
we need to call them back from,

we know that we've just got
that instant response

if we need to get their attention
really, really quickly.

Whether it's sea lions...

Alright, Pep. Water.

..or real lions,
the principle is the same,

even if the stakes are higher.

So, today, we're going to do
our lion recall training.

Gonna
ring the bell...

(RINGS BELL)

and then we send the food through
as quickly as we can

so that the sound of the bell
predicts the appearance of food.

Really important
that as that association

is done correctly.

We ca... we don't wanna put
the food through then the bell.

We certainly don't wanna do the bell
and the food at the same time.

It has to be sound of bell
followed by food

to create
the-the right association.

We want this sound 00:22:43,999
that they hear it 00:22:46,119
to
think food's coming.

It's these training sessions
that give Louise

and the carnivore keepers

the confidence to know
they can recall the lions

in any situation,
even the most unimaginable.

We've had an incident 00:23:05,900
The
lion family had escaped.

On Ngarigo land
in country New South Wales,

Larry is examining his first koala
for the day.

Let's
have a good look in her pouch.

Sadly,
nothing in the pouch.

Usually, if they've had joeys
and they've suckled,

their
teat gets quite long

and it's quite obvious that they,
um, they've had joeys

but
her teats are quite small.

So, at her age,

you would expect
that she would have had

several
joeys by now.

We've seen a few koalas
in this population

that seem
to be potentially sterile.

It's a worrying sign for the koala
and the entire species.

Infertility through disease
is a major contributor

to their plummeting numbers.

Alright. We're
gonna ultrasound her now.

Yep.

This is a fancy 00:24:05,599
perfect
for field work

and connects wirelessly
on the tablet here,

then it's just uploaded
to-to the cloud

at
the end of the day.

I'm scanning the kidneys
and the reproductive tract.

Obviously, the reproductive tract
is critically important

because that's an organ system
that is affected by chlamydia.

Capture image.

So, this is a really cool
thing here.

I just say "Capture Image"
and it takes an image.

So, she's
got, uh, cysts associated

most likely with her ovaries,
large cysts.

And all
these here are-are cysts.

And there's a really large
one just there

and that's very typically
seen with chlamydia

and, uh,
can and causes infertility

and I'd say that's definitely
what's happening with her.

Yeah.

Yeah.
So, she's got quite a few.

Not
great for this little girl.

No.

Chlamydia is a bacterial infection
that can spread quickly

through a koala population.

Severe infections
can also result in blindness

and respiratory disease.

Done?
Yep.

OK. I'll
need to get a picture of that.

We put
a tracking collar on her

so that when we come back
to this site next year,

we can recapture her
and see how she's going.

I've gotta measure her neck
and make sure it's the right size.

We don't want her to be too loose.
We don't want her to be too tight.

So, I've gotta be very, very careful
in getting an accurate measurement.

That's 27.4.

We can only put it
on full grown koalas.

If the koala's growing, of course,
uh, the collar will just get tight.

There's also a little bit
of a safety mechanism.

If the koala gets caught,
for example, in a branch,

that
the collar will break.

Alright.
Well, we are done.

Although there's no cure yet,

chlamydia vaccines
are being developed

and have been trialled
in other koala populations.

I'll just give her
a little injection here.

So, this actually reverses
a component of the anaesthetic

that we gave

but you can see she's waking up
already anyway, which is good.

So, she'll now sit in that bag
probably for about an hour...

for
her to recover fully.

Another one on the way.
Should be here in a few minutes.

So,
uh, so, under the pump.

Coming up...

For the first time...

My
heart absolutely sank.

..the real story
of the great escape.

So, we had two lions
immediately secured

while
five others were still out.

Taronga's Sumatran tigers
are a pretty intense bunch.

Oh,
he's climbing up the tree.

They don't know it yet

but they're about to get a taste
of something very, very different.

Oh,
very nice, Carlin.

Yes. Yep.

You had a look at these 00:27:03,759
Yeah.
Inspected them.

And it all starts
with wildlife feeding supremo,

Michelle, Australia's first ever
zoo nutritionist.

Generally, the carnivores
up to this point

have been
fed chunks of carcasses.

So, chopped up pieces.
You know?

That this might be part of a leg
or part of a rib cage,

things like that

and that's not very natural
for an animal.

They're used to eating
a large portion of meat

and then resting
for a number of days.

And so, we were trying
to incorporate

that
type of feeding behaviour

into the feeding regime
for the animals.

This looks really good
and it'll be interesting to see

how
this goat is received.

I'm trying to mimic what
a tiger may eat in the wild, so...

Helping Michelle to change things up
is Taronga butcher, Carlin.

The kidneys 00:27:48,919
It's a good colour.

And also, down here, 00:27:54,759
When we're
talking about a-a tiger,

in the wild, they'd be eating
whole carcasses.

They'd be eating the skin, the
hair, the-the organs

and that all provides 00:28:06,679
So,
what we have here let's see.

We got the heart here, Michelle.
What's that offering?

We're
gonna get some copper and zinc

and-and iron and things
from the heart.

And...
Yeah.

Also,
what do we have down here?

We've got a nice,
healthy looking liver.

OK.

Well, the liver's
gonna offer Vitamin A

and that'll help to balance out
the rest of the carcass.

Yeah. OK.

Because
a lot of the minerals,

uh, are really concentrated
in those organs.

Really. Yeah.

So,
when they're removed,

we have to add
extra supplementation.

OK.

We're trying to provide
more natural opportunities

for the carnivores.

It may take a while for
them to consume

and then have 00:28:41,919
a couple of days
when they're not fed

portions of meat.

Exciting.
Very exciting.

Hello, buddy boy. 00:28:51,040
Big cat, Clarence,

is the first tiger to sink his teeth
into the new grub.

What I'm hoping
to be able to see today

is just some amazing 00:29:07,280
Here he comes now.

This is exciting.

He's actually doing some plucking.
This is...this is awesome to see.

He's
plucking some of the fur.

Fur plucking is natural behaviour
for wild tigers.

It helps clean their teeth and gums.

He's actually using a bit
of his body to kinda get in there.

You can see the muscles
working in his jaw.

He's
loving it so far.

This is great.
This is good to see.

And now, he is picking it up
and he's taking it away.

And he's actually taking
it and hiding it

at
the back of the exhibit.

That is awesome 00:29:57,839
for the first time ever,
caching behaviour.

He's hiding his food 00:30:02,439
which is incredible.

This has been an awesome trial
and it's really a different

and new way of feeding for
us and for Clarence.

And now, that we've seen
the first smaller carcass,

I reckon
we challenge him next time.

(BELL RINGS)

An animal's quick response to cues
is vitally important at Taronga.

And across the zoo,
carnivore supervisor Louise

has been training the lion pride
to return to their den

just at the ring of a bell.

Alright.
I'm gonna feed a boy.

And for very good reason.

Good boy.

Around 18 months ago, 00:30:53,039
They had actually escaped
their habitat.

There was a construction issue
with the fence.

Our adult
male and his young cubs

managed to all slip out
under this fence.

The only ones that stayed behind
was mum and one of our young girls

called Ayanna.

So,
for me, that morning

was probably one
of the worst mornings

I've ever had working here
at Taronga Zoo.

My
heart absolutely sank.

Thankfully, the keepers managed
to recall them

back
to our holding area.

So, we had two lions
immediately secured...

while
five others were still out.

As soon as the youngsters knew
that their mother wasn't with them,

all they
wanted to do was come home.

Our keepers have got
such a wonderful relationship

with the lion family

that basically,
they use their voices

to
direct the lions home.

And, also, we had
mother lion as well

using
her voice to call them.

And sure enough,

the first one went under
and came back home

and
then the others watched them

and then they all came back up
to our holding building

where our keepers were able
to secure them all to safety.

There was one lion 00:32:08,479
She was showing
some stress behaviour.

She wasn't
sure how to get back in.

And because she was starting
to get quite worried,

we made
the decision to dart her

just to make sure
that she came home safely.

So,
pretty incredible day.

Heart stopping...

but such a great resolution
and such a great demonstration

of how effective recalling
your animals can be

and also building that relationship
with them as well.

Coming up, a real shock...

Look at that.

..for Larry.

Massive, massive one there.
Yeah, right.

And Clarence takes it up a notch.

We may
need to get bigger carcasses.

Back at the field hospital
near Cooma,

400km south of Sydney,

Larry is examining
his second koala of the day.

Her eyes were good.

Pouch is empty.

A little bit of wetness
around the bottom there.

OK. Should we do
some ultra-sounding?

So,
what we call wet bottom

is a...is a-a typical sign
of chlamydia.

A second female with chlamydia,
which can cause infertility,

is a very worrying sign
for this koala population.

Capture image.

But it does give Larry
and the research team

a better understanding
of the threats they face.

Capture image.

Couple
of months ago,

our first field trip 00:33:43,399
They were
extremely healthy animals.

There are lots of other
threats, of course,

but
disease is a major threat.

So, this trip is certainly
quite different to our last one.

Massive cyst.

It's 5cm long there.

Wow.

Down at the collection site,

the first koala Larry examined

is about to be released
back into the wild by Freya.

This lady is ready to go
back to her tree.

They're all different. 00:34:20,319
Some of them will go
straight up that tree.

We will see.

Not quite straight up,
but she's on her way nonetheless.

I think this is my favourite
part of the trip

is, like,
getting to release them

and just seeing them
spring up that tree, um,

and just, like, knowing 00:34:45,119
the same way 00:34:48,879
um, but now, we just have
more information on them.

Nice one, Freya.

Meanwhile,
over at the field hospital,

Larry's third patient has arrived

and the news isn't any better
for this little one.

Look at that.
Massive cyst.

I think she's got them
on both sides, actually.

Mm-hm.
Yeah.

Like there's this one
which is on the left side...

and then you go
across the other side.

Massive one there.
Yeah, right.

That is huge.
That is huge.

OK.

So, next sample we're gonna
take is a little biopsy

from
the margin of the ear here

and this is a very important sample
for the genetics work.

With this project,

they'll be able to find genes
that are in relation to disease.

So, that's
never been done before,

so, this, uh, project is-is
incredibly valuable in that regard.

I know it seems a bit sort of crude
using a leather punch

but
it's actually very effective

in getting 00:35:50,999
Oh, just a little snip
of tissue there.

It's these samples
which will help find

new ways to fight
or even prevent disease.

OK.

Done?

Done.

And it's these koalas

that are helping ensure
the survival of their species.

Alright. There you go.
Cool.

You good?
Yes.

So, we finished processing
the koalas for today.

All of them had evidence
of reproductive tract disease,

unfortunately.

So, we've-we've taken
all the samples we need.

We've put tracking devices
on all of them

because it'll be really
valuable to monitor

how
these animals are going,

the ones that are affected
by chlamydia.

That
was a great release.

So, seems to be completely recovered
from her anaesthetic.

Hopefully next year
when we come back here,

we'll actually be able to find
those individuals again

and see how they have been,
how they're going.

Although the koalas can now relax,
no such luck for Larry.

His day is far from over.

Getting as far away
as possible from us.

Back at Taronga, some big cats
are experiencing a whole new,

more realistic approach
to meal times.

We still want to present food
in the most natural way

and carcass feeding
has definitely been

one
of the best ways to do that.

And today,

Tamara is raising the stakes
for Clarence, the Sumatran tiger.

What we're actually gonna do
is bury the carcass under...

Yeah.

..all this bamboo

so, he has to kind of search for
it, hunt a little bit.

Yeah.
One, two, three.

Alright. OK.
Sorry, mister goat.

It's
actually a wild goat,

so, bonus points
for conservation as well.

The harder we can make
it, the better.

Clarence is gonna be over the moon.
I can't wait to see him come out.

After weeks of experimenting
with varying levels of difficulty,

Tamara and Michelle settle in
to watch a game of cat and carcass.

It's been six days
since his last carcass.

He should be hungry.

Come on.

Come on, buddy.

You got this.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Oh, good.

He's looking.
Oh, oh.

Yeah. Come on, buddy.
Here he goes.

Come on.

Oh. Oh.

He's got a hold of something,
doesn't he?

For Clarence,
who can almost taste it,

it's a bit like finding a carcass
in a haystack.

Oh. (CHUCKLES)
Is anyone watching?

Making sure 00:39:05,839
You can see him working
really working on that carcass,

all different angles 00:39:08,879
So good.

Using
those claws, it's incredible.

You
don't see that every day.

Yeah.

This is better 00:39:21,679
to see all these behaviours
that he exhibits with this carcass

over some of the other things
that he's been given in the past.

So exciting.
So, so exciting.

Clarence is clearly happy
with his new diet

but he's not the only one.

The
trial has been so good.

We're still sort of working
through the scheduling

and closely monitoring
the tiger's weight.

What a good boy.

Well done, Clarence.

Good boy.

133. OK.

He's looking really good,
his body condition.

Amazing.
Aren't you?

You're
a very happy boy, aren't you?

We may need to get 00:40:00,919
change the days
in between each feed.

And if they needed
any further confirmation

that they're onto a winner,

as the old saying goes,
what goes in must come out.

G'day, g'day, g'day.

I
have a present for you.

Oh. 00:40:17,799
Oh,
that looks pretty good.

Yep. Poop.

And for Michelle and Tamara,
it's the last piece of the puzzle.

Oh, let's see 00:40:30,599
Yes. The fun stuff begins.
This is it.

This is four days post. Yeah?
Four days post. Yeah.

So, we're still seeing
some fur in there?

Yeah.
Which is good.

And bone?

Yep.

And
what have we got here?

What little treats
do we have in there?

Did someone say treats?

Oh,
look at that claw.

(GASPS) Wow.

So,
this is a kangaroo claw.

That is...
Oh, my goodness.

Yeah.
That is pretty amazing.

So, we've
got skin there and claw.

Wow. That's awesome.

That's pretty cool.

There's all kinds of fun things
you can find in poop. Right?

(CHUCKLES)
Yeah.

So, overall, I think it is, like,
quite amazing that even though

food has never been presented
this way before,

once it was, the natural tiger
instinct just came out.

We are definitely gonna keep doing
the carcass feeds into the future.

Coming up, the results are in...

We
processed 52 koalas.

..for Project Koala.

We're expecting 00:41:42,010
In Cooma,

senior vet Larry may have finished
his koala examinations

at the field hospital

but the job doesn't end there.

We had a very successful morning.
We deployed three trackers.

So, now, we've got
a whole lot of work to do.

Entering
the details of the koalas,

linking it with the trackers
that we deployed.

There's
a lot to do on this project.

And the awesome technology
used by the team

has revolutionised their work
in the field.

These
trackers are set to upload,

uh, to a base station
every six hours.

So, we'll get a signal
every six hours

as
to where that koala is.

And it's really cool, 00:42:19,199
as how they move around
and-and what have you.

These
here are individual koalas.

So, these are all the trackers
that we've already deployed.

It's a great system
and we get incredible data.

There's so much 00:42:31,599
from this project 00:42:33,759
and, you know, home ranges
of the animals

and the health and the genetics
of-of koala populations

in-
in New South Wales.

A few weeks later,

Larry is back in his real office
having now analysed the results

from his time in the field.

And they're surprising
to say the least.

We processed 52 koalas.
Good numbers.

We did learn a lot
about this population

just from our examination
that we did in the field

and particularly 00:43:04,679
We were expecting possibly
some level of disease.

Almost, uh, probably
a quarter of the females

actually
had chlamydia,

so,
it's a bit sad to see that.

But on the flip side of that,
actually, there were quite a few

that were breeding.

So, we had six koalas with
joeys in their pouch.

I even saw two pregnancies
on the ultrasound.

So, you know, there are some...
there's some evidence of-of disease,

but
on the other hand,

there actually is quite a few
of animals are quite healthy.

Over the next two years,

Larry and the team
will continue to check up

on six different koala populations
around New South Wales.

There is hope.

I mean, both the populations so
far that we've examined

have
good-good numbers of koalas.

I'm surprised, actually,
the numbers there.

But the great thing is that
we're actually doing something.

We're learning more about koalas
and there's a concerted effort

being put into koalas
in New South Wales

with the whole goal,

the goal ultimately to try and
double the population by 2050

rather than 00:44:01,840
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