All language subtitles for Taronga s05e06 Chimp Challenge.eng

NARRATOR: 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.

MAN: Good boy!

No, this last year,

Team Taronga have been busier
than ever...

Boom.
Whoo!

..with their two zoos
now bigger than ever.

WOMAN: Come on,
handsome man. Let's go.

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

(ELEPHANT TRUMPETS)

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

(TIGER ROARING)
Oh, my goodness!

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

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

(HOWLING)

On this episode...

(CHIMPS SCREECHING)

..bring out the chimp.

These are one of the most dangerous
animals in the zoo.

But not just one.

Planning to anaesthetise
21 chimpanzees...

All of them.
..is a big job.

As Taronga launches
its biggest ever health check.

Look out, look out, look out!
We need to have our wits about us.

The future kings of the jungle
get ready to meet the people.

Smith to base. 00:01:18,759
via gate number one.

And two very different ways...

Giraffes aren't massive
fans of the rain.

..to deal with a very rainy day.

They love getting as dirty
as possible,

getting
it into every crevice.

(SOFT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC)

Every once in awhile at Taronga,

a task comes along that is so big...

WOMAN: Hey, buddy.
..so complex,

it requires months
of meticulous planning.

So, today, 00:01:56,080
And that "every once in awhile"
is right now.

We need to do a general anaesthetic
on all 21 chimpanzees.

(MUSIC FADES)
Yep. You heard that right.

A general anaesthetic
on all 21 chimpanzees.

We started last week. 00:02:14,199
And then this week,
we're gonna be doing five.

Three tomorrow, 00:02:22,080
Every single chimpanzee is receiving
a thorough health check.

WOMAN: It's a really big month.
There's a lot of coordination.

Have all their health checks done
and we collect samples

and they've all got to go
to different labs.

You know,
everything is ready to go.

We don't want to be wasting
any time.

So, she
has got nuclear sclerosis.

And
then on the left-hand side,

we've got present,
broken at the gum.

Doing
a full physical exam

is part of any health assessment
on a zoo animal.

WOMAN: Chimps,
throughout their life,

they end up getting a lot of
injuries to their hands and feet.

Scribe?
Um, left foot D4, straight.

Les, can you mark that on this
ear, there's an abrasion.

OK,
this is her tetanus,

and we're gonna put it
in her tricep.

Alright,
let's pop her in the van.

It's a lot of work,
but the whole idea

is that we're managing the
health of the animals

and keeping
them in top-notch shape.

Alright, we're done.

So,
as you can imagine,

planning to anaesthetise
21 chimpanzees is a big job.

And it doesn't happen overnight.
There are many different aspects

that we have to plan for -
training, conditioning,

what animals are gonna
go in what order.

A community of chimpanzees
have a social structure,

just like humans.

They have family groups. Friends.

Neighbours. Elders.

And babies. And like us,

they don't always get along.

(CHIMPS SCREECHING)
So it's a very delicate balance.

Removing even just one chimpanzee
from the group

can upset the whole community.

Being
our closest relative,

their behaviours are very,
very much like us.

Now, you've got males 00:04:11,279
females that are driven
by oestrogen.

The different age brackets
- so the kids,

they
play, they muck around,

they push the boundaries
and they get away with it.

But
as they start to get older,

they start to get taught and
disciplined about what is acceptable

and what is not acceptable
in chimpanzee society,

just like we do
with our own offspring.

The politics 00:04:32,159
is what we would expect to see
from wild chimpanzees,

so we manage our group here
like a wild group of chimpanzees.

Now, we can impact
their social structure

when we do these separations
and the general anaesthetic.

And then when we put them
all back together,

how do we best do that so that
there's very little aggression,

and in fact they're looking
to reconcile,

as
opposed to be aggressive.

Because
being separated is something

that they might discipline
each other for.

With the examinations of six chimps
already complete,

next on the list are the oldest
and youngest -

44-year-old Lisa,

and her ten-month-old baby daughter,
Lemba.

So, Lisa being older, we need to do
some health checks on her

above and beyond 00:05:19,279
just to make sure that, at her age,
she is tracking well.

And so we're mindful that
her general anaesthetic

may
be a little bit longer

when it comes to the general
anaesthetic on the ten-month-old.

Because we want to be able to
get them two back together

whilst
they're waking up.

So we're gonna try and avoid
having the baby wake up first

and without
Mum there for a while.

The primate keepers work closely
with the hospital staff

to prepare for each and every chimp.

Our nurses work so hard making sure
that we have stocks and equipment

and all the disposables and
so on that we need,

and that, you know,
everything is ready to go.

I'm just gonna get the checklist
and we'll mark that off.

We've got checklists
that we go through,

make sure that the staff
are well rested.

Each chimp has their own tray.
So this is Lisa's tray here.

On this
side is airway management.

So, once we have anaesthetised her,
we will bring her back in the van,

and then in the hospital,
we put the tube to intubate her

with an ET tube, so we have to have
the correct size for that.

This is quite a large tube, for,
she is a big adult female,

so this is a 9.5,

when little Lemba has a tiny
little tube for her tiny airway.

Do
you think that'll fit him?

It's a little bit big, maybe.
Mmm.

And
these are dangerous animals.

These are one of the most dangerous
animals in the zoo.

So we need to have our wits
about us, we need to remain calm,

and we remain calm
when we have good planning.

Barely a day goes by

when Taronga's babies don't learn
a thing or two.

But at Taronga's Western Plains Zoo
in Dubbo,

the lion pride's youngest members
are all about the fun.

Alright, out you go.

We have three cubs -
two males and a female.

Our little
female's name is Zawadi,

and her brothers are Bahati
and Jabari.

Whoa, here they go.
(CHUCKLES)

There's rough-and-tumble,
there's chasing, there's pouncing.

Everything that you could want
to see in a family unit,

you see with them.
It's really fantastic.

Today, keeper Mel is hitting pause
on playtime,

because school is in session.

And she has an important
introduction to make.

Smith to base. 00:07:32,439
via gate number one.

The Lion Pride Lands Patrol bus
will actually be making

its first appearance 00:07:43,520
This predator-proof safari bus
will give visitors the chance

to get up close and personal
with the lions.

But this is the first time
the lion cubs

have had the chance to get up close
and personal with the bus.

If
a cub gets under the bus,

our drivers
can't actually see that.

So then
they have to stop and wait,

and, you know, 00:08:07,239
it's a
nice, shady spot under there,

so guests might be stuck out there
for a few hours. (LAUGHS)

There's a lot to learn
for everyone involved,

be it a new cub...

Hopefully they'll just stay
where they are.

..or a new driver.

Maybe
just hang here, just stop.

That's it.

Just let them figure out
what's going on.

Hopefully
they'll follow Mum.

(UPBEAT PERCUSSIVE MUSIC)

See?
Cub in the tree.

(BOTH LAUGH)

You crazy kitten.

Oh, that's so cute.

They're our tree-climbing lions.
(LAUGHS)

I'm glad we don't have to worry
about those three.

Good job, girls!

While the cubs have stayed clear
of the bus,

looks like their older sister
didn't get the memo.

I do have one of the girls
coming behind the bus.

OK, as long as they're
not chasing it.

I'm
just gonna keep on going,

'cause she's still coming
towards the bus.

For some of the lions,

there's clearly still a little work
to do.

But first-time driver Smithy
has nailed it.

That was good.
Smith to base.

We are leaving the lion exhibit
via gate three.

Something very different,
being in their space.

Very large as well.
Yeah! (LAUGHS)

This weird-coloured thing.
Mmm.

Taronga's epic plan

to perform health checks
on all 21 chimpanzees

is in full swing.

Pole injectives...

Six of the girls are done,

and next up are 44-year-old Lisa

and her ten-month-old baby, Lemba.

Kimberly's gonna come
and help me with Lisa

so that we can be doing
two things at once.

The whole operation requires
military-like planning.

Given her age 00:10:03,839
um, there's quite a few X-rays
and things that we have to take.

So we'll try and keep hers
as short as we can

while still getting through
everything we have to do.

And Gabi and Creason will manage
little Lemba in the meantime,

and hopefully have them
both waking up

more
or less at the same time.

They're big animals, 00:10:26,199
but it's all about managing
their health proactively.

And so we hope 00:10:31,159
but at the same time,
we need to be very careful

when we're taking them out
of the chimp house

that we have all our usual
safety procedures in place

and that, you know,
everything is ready to go

when the
animals are anaesthetised.

Lisa and Lemba have now been moved
into the chimp house

to receive their anaesthetic
injections.

Sorry,
yeah, she's just here.

The animals are trained
and they're cooperative

and they actually take
a hand injection.

So what's your plan? 00:11:00,279
No, no,
she is quite active, so...

They're
not scared of the needle,

and they actually don't even know
that we've injected them.

And so there's a lot less stress
on the animals.

Oh, good girl! Good girl.
Good girl.

Lisa takes the injection like a pro.

Alright, she's done.
MAN: Nice work, mate.

But they'll need to wait
for her to fall asleep

before they inject her baby, Lemba.

I think you'll be able
to just jab her.

And, like any baby,
getting a needle isn't fun.

WOMAN: Hey, baby.
What's this?

That's a good girl!
(LEMBA SCREECHES)

Yeah.
30. OK. Roll her on.

The anaesthetic
is a strong sedative,

so mother and daughter need to
have their breathing supported

as soon as possible.

Sean,
you can get the other end.

I'm
just tipping her...

I'm
just tipping her head up.

So you want to wait on
her first? Yep.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Just want to get that off.
Yep. Want to take that off?

Here, take the tray.

Alright, 00:12:05,920
There's no time to lose.

Look out, look out, look out!
No, Richard, Richard, Richard!

Still to come...
OK, everyone out.

..Taronga's oldest chimp
causes a scare.

No, I
don't think it looks normal.

And, what it looks like...

You got the head and
the tail? ..when you monitor a monitor.

He's got incredibly sharp,
powerful claws.

(PLAYFUL MUSIC)

For the newest recruits
at Taronga...

Hello,
beautiful girls.

..whether they're lion cubs
or red panda cubs...

WOMAN: Good morning!

..there's always something new
to learn.

Good
morning, bubbies!

Our red
pandas, Keisho and Khyana,

are our 53rd and our 54th red pandas
born here at Taronga Zoo.

So, being twins, 00:12:58,639
You'll often see them
hanging out together,

you'll see them playing together,
investigating things,

which
is really cute!

Oh, they're coming!

So, asking our pandas to come
down to the weigh board

is one of the building blocks
or one of the foundation behaviours,

and then we'll introduce a few more
behaviours to their repertoire.

We
can ask them to touch,

and that will lead to things
like hand injection

and
ultrasound in the future.

We want to start off nice and
small, and then build up

and work towards these further
behaviours in the future.

Today, these six-month-old babies
are learning how to sit on scales.

Guys,
we have to weigh this morning!

But staying still
is not a strong point

for anyone at this age.

That's
their little target stick.

So they've learned how to gravitate
towards this one.

Helps us kind of show them which
direction we'd like them to come in.

Alright, do you want to ask
Khyana onto her scales?

Khyana!

OK.
Hop up for me, love?

That's yours.
Good girl!

What do we got?
1.59.

Excellent. 00:14:08,839
for them to come out, 00:14:11,199
OK, now ask Keisho on.
Keisho!

(CHUCKLES)
Oh! Oh, my goodness!

This is saying 1.42.

Excellent!
Everyone's getting big.

OK, perfect. (CHUCKLES)
Alright.

Keisho, would you like to
come down here, please?

Oh, my goodness.
Thank you. Alright!

And with school over
for the morning,

it's time for breakfast.

Two
little hungry pandas here.

Like most babies,

they're still kind of figuring out
the whole 'food' thing.

There's a bit of rice cereal,
there's a little bit of Di-Vetelact,

which is, like, a milk powder
for young animals.

And we're slowly, gradually adding
in a little bit of panda bar.

So, we can even use
a little bit of milk

just as we're trying to clean up
some of that porridge mess.

My goodness, lady.

I think it must taste good.
Yeah.

Oh, goodness.
Look at that nose.

Do you want to go and see
if Mum can fix the rest of it?

Well done, guys!
I'm so proud of you all.

Sedated mother and daughter chimps,
Lisa and Lemba,

have just been brought into
the wildlife hospital

for their health checks.

Look out, look out,
look out, look out!

No, Richard, Richard,
Richard! (LAUGHS)

All 21 chimps at Taronga
will be examined.

4.6.

Perfect. She's very cute.
There we go. Oh, yeah.

Vets Gabi and Frances

need to time their procedures
like clockwork.

One, two, three.
(GROANS COMICALLY)

RICHARD: Pull this out. 00:15:55,079
Lemba is probably gonna
be distressed

if her mum is not around
when she wakes up.

So what we're trying to do
is time these examinations

so that
they can wake up together,

and that way neither one of them
is upset looking for the other one.

So, we're conscious of the
time that it takes.

Lisa's got a lot of tests
that we want to do on her.

We take this opportunity
to get everything out the way,

and obviously
that takes time to do.

(ORCHESTRAL MUSIC)

We have an X-ray machine that we
use between the two rooms.

One animal
gets their X-rays taken,

and then we move the equipment
into the other room.

Deb,
can you get the X-ray plate?

'Cause I will do that, if we can
start doing these X-rays...

WOMAN: Yes, yep.

She's gonna need almost a full
set of dental X-rays.

Little Lemba's sedation time

all hinges on the length
of her mum's procedure.

And,
yeah, just opening her mouth

and make sure she hasn't
got anything.

So Gabi needs to keep a close eye
on the baby's vitals.

Because Lemba is so young,
like a human baby,

it's really easy for her
to lose body heat.

And anaesthesia makes them
lose body heat. So...

We're covering up the head
and the feet.

So that will keep her 00:17:12,239
We're just gonna get an IV line
before we intubate her.

Apes
have a short trachea

before it divides in two
to supply each lung,

so it's very easy to put the tube
down one bronchus...

WOMAN: Oxygen on.

..and then you're only giving oxygen
and anaesthetic to one lung.

So I'm just gonna check that
her airways are both inflating.

Annie?
Yeah?

Can you give me two little...
a couple of little breaths?

Breath.

Happy?
Yeah.

She's got really lovely
breath sounds.

(MONITORS BEEPING)

FRANCES: So I'm gonna get the.
.. take the chest X-ray.

Over in Lisa's theatre,

vet Frances is about to begin
a long list of important X-rays.

(TENSE MUSIC)

We take the opportunity when we have
the animal anaesthetised

to really make sure that we get
all the information that we need

from
this one procedure,

and that's why we want
so many X-rays.

We want to make sure that she is
comfortable in her old age,

and so we need to understand what
her physical health needs are

so that we can help her
as she gets older.

Because Lisa is such an old chimp,

the veterinary team
need to take X-rays

of virtually every part
of her body...

Alright.
..starting with her chest.

We're
interested in her lungs,

because we know she's had this
intermittent cough,

so it's quite important
for us to check out

what her lungs look like
on the X-ray.

Let's try that.

Do one more?

It still
doesn't look at all normal.

No, I
don't think it looks normal.

(TENSE MUSIC)

(CHEERFUL MUSIC)

When the sun's shining
and the animals are out to play,

there's nothing quite like
a day at Taronga Zoo.

You're OK.

But when that famous Sydney sunshine
disappears...

WOMAN
(OVER PA): Please be advised

that our 12pm Free Flight
Bird Presentation

will not be running today
due to the current weather.

..Taronga gets its wellies on,
and gets on with it.

Rain, hail or shine.
Gotta deliver the browse.

They don't like sitting out
in the rain any more than we do, so,

we
still have to do our job,

it doesn't matter
what the weather is like.

With thousands
of hungry mouths to feed,

there's no time for a doona day.

We're dropping off
the giraffe browse.

So we've got African olive,
pittosporum.

Already dropped off one load today,
but this is the second load.

Normally,
this herd would tuck right in.

But today's weather
has made them unusually fussy.

So, typically, giraffes
aren't massive fans of the rain.

You might see them sheltering
a lot of the time.

Open up the barn.
Door!

(PLAYFUL MUSIC)

Today,
because it's quite rainy,

we're actually going to give the
giraffes access to the barn here.

Now, what
that will allow them to do

is decide to have a little
bit more shelter,

and there's
also some loosened hay

if they want to have
a bit of a feed as well.

With hay, typically
we want to keep it dry.

It's a lot more palatable,
particularly for the giraffes,

they can be quite picky
on what they want to eat.

Hi, guys.

Now snug indoors,

the giraffes are relaxed.

And a little bit nosy.

So even if we are experiencing
heaps of rain here at the zoo,

our day still operates as normal
for the animals as possible.

It can actually be quite a good
day to come to the zoo

when we're experiencing
a bit of rain.

It's quite novel
for a lot of animals.

Hi, Ebo.
How are you going, buddy?

So, in our group, we've got
Kito and her calf, Ebo.

Jimiyu is the really,
really tall giraffe,

and
his half-sister is Zarafa.

From the quality time
spent together,

especially on rainy days like this,

the keepers have the opportunity
to observe and learn

so much from these
fascinating animals.

Giraffes have four chambers
in their stomachs,

so they're ruminants,
so, he'll swallow that food

and then he'll actually regurgitate
a small portion of that,

and it's called cud.

And he'll break it down even more,
and then when he swallows it again,

it'll go through the other three
chambers of their stomach

to
be processed even further.

So there you go. 00:21:44,119
Now watch it come all the way back
up after a few seconds. Ready?

There it is.
Isn't that cool?

While the giraffes make the most
of the indoors,

there are some other
Savannah residents

perfectly happy
playing in the puddles.

(TRUMPETS)

At the wildlife hospital...

FRANCES: I'm gonna get the..
. take the chest X-ray.

..two veterinary teams are examining
Taronga's oldest...

But for that, 00:22:10,720
..and youngest chimpanzees.

Has that
extension set been primed?

In total, all 21 chimps at Taronga
will be health checked.

A massive undertaking.

Alright,
ready to go on this.

Today, it's essential
they complete both procedures

at the exact same time,

so that baby Lemba
and her mum Lisa wake up together.

Does she sneeze a lot?
RICHARD: No.

It's the coughing
that's more of a concern.

But vet Frances has detected
an abnormality

in one of Lisa's X-rays.

It still
doesn't look at all normal.

WOMAN: No, 00:22:50,679
So, we've got a picture here
of Lisa's chest,

and what I'm particularly
interested in

is looking
at her lung fields,

because, you know,
we know long-term,

she's
had this intermittent cough.

This is her heart
in the middle here,

and these darker areas
are her lungs.

And we're interested in some of
the fine detail changes that happen,

particularly sort of towards
the outside of her lungs here,

and so there's some areas
here where, you know,

she might have some mild
changes there.

You know,
she is an older animal.

We would expect some degree
of calcification.

But I think I'll send these
off to a radiologist,

a
specialist radiologist,

and, you know,
get an expert opinion.

(SOFT MUSIC)
(MONITOR BEEPING)

GABI: They're perfect. 00:23:42,319
(MAN CHUCKLES) Yeah, cool.
Meanwhile, next door,

vet Gabi continues to examine
her own patient -

ten-month-old Lemba.

I'm just testing for any
abnormalities in the bone,

making sure that the muscle is nice
and symmetrical and even,

checking the range of motion,
the angles,

in all her joints, making sure
they all move the way they should,

which
they certainly do.

You get them as adults and they've
got thickened, bent digits.

So it's really lovely when you see
these perfect little hands

that bend every way they should.
(CHUCKLES)

Can
someone hold her mouth open?

So she's got these lovely
little baby teeth.

She's
got a lovely colour.

Little
canines not here yet.

Oh, it's all just so perfect
and new. (CHUCKLES)

Aged mum Lisa, on the other hand,

is perhaps not quite so new.

See what I've got. This is hard
to work out what's what.

So,
I've got one, two, three.

All three on the right-hand side
- gone, gone, gone.

So all the upper incisors
are fractured at the gum.

So, on the right side,
the canine is at the gum.

Incisor
three, fractured at the gum.

Some
of her teeth are very worn.

That's kind of natural
with an older animal that,

you know, she needs to grind up
quite fibrous foodstuffs.

So we're looking very closely
at her teeth.

And
then on the left-hand side,

we've got present, present,
broken at the gum.

And
then all her molars...

WOMAN: Yep? .
.are heavily stained and worn.

Her
teeth are terrible.

She's gonna need almost
a full set of dental X-rays.

More X-rays for Lisa... So
can we get the X-ray plate?

..means more time under anaesthetic.

WOMAN: Bring her up this
way a little bit.

Something which must be communicated
to Gabi

in the adjoining theatre
immediately.

Just so you know, Gab.
.. Yes?

..they still have quite
a long way to go.

It now means baby Lemba will
have to stay sedated even longer.

Just so you're aware,
in terms of time,

they're
only on exploratory X-rays.

(TENSE MUSIC)

Sydney is being smashed
by a flash thunderstorm.

(THUNDER RUMBLES)
But as the zoo cops a drenching,

not all its residents
are ducking for cover.

A
lot of animals are like us

and they like to take shelter
in the rain, that's for sure.

Nobody likes being out in the rain
if they don't have to be.

But the elephants don't
mind it at all.

So, we're just putting
the first pineapple feed out

for
our elephant girls.

(CHEERFUL MUSIC)

They do
really enjoy the pineapple.

So, they get about three
feeds a day.

Even in the rain.

It means that they're already clean
and they have to do less work.

But it's not just a tasty meal

that's convincing the elephants
to get their feet wet.

Yeah, they love the rain,
they love the mud.

Hey, Mosey!

You gonna hop in?

They love getting as dirty
as possible,

getting it into every
crevice of them.

It helps moisturise their skin,
protect them from bugs,

and
if it is a hot day,

it helps protect them from
the sun as well.

31-year-old Pak Boon
and 25-year-old Tang Mo

are ex-working elephants
from Thailand.

And Pak is the pair's
self-appointed boss.

So, Pak Boon being the dominant
individual that she is,

quite often she does go
over to Tang Mo

and just show some of
that dominance.

That might be sort of pushing
her a little bit,

sometimes
it's mounting her,

sometimes she might just be
scratching herself on her as well,

'cause she does like to have
a scratch on her.

We're gonna see if they want to
go in the pool as well.

The elephants tend to go more
in the pool on rainy days,

or even in the evenings
when it's a lot cooler.

A cool day like this is perfect
for the girls to go swimming.

They cool down, 00:28:13,359
without expending too much heat
and too much energy.

Myself and the elephants,
we're both very wet right now,

but it's awesome
to see the elephants

displaying all these
natural behaviours.

These moments are really exciting
for the public to be able to see.

They don't always do activities
like these on a sunny day.

And, just like the rain,

Pak Boon and Tang Mo have no plans
to go anywhere.

The elephants are able to pick up
vibrations with their feet.

If we do have a storm,
like any sort of thunder,

they're able to pick that up
and sense that very early on,

usually before we know
that it's coming.

We don't
mind getting wet at all.

If we know that they're gonna
be having a good time,

then we're
also having a good time,

even when we're soaked through
to the socks.

At the Taronga Wildlife Hospital,

vet Frances has found some problems

as she continues the long list
of procedures

on aged chimpanzee Lisa.

FRANCES: I can take a picture
of that and a picture of this.

She's called for even more X-rays,

which means in the theatre
next door...

They still have quite a long
way to go with theirs,

just so you're aware,
in terms of time.

Um, they're only on
exploratory X-rays.

..vet Gabi will now have to wait

before she can X-ray baby Lemba.

Guys, I might give her a little bit
more midazolam now, to...

Put that, yeah.
..smooth her out. Yeah.

It's a little tricky anaesthetising
a nine-, ten-month-old chimp

when her mother is also
being anaesthetised.

Because we want to try
to have them wake up

roughly
around the same time.

Her mum needs to have
a lot more things done,

so with Lemba, we just need to
stretch things out a little bit,

keep her fairly light 00:29:58,760
EMC
2mL, one half in each leg.

Anaesthetise her too deeply,
and it could affect her recovery.

But if she's too light,
she could wake up before her mum.

She's
just having her vaccinations.

It's
quite a large volume,

so we're dividing it
between her little legs,

'cause
they're so little! (CHUCKLES)

OK,
this is her tetanus,

and we're gonna put it
in her tricep.

So, tricep
is that little muscle.

Meanwhile...
WOMAN: X-ray.

We're taking these X-rays and
looking at them very, very closely.

..Frances is addressing
Lisa's significant dental issues.

Yeah, if you can just do that
with your hand on that side.

X-ray.

This one, I think,
is obviously not so good.

It does look like there could be
an issue associated with the teeth.

Chimp teeth are very firmly
fixed in their sockets.

There's,
you know, quite...

Not always an easy task
to get them out.

But I suspect both of those
need to come out.

We're going to be sending
these X-rays through

to our
veterinary dentist specialist

to have a look at,

and we'll decide on, you know,
what course of action we take.

We can certainly do things
like endodontics,

which
is like root canals and so on.

So, we'll follow up
with the specialist dentist

and see where we're gonna
go from here.

Frances has now finished
with the X-ray machine...

Alright. We're done.

..so it can finally be moved
into Gabi's theatre.

GABI: Alright. OK.
X-rays are coming in.

We're gonna do a little
X-ray of her chest.

We're
gonna turn her over,

finish looking at the other
side of her...

Lemba has now been anaesthetised
for over two hours.

Oop, oop, oop.
What's she on? (LEMBA GAGGING)

..and she's started to wake up.

She's
got a tube in, so she gagged.

At Taronga's Western Plains Zoo,

the vet team are regularly treating
sick and injured wildlife.

WOMAN:
We'll get a tube in her, Bel.

And today, they're preparing
to examine a rather large lizard,

brought in a week earlier
by a member of the public.

WOMAN: When this monitor came
in, he was really unwell.

Little bit of blood
in his mouth,

so we were suspecting that he'd
had a knock to the head,

probably by a car.

He does have a very slight
head tilt,

which would confirm our suspicions
that there is a head problem.

So we were basically going
to just hold,

and I can grab the tail
and do it that way?

Vet Jelena has been monitoring
the monitor since he came in.

He's a lace monitor,
so they're the ones you'll see

running across the barbecue
to grab your meat.

That's the ones you will
see up in the tree

when you go for a picnic
in the national parks.

Lace monitors,
also commonly called goannas,

are native to Australia,

and can reach over 2.5m in length.

We've given him about seven days
on antibiotics and supportive care,

just to
make sure that he is stable.

And now he's actually
lifting his head,

he's
getting a bit feisty,

which is what you want
with a lace monitor.

So, I am drawing up 00:33:19,679
So this is the drug

that's actually gonna put our
lizard under anaesthetic.

Sometimes when we induce them,
they stop breathing.

So we just need to keep in mind
that this isn't a healthy animal,

and it might react, 00:33:36,040
While it's Jelena's job
to inject this lizard,

vet nurse Jodie
has drawn the short straw.

She has to catch him.

There's a lot of things
we need to be careful of.

He's got incredibly sharp,
powerful claws,

and his mouth is full of very,
very sharp teeth

with lots and lots
of bacteria on them.

So we do not want to be bitten
by this animal.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC)

(TENSE MUSIC)

GABI: So, she's
been under for two hours.

In the wildlife hospital,

baby chimp Lemba
has started to move

while under general anaesthetic.

Let's
get those out of the way.

WOMAN:
Lou, she's on it.

It's alright. She just woke
up 'cause we moved her.

Let me just...

And she's got a tube in,
so she gagged.

Kept us on our toes.
(CHUCKLES)

Alright, let's just very gently
turn her over.

Oxygen on.

Putting her on 2.5.

I'm gonna give her a tiny
dose of midazolam.

(TENSE MUSIC)

The veterinary team are
delicately timing her sedation

so she wakes up with her mum, Lisa.

We're gonna do a little X-ray
of her chest. Everybody out.

Everyone, 00:34:59,160
Next door,
vet Frances is taking a closer look

at Lisa's rather lumpy lip.

FRANCES:
There's a lump there.

I
thought it was bony,

but when you feel it,
it's very mobile.

From
here, I can move it around.

It's.
.. It's very high up.

So I'm
gonna go in through here.

Lisa has this swelling
under her top lip,

so what we're gonna do is suck out
some of the cells in that swelling

so
we can see what it is.

We'll get our pathology staff
to have a look under the microscope,

and
from there, we can work out,

is it
an abscess? Is it a tumour?

Is there a foreign body?
What's going on in there?

Now, just...

While Frances performs
this final procedure on Lisa,

Gabi has finished examining Lemba.

You hold that.

So,
this is little Lemba.

She mostly fits on one plate.
(LAUGHS)

'Cause she's so tiny,
and she's just perfect.

She's so cute. 00:35:55,959
her
heart, her lungs.

She's just really a little
X-ray of perfection.

But they can't keep her asleep
any longer.

Alright. Annie, when you're
ready, we'll move her.

So they need to come up with
a solution, and fast.

MAN: Because Lisa will be about
half an hour behind little Lemba,

this essentially is just to give
Lemba a friend to wake up to.

We rubbed
it all over her mum,

so it has her mum's smell
all over it.

With Lemba now likely to wake up
before her mum...

the race is on to get Lisa
back to recovery.

Alright, so, the van is ready?
RICHARD: Van's ready.

Stretcher alongside.

And then this bit's gonna
come over the top.

You
got it? Yeah? Yep?

So this
has got the atipamezole.

We knew because of Lisa's age
that her general anaesthetic

was gonna take a little bit
longer than Lemba's.

You know,
the vets did a great job

in having their anaesthesia last
as closely as possible.

Don't trip on the front
of the cargo net.

(CHIMPS SCREECHING IN BACKGROUND)

So, this is the atipamezole
going in.

And just in time,

little Lemba and her mum
are reunited.

She just hugged Mum,

and it really showed the bond
between Lisa and Lemba

and how much a baby relies
on their own mother.

While Lisa is still a bit groggy,
her baby is recovering well.

WOMAN: "Mama."

And just a few hours later,

Lisa and Lemba are settled back
with their chimp community.

When we
put the girls back together,

what we want to be able to do
is set them up for success

and that
they're actually focused on

greeting each other
and grooming each other,

as opposed to anyone
getting disciplined.

Over the next few days,

the examinations of the remaining
female chimps are completed.

GABI: So I've done a dental exam,
and they're in pristine condition.

And the results are in.

The anaesthetics this week
have gone really well.

We've done all the females
and their offspring

at this point in time.
No major surprises.

Lisa's got a few teeth
for us to monitor.

In regards to Lisa's cough,
there was nothing really there.

So
the girls are all done.

They're
all happy and relaxed.

Next,
we've got the five big boys,

the five adult males waiting
to have a go on the last week.

Coming up...

There's something going on in there.
Mm-hm.

..the mystery of the monitor
deepens.

It doesn't look symmetrical,
does it?

At Taronga Wildlife Hospital
in Dubbo,

an injured lace monitor,
brought in a week earlier,

needs to be sedated
for a veterinary examination.

JELENA: He was found on the road
with a bit of blood in his mouth.

We suspect
that he got hit by a car.

The vet team gave him
a few days' rest.

But now, it's time to catch him.

And that's vet nurse Jodie's job.

JODIE: We want to make sure that
the catch-up is as quick as possible

so that we aren't causing
more stress.

But
we do not want to be bitten.

I will be using a very thick
towel as my safety

before
we inject him.

You got the head and
the tail? Yep.

Probably want to be where
I am, Jelena.

Just
got a bit of soil on here.

(PENSIVE MUSIC)

When he's completely asleep
and relaxed,

we'll
do some X-rays,

really focusing around
his head area.

Make sure there's
no skull fractures.

With a lot of wildlife rescue
and rehabilitation,

it's often not a good ending.
(LOCK BEEPING)

As soon as he hits the table,
they hit a problem.

He is
not breathing on his own.

The anaesthetic agent can actually
cause them to breath-hold.

I reckon I'll intubate him.
Yep.

Oxygen.
Mm-hm.

Do we have something
just to hold his mouth open?

We just need to keep in mind
that this isn't a healthy animal.

Tube is in.

We've popped a tube
into his trachea.

I'm just gonna squeeze
that in there.

I'm breathing
for him using oxygen

and his anaesthetic gas
that's flowing through here.

I'm giving him a breath
every 30 seconds.

With his breathing now stabilised,

the vet team can finally take
a closer look.

Let's do a physical exam.
.. OK.

..and then I can take some blood
and we can do some X-rays.

OK.

So, because he was quite sick
when he first came in,

we didn't actually have
the opportunity

to do
a very thorough examination,

so that's basically
what we're doing now.

I'm feeling for any laxity
or any abnormalities

on
one side or the other.

But we're not gonna make
any guesses.

We're gonna make sure
there's no fractures.

The cause of the problem
is still a mystery.

So they need to X-ray his skull
for any signs of damage.

And...X-ray!
(CLICK)

I just wonder if there's something
going on in there.

Mm-hm. 00:41:09,639
It doesn't look symmetrical,
does it?

No...

So, the physical exam
was pretty unremarkable.

Um,
I didn't feel any laxity

or anything like that
in any of his joints.

He's in
pretty good body condition.

We took some blood.

But there is a little area
of concern at his skull.

I think we'll review it as a
team, see how he goes.

It'll take some time
before they can be sure

this big lizard is out of the woods.

(CHUCKLING) Not game to put
my fingers too close to his mouth

while
he's waking up!

(GENTLE MUSIC)

After several weeks of supervision,

the team have decided on
their next move.

He has recovered amazingly well
over the last six weeks,

and he
is now ready to be released.

With a lot of wildlife rescue
and rehabilitation,

a lot of these animals
end up, you know,

in some
pretty horrible situations.

But given that he is moving around
and he is improving clinically -

he is eating, 00:42:12,999
you know, that is, for
us, an indication

he's in pretty good body condition
and he recovered pretty well.

(SOFT MUSIC)

Despite the abnormal X-ray,

his head injury hasn't caused
any lasting issues.

So, we are releasing
this lace monitor

back in his territory
that he's familiar with.

(SOFT MUSIC)

And that will ensure that
he will adjust back into the wild

and thrive
for many years to come.

(SOFT MUSIC CONTINUES)

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