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Narrator: This time on magic of Disney's animal kingdom,

a tiger faces a testing time...

Dawn: Look at that. Hundred and forty pounds is nothing for her.

Narrator: A pregnant porcupine presents a prickly problem...

She was sneezing a lot, rubbing her nose.

Narrator: And a rhino celebrates a special surprise.

He's turning 24.

So we thought it would be really fun to kind of throw him a birthday party.

(All cheering)

- (Theme music playing) - (Bird squawking)

(Theme music ends)

(Indistinct chatter)

Narrator: At the maharajah jungle trek...

Megan: I copy, anala's in the yard.

Narrator: One very smart girl gets ready for a stimulating series of puzzles.

Megan: Hi, good morning.

Having fun?

- So this is anala. - (Anala growls)

She is our two-and-half-year-old sumatran tiger.

- (Anala growls) - Megan: She's one of the most clever cats

that I've worked with.

It's really important for us to keep anala active,

both physically and mentally.

So we have a series of tests and enrichment items for her.

Anything where they can use their natural behaviors.

Narrator: The first challenge lies at the bottom of the fountain.

Megan: We froze a bone and stuck the bone in that pool.

She's gonna have to rely on her sense of smell to find the stuff.

You hear a lot that cats hate water,

but I have to say that tigers are the exception to that rule.

You can do it.

(Anala growls)

Megan: I think she found her bone.

She sees it in there.

- (Anala growls) - (Laughs)

Narrator: Now, she just needs to get her claws on it.

I know. I'm sorry. You can get it though.

She really wants it.

Needs to just commit.

- (Anala roars) - Megan: There you go.

- (Anala growls) - (Megan laughing)

Megan: I think she startled herself there a little bit.

Just a little out of her reach.

She needs to, at least, put one back paw in.

She did actually hit it up for a second.

So I think she, like, startled herself that it was coming at her a little bit.

- Anala. - (Growls)

Megan: What are you doing?

You wanna actually come here 'cause I feel bad now.

She's super, super smart.

She is little miss independent.

She's a little bit sassy sometimes.

Narrator: Maybe this time, the bone is best left alone.

All of the tiger keepers work with all of our tigers,

but I would say that my relationship is strongest with anala.

She's like, "I'm done with you. You're not feeding me." (Laughs)

Narrator: Only around 500 of these magnificent big cats

survive in their natural habitat of Indonesia.

Sumatran tigers are critically endangered tigers.

I think it's really important that she helps spread the message

about tiger conservation.

She's definitely a really special tiger to me.

She's really just a great cat to work with.

Narrator: Agile anala's next set of challenges helps keep this precious cat

in top physical condition.

Megan: Are you ready?

- Narrator: And backstage... - Megan: Whoa!

Narrator: Anala needs to show she can help out the keepers

- who care for her. - Megan: Look at her.

Megan: This test is all about keeping anala's paw pads healthy.

Can you sit?

We're always trying to train them new behaviors

so that they can help participate in their own care.

Because she is so smart, we're able to teach her a lot of new things.

All right, anala. Stand.

- (Anala growls) - Megan: Delicious.

Good girl.

So looking at her pads, they look pretty good.

Ready? Sit.

(Whistle blowing)

Megan: Good girl.

I am trying to teach her the open mouth behavior now

so that if vets wanna get a good look inside of her mouth and her teeth,

they're able to do so.

- Open. Good girl. - (Whistle blowing)

So I'm just gonna keep rewarding any of those little mouth movements

that she's making. Open.

(Whistle blowing)

When we use a whistle, it's called a bridge.

That means, "I did the behavior correctly and that I'm gonna get rewarded for it."

So you can start to see, she's... You know, she's listening for that.

- Open. - (Whistle blows)

Megan: It's powerful. When you ask her to open her mouth

and she's opening her mouth,

it is like, "oh, my gosh," you know? (Laughing)

"You are a tiger and you have giant teeth."

- Open. - (Whistle blowing)

Megan: Good girl. You're so smart. Okay, all done.

That was a really good session for her.

Narrator: As anala heads back to her habitat,

the team gets ready to reward her with another challenge.

Megan: She's gonna be so happy.

Narrator: But solving this one will test all of the tiger's dexterity.

(All sniffling)

(Indistinct chatter)

Ashley: Good morning, peri.

Are you snoozing in your barrel?

Narrator: At conservation station, it's a big day for peri,

the prehensile-tailed porcupine.

Ashley: Hi. There you are.

It's been a long time since we've had a sleepy morning.

Usually you're like up and ready to go.

Narrator: Keepers think exciting news may be coming soon.

Ashley: We're suspecting she's pregnant, we're hoping.

Narrator: And it's time to find out.

Ashley: We woke up. Yeah.

Narrator: Prehensile-tailed porcupine babies are called porcupettes.

A muscular tail helps them climb through the trees

of their native South America, almost immediately after birth.

- Female voice 1: Hello, Ms. Shelley. - Ashley: Good morning, shelley.

Narrator: Peri travels under a cover to keep her calm and ready

for an unusual type of scan.

With porcupines, physically, when they're pregnant,

it's kind of hard to see when they're laying down

or when they're kind of tucked in.

But when they stand up, and that's why we do our ultrasounds kinda standing,

we're able to see that belly just pop out.

- She's ready to rock. - Female voice 2: Hi, peri.

- Ashley: A little more awake now. - Female voice 3: Now, she is. I know.

She really just needed to wake up.

Lori: Oh, it's like such perfect

- placement. - Yeah, it is.

- Yeah. That's perfect. - Shelly: You good?

Ashley: Yes. Go for it.

Hey, peri.

- You're doing great, girl. - Lori: She just moved.

Dr. Natalie: The challenge is that we have a porcupine.

And so that means that she has little quills

just about everywhere.

So, shelley needs to be careful that she doesn't get herself

punctured by a little Barb.

Luckily, we have a little spot there where she's got some low-Barb skin,

and so we can get a nice little window.

Ashley: I might be imagining it, but I feel like

I can see a little bit of a pooch on her lately.

I love porcupines.

And peri's got a special place in my heart

because when I joined Disney three years ago,

she was the first animal that I was able to work with.

So I love peri to pieces.

Narrator: Peri's used to being a mom.

Ten months before this scan, she gave birth to her first little one,

Piper.

I mean, ideally, what we wanna see is a really nice heartbeat

or some definitive structures.

Second baby always shows faster than the first one, so...

- Ashley: Yeah, again. - Hopefully.

Shelley: We do have a heartbeat.

- That's a nugget in there... - (Laughs)

With a heart. I see it.

- Congratulations. Yay. - (Laughs)

- Yay. Yes. - It's a baby.

Narrator: The team has high hopes for peri's second pregnancy.

Ashley: Because peri is such a great mom.

She was phenomenal, her first time around.

Births with prehensile-tailed porcupine as a species

are not necessarily that rare in zoos, but is important that you make sure

you have the right genetics.

Peri's very genetically valuable, that's why we decided to go ahead

and do it again, and help spread the word

about these amazing animals that live in the rainforest.

We're excited.

Narrator: Over a mile away, animal kingdom lodge

is home to over 200 African animals.

And nestled backstage...

It's time to meet the newest arrival, stark, an infant steenbok calf.

The cutest animal that we have, in the whole world basically

is our little baby boy steenbok.

I mean, come on. (Laughs)

- He's so tiny. - Ashley: Hi, buddy.

Rebekha: He's born just a few hours ago.

Narrator: Hand-rearing during this crucial early stage calms stark,

and builds a bond with his keepers.

I have to test the bottle just like you do a human baby.

Make sure it's a good temperature.

You can see he has very long legs.

We'll see if he wants to stand or if he wants to lay down.

He's still very unsteady.

What do we think? I know. We wanna move around.

It's so fun, huh?

Is it so fun?

He'll actually enjoy six bottles a day, and they're spread out

about four-hour increments.

And it has a variety of immune building properties in there.

So right now, all done.

You can see he's not quite super strong in his legs yet,

but as he grows, within a week, he will be a little bit more

straightened out and more upright on those back hooves.

Tuck you in for the night.

Till four more hours until you get fed again.

Goodnight, buddy.

Narrator: In their natural home

on the savannas of southern and Eastern Africa,

these small antelope rely on a powerful leap to escape predators.

Ashley: Hi, bud.

Narrator: But now, one month later, stark's legs show troubling signs.

Over the course of a few weeks, stark started to develop

a little bit of a deformity in his limbs.

He had some issues with walking.

And so we were just concerned about that,

so we started putting on some kinesiology tape.

Narrator: The tape can help straighten stark's legs,

but that doesn't guarantee success.

Dr. Natalie: Today, we see if we've had any improvement.

(Somber music playing)

Dr. Natalie: All right.

Ashley: So, I don't know if it'll be helpful for you if I hold

the opposite leg that you're

- not you're measuring. Okay. - It would. Yes.

I'm gonna take...

Narrator: A straighter ankle would mean progress.

Dr. Natalie: His wrist should be sitting straight, but it's not.

We're hopeful that we had a positive change.

- It has improved. - Oh, good.

Yeah, it's improved by two degrees.

- Oh, nice. - Dr. Natalie: Yeah.

He's not okay yet, so let's keep doing the tape...

- Okay. - For now.

Um, and I wanted to go ahead and try exercise.

I want you guys to actually physically get him out and exercise him.

Narrator: Failing to correct stark's legs could leave him in long-term pain.

Today I'm really encouraged to see that we have a decrease in that angle.

It's still present, but it is less.

We've decided that we're gonna increase his exercise

and recheck him again next week.

Narrator: Backstage off the land of Asia,

clever cat anala gets ready for her next challenge.

Dawn: She loves her pumpkins. Loves them.

Narrator: A treat packed inside a puzzle.

Dawn: So what's the weight of this thing?

Female voice: A hundred and forty-four pounds.

Dawn: Whoo! Don't drop it.

They don't usually get pumpkins, but pumpkins are in season.

So she's gonna get a pumpkin.

Female voice: Right. Where do you guys want it?

- Male voice: Over here. This way. - Female voice: Yeah.

- Dawn: All right. - This is gonna be super exciting for her.

Male voice: We could do the flat side down.

- Female voice: Yeah. - Male voice: Then it won't roll as well.

- Perfect. - Dawn: Cool.

All right. Let's drill a hole.

Dawn: With this pumpkin, there's some meatballs in it to entice her.

The idea is that she's gonna use her claws, she's gonna use her teeth.

Her senses are gonna be exploding.

Putting the meatballs into the pumpkin.

And we'll see what happens.

It's fun.

Oh, here she comes.

I don't think she's ever seen a pumpkin this big.

She's trying to figure out, "how do I get in there?

"How do I get those meatballs?"

In the wild, they'd be hunting for food. They'd be figuring out where things are.

They'd be smelling. So she's using all those senses right now.

It's really good for them.

Oh, boy.

(Anala growls)

Dawn: The hope is that she goes after it like it's a prey item.

You might see her actually hanging onto it with her teeth and just hanging on.

And that's her going after her prey item.

The reason we're looking for that is 'cause those are natural behaviors

for our cats.

Look at that. Hundred and forty pounds is nothing for her.

- Oh, she got it. - She got it.

- She got a meatball out. - Male voice: Clever girl.

Narrator: Success never tasted so sweet.

And anala shows her natural instincts are as sharp as ever.

Dawn: She'll work on this the rest of the day.

Back at animal kingdom lodge, three weeks into treatment,

stark, the baby steenbok, still faces problems with his bent legs.

Dr. Natalie: Recently, it was getting worse,

and so I asked for a specialist to come in today.

This is Dr. Andrew Smith, and he's a large animal surgeon

at the university of Florida's college of veterinary medicine.

Stay in your bed.

Male voice: Sounds good.

He's in the yard. We'll be good. All right. Ready.

Recently, that front left, it's even more bent than it was.

(Laughs) He's very curious about you.

We don't have any male keepers in this barn,

so when we have men come in, they're sometimes nervous.

Sometimes they're very curious.

Where I think our problems are is that,

you know, as he's growing, his bones are growing faster

- than his tendons are. - Ashley: Mm-hmm.

Dr. Andrew: Because of that, his tendons are actually stretched and that's

- causing him a little bit of a pain. - Ashley: Mm-hmm.

And that's basically making the structure worse.

I do think it'd be worth looking at him under anesthesia and seeing

if I could get that leg straight.

Narrator: Delicate surgery gives stark the best chance of walking properly again.

All right. We're doing it.

So, Dr. Smith is simply going to cut a tendon.

And while I say that's simple, it's not.

You really have to know the anatomy super well.

And he's a really tiny animal.

For me, trying to tackle this,

it's like looking at somebody who's trying to defuse a bomb.

I would open it up and try to figure out, "where am I supposed to cut?

"You know, is it the red wire? Is it the green wire?"

(Dramatic music playing)

Dr. Andrew: We cut the two tendons that attach to the accessory carpal bone

so that they can fully extend now.

Then I'll make sure we got everything.

We can get him out, and actually move around, and it heals at elongated position

that would be the best-case scenario for him.

There we go.

Beautiful.

We're done.

The graceful dismount.

Well done. Awesome.

Female voice 1: One, two, three.

There's always that moment after anesthesia

where animals are little wobbly anyway.

- Female voice 1: You good, bud? Nope. - Female voice 2: Hold on.

Ashley: All right. He's... Oh, he's standing. He did it. He's up.

Dr. Natalie: Hi, big guy.

We're all super relieved to have him not only stand up,

but stand up and be stable and not have any discomfort afterwards.

But what we're looking at is a few weeks of him actually having that bandage on.

It all depends with how well he is doing in order to allow the appropriate growth.

I'm really hopeful for a successful outcome.

And so we're just gonna have to wait to see what's gonna happen.

Narrator: Just over one mile away sits the 110-acre harambe wildlife reserve,

home to 34 species,

including one of the world's most iconic animals.

Now we're officially in the east Savanna.

Here. I'm gonna kind of loop around.

Sorry, Ken. You're okay.

Narrator: Keeper Jess checks up on the park's herd

of six southern white rhinos.

Today, she encounters a typical traffic jam on the reserve.

Jess: Oh, Helen. What are you doing, man?

Helen has plenty of other places to manicure her horn.

The truck just happens to be one of her favorite places to do it.

Narrator: The herd's only male rhino holds a special place in Jess's heart.

Jess: Dugan's my favorite. I love him.

There's something about dugan. He's just the sweetest rhino.

He really is.

The girls are awesome, too. They're super, super cool.

But there's something about dugan.

His personality with the keepers.

His personality with the girls. It's fun to watch.

For some reason, which I will never understand,

rhinos are always made to look like they're this super aggressive,

scary kind of thing, and they're not. I mean, look at dugan.

Sweetest rhino ever.

So to see them all together is awesome. That makes my zookeeper heart happy.

Narrator: Dugan has a big milestone coming up.

Jess: Dugan is turning 24 years old, and the rhino team is throwing him

a big party to celebrate.

Narrator: And the local fire department helps out with the party supplies.

(Playful music playing)

- Jess: Hello. Nice to see you. - Male voice 1: Hey. How are you?

- Hey. Very good. - Jess: Hello, guys. Thank you so much.

The idea is we wanna come up with a really good birthday gift

for dugan.

Narrator: This present provides a perfect recycling opportunity

for an old fire hose.

- Yes, thank you. - Male voice 2: Right.

I cannot wait to see his reaction when he gets his present.

It is gonna be really special.

Narrator: Across the park, pregnant porcupine, peri...

Causes concern for her keepers.

Ashley: A couple days ago, she was sneezing a lot, sniffling.

Like rubbing her nose with her front feet.

Just kind of acting a little uncomfortable.

Just kind of progressed, and today she sounded a little bit,

like, when she was breathing, labored breathing and wheezing. So that's why...

It just kind of escalated each day. And being pregnant obviously,

you know, I wanted to make sure she was seen.

Narrator: Peri receives anesthetic, before Dr. Ryan begins a thorough exam.

Dr. Ryan: Okay. It went in her.

Ashley: She got an injection now.

Peri's asleep enough. I say we move her over in the crate

and get her on the plate and get rolling.

Dr. Ryan: So our first step with peri was to get some radiographs

of her lung fields just to make sure she doesn't have a lower

respiratory tract infection or problem like pneumonia.

Narrator: Dr. Dan steps into the mix.

Dr. Dan: Let me know if we're getting to a point where we can move her.

Don't see why not.

Dr. Ryan: Looks good. Chest radiographs look fine.

At least I know she doesn't have pneumonia.

Oh, but look at her stomach contents.

- Dr. Dan: Hmm. Looks like... - Dr. Ryan: A little dehydrated.

So we need to rehydrate her and get things moving along.

Narrator: Peri gets a special solution.

All right, we got some nice b vitamins.

My goal is to get her feeling a little bit better, get her re-hydrated.

Narrator: But pregnant peri's persistent sneezing still needs solving.

Dr. Ryan: I'm a little concerned about her being under anesthesia

for long periods of time with her current condition,

so we just really wanna hustle things along.

I can see from the outside that she has a problem.

Look at this. See how it's just stuck on there, man.

We found something.

And so that's the stuff she gets...

Male voice: That's gross.

Dr. Ryan: Yeah, and it's hard as a rock, so...

Lori: She got hard boogers?

She has hard boogers.

Narrator: Thankfully, a simple diagnosis with an easy cure.

It'd be very helpful if she started sneezing more

to kinda clear some of that stuff

- outta there. - We've asked her. She doesn't quite

listen to us but we'll continue to ask.

'Cause again, that stuff is just...

- Lori: It makes a difference. Yeah. - Stuck on there and it's so hard.

We're good. So, yeah, let's get her woked up.

Peri's a great mom and she's a great patient to work with.

Hopefully, we can get her through the birth of this baby and then,

you know, follow up with her as needed.

Ashley: Yeah. We're still on baby watch. So she's in that time frame.

Yeah. Could be any day.

Narrator: And no one wants to miss the big arrival.

Tonight, let's do this.

No. Saturday, while I'm there.

- Okay. - Yeah.

It's all about you, Dr. Dan.

- Whatever you need. - All right, if you could just let

- peri know... - Okay. (Laughs)

That I would prefer to be there when she gives birth, that would be great.

Narrator: The harambe wildlife reserve is home to the park's closest family.

This pack of African painted dogs comprises a canine band of brothers.

Keeper Kendall gets ready to let them loose on their lunch.

Kendall: These guys, in general, have a very strong pack mentality.

They're all brothers from the same litter.

It makes them the most efficient hunters because they work together.

Narrator: On the African plains, painted dogs catch up

to 90 percent of the animals they chase.

Today, this hungry pack prepares for a special stinky treat.

Hey, prima girl. How you doing?

Kendall: I am collecting some of our Hartmann's zebra's poops.

Narrator: You've heard of the circle of life.

Well, this is the circle of poop.

While the feces is fresh,

Kendall makes an express delivery

to the pack and makes sure everyone gets his share.

Kendall: If we were to single one individual dog out,

it could actually cause him to be alienated from the rest of pack.

They do have a strong pack mentality,

but scuffles still happen and wounds still happen.

(Bell rings)

Luke right there, who was rolling in that pile.

Oswald over here was doing the same thing. He's, you know, putting his neck in.

That's what I often see with my own dog at home

when he rolls on something that's scented. He kinda does his neck area.

It could be that they're trying to disguise their own scents.

It could be that they wanna scent Mark the poop that's in there with their smell,

keep other predators away from the area.

There's a couple different theories for it.

But we do know that our painted dogs really like it.

Narrator: It might look gross, but one animal's poop

is another's pleasure.

Kendall: I saw that. (Laughs) You wanna be extra stinky?

Did you enjoy it?

Seems like it.

(Sniffs)

(Monkey hooting)

Narrator: Behind the scenes at the lodge,

stark, the baby steenbok, faces a life-changing day.

Today is when we take those bandages off, and I'm really hopeful

that what I'm gonna see is a really straight leg.

Here we go. This looks fantastic.

- You're a good boy. - So, so close

to being done, big guy. There we go.

Okay, a little bit of scar tissue. It's feeling really good.

And now we're gonna see what he does when we let him go. (Laughing)

Now is the moment of truth.

Ashley: Are we ready?

- Female voice 1: Let's put him down. - Ashley: All right.

Moment of truth.

All right. There ya go, little mans.

- Ashley: Legs. - Dr. Natalie: (Laughs) Look at that.

- Ashley: Good job, bud. - Perfectly straight. That's beautiful.

Dr. Natalie: (Laughs) Hi, handsome.

I'm really excited.

The surgery is a super success. He's walking normally.

- Look how straight those are. - Female voice 2: It's really beautiful.

- Female voice 1: That's like... perfect. - Female voice 2: Yeah.

You're like a whole new steenbok.

Dr. Natalie: I don't think we're gonna have to do anything more

because those look so good today.

Yeah. Good job, guys.

He's really cute, and he's walking super well.

And I couldn't be happier.

Narrator: Out on the Kilimanjaro safaris, dugan turns 24 today.

Backstage, Jess and the team prepare his special birthday surprise.

Okay. Cool.

(Playful music playing)

Jess: Today is dugan's 24th birthday, and we have a lot of work to do

to make this fire hose into an amazing present for his big day.

We really wanna play off of a rhino's natural behavior, that they spar.

So this is just an item that they can practice

that kind of play aggression, sparring behavior.

(Rhino roars)

Jess: I am so proud of our team because it's a sweaty job,

but it's really fun, and it's worth it.

It's kind of a team building opportunity, too,

for us to all kind of come together

around one animal that we really love and make something for him.

All: Hey!

We did it. It looks awesome.

- Jess: Ooh. - Narrator: After a few final

touches, it's up to dugan to decide

if the team's hard work puts him in the mood to party.

- Ready for the birthday boy? - I think we're ready for him.

Female voice: We're ready.

Jess: Here he comes.

- Male voice 1: Happy birthday, buddy. - (Jess laughing)

- Male voice 1: Come on out. - Male voice 2: Come have fun.

- He's like, "oh, yeah." - Oh, what is this?

Male voice 1: Are you gonna open your presents?

Oh. (Laughs)

Male voice 1: Gotta read your card, dugan.

- That's so cute. - Female voice: Oh, yeah.

- The good stuff is inside. - Jess: Okay. Oh, yeah! (Laughs)

- Male voice 1: There you go. - Stick your whole face in it, bud.

- (Jess cheers) - Male voice 1: You got it. Yeah!

- (All laugh) - Jess: So cute.

Good boy. (Laughs)

I knew... we knew he'd go for the hay. We knew he'd go for the good stuff.

I love that he smashed the cake.

Narrator: But there's still dugan's special present.

He hasn't gone to the fire hose toy just yet.

But I'd love if he would go over to it.

- Oh, oh. Yeah! He got it. - (All laugh)

Male voice 2: Good job, dugan.

- Male voice 1: There you go. - Jess: There you go.

- (All cheering) - Jess: Go take it!

It seemed like he enjoyed it. I hope he enjoyed it.

I know all of his keepers really enjoyed it.

So I think overall, today was a win.

Narrator: Birthday boy, dugan, gets the final word.

(Wheezes)

So that was his way of checking in on the girls.

It could even be his way of inviting them to the party.

So, that was pretty cute.

(Jess chuckles)

Narrator: Long after closing hours, in the middle of the night,

securely nestled inside her sleeping quarters,

pregnant peri suddenly stirs.

The park's newest baby arrives safely.

So I'm the on-call veterinarian today, and got great news

that peri the porcupine had her baby last night.

I hope my topknot survives this big purchase.

- (Laughs) - This might be ugly.

Narrator: Dr. Deidre comes in to check on the health of mom and baby.

Dr. Deidre: Let's see if she might wanna come out a little bit.

Hi, sweet peri mama.

Female voice: Hi, sleepy wee one.

You're a good girl, peri.

Dr. Deidre: She's a mama rock star.

Lori: But so far, so good.

Just check its skin to see if you think that it might be dehydrated.

- Dr. Deidre: So skin looks good. - Lori: Okay. Good.

Dr. Deidre: You don't want me to see what you are.

You don't want us to tell us if you're a boy or a girl, do you?

(Whispers) I think it's a girl.

Shelley, does she look as cute as she did on ultrasound?

Shelley: Cuter.

It's so exciting just to watch her from the first time

we started ultrasounding her and watching her growth and...

And now this.

Oh, look, prehensile cuteness.

Shelly: Oh. (Laughs)

Dr. Deidre: Our initial exam today is great news.

The porcupette looks very active.

Peri looks very active and looking great.

You're a good mama. Go back to your baby.

Go on. Good girl.

She's like, "I just wanna check, make sure everything's okay."

Ashley: This baby is so important to us because it's not often

that we get, as keepers, to deal with a newborn baby.

It just helps you learn so much as a zookeeper.

And to see her taking care of the baby and getting to hold the baby,

it's just incredible.

It's hard to describe, but it's a really amazing experience.

(Theme music playing)

(Theme music ends)