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00:00They say don't ever work with babies or animals, but what if they're baby animals on this all-new
00:16season? Welcome back to the ever-changing world of Taronga, where you'll witness things you never
00:27thought possible. You can actually hear her breathe. And meet new faces. Oh, hi, buddy. You'll never forget. So good. It's time to discover. Oh, my God. Exactly. Who's who in this zoo. On this episode, Taronga's seal team launches. We're going to have a drone team fly over and count them. Hitting the skies.
00:56The thermal camera on the drone actually shows the temperature of the animal. And the sea. They really blend in with the rocks. In pursuit of their target. There's one just there. Project pinata. So we've got some large balls. Relax, relax. It's not what you think. We are going to pop some kangaroo mints in each of these balls. Can you let the lions out now, please?
01:26We will. And is a truly rare species. Alrighty. Let's go. Did you guess Luke? Keeping is a bit of a side hustle for me.
01:35Oh, my God.
01:45Beneath the tranquil waters of Taronga's seal cove. Something fishy is going on. Something very fishy.
01:58So this is basically food prep 101 at Taronga's marine department.
02:08Here at Taronga we've got 16 seals.
02:12So these are each of our first seals diets for the day.
02:16The variety of fish that we have obviously specific to that particular seal.
02:22Abel over here, and Bondi, let's go feed some seals.
02:36And up above some seriously hungry seals are patiently waiting, including one of Taronga's
02:45favourites.
02:46That's Bondi, he's one of our rescued New Zealand or long-nosed fur seals.
02:52So these guys are a native species to Australia.
02:55Go!
02:56Specifically, these guys are found here on the East Coast.
03:00Bondi, yeah.
03:02He was found on Bondi Beach.
03:05So obviously that's where he got his name.
03:08And when we found him, he had a very severe injury down his left hand side.
03:12These are the remnants of the scar, all the way from down there, back up to here.
03:17The wound was consistent with a large shark.
03:20It was touch and go for quite a while with Bondi.
03:23But the main thing is he obviously survived.
03:27Bondi was just a three-month-old pup when he was rescued.
03:32Bondi!
03:33But the extent of his injuries prevented him from ever being returned to the wild.
03:39It's over ten years ago now that Bondi came to us.
03:44And since being here, he has become a dad for a few times.
03:51Bondi is doing his bit for a fur seal population that was once heading towards extinction.
03:58Back in the early 1900s, these guys were actually hunted.
04:03But they have banned seal hunting.
04:05And as numbers continue to increase, we're more likely to see these guys breeding.
04:12In the Sydney area, so obviously we're going to have more interactions with people.
04:19These guys, although cute and cuddly and usually quite relaxed, will inflict injury into people,
04:25especially when backed into a corner.
04:27To better understand these interactions, Taronga is keeping a very close eye on the seal populations in Sydney and beyond.
04:38It's a really big, important focus of ours to try and make sure these guys are in and around our environment for not only now,
04:45but obviously a long time to come.
04:47Isn't that right, buddy?
04:49So, armed with Bondi's seal of approval, Taronga's sending out one of their team on a state-wide, high-tech, seal-counting excursion.
05:08The animals are the stars of Taronga's two zoos.
05:12But they can't shine without the massive team of volunteers.
05:19If you want to drill another hole, we're in the other side.
05:24And today's mission, Project PiƱata.
05:29I'll give you a bit of a demonstration.
05:33Liz, a 15-year volunteer veteran,
05:36and Youth at the Zoo volunteers, Renee and Camilla,
05:40are perfecting the art of paper mache.
05:45Smooth it out.
05:46The more layers, the better,
05:48because it'll take them a lot longer time to destroy it.
05:53If you only do one or two, they'll just flick it and it'll be gone.
05:58Sure, they might not be wrangling a rhinoceros,
06:01but perfect piƱata preparation can be just as hairy.
06:06These are for the lions.
06:09It's their birthday soon.
06:12And Taronga's pride of lions can scarcely contain their excitement.
06:18We have a beautiful family of seven lions here at Taronga Zoo.
06:23Atto is the dad.
06:25Maya, the mum, so she's our oldest lion.
06:27Then Atto and Maya had five beautiful cubs.
06:31They've actually just turned three years of age.
06:36When we first opened this enclosure,
06:38the lions absolutely loved it.
06:40And it took them quite a few months to really get used
06:42to all the little nooks and crannies,
06:44the different terrain that we have.
06:45But over time, they come out and it's the same enclosure.
06:49So it's our job then to make sure that we're providing something new
06:53and different to them every single day to keep it interesting.
06:58So today we're going to give them piƱatas.
07:01These are fantastic.
07:03This is going to be a really exciting day, particularly for the younger ones.
07:07So we've got some large balls.
07:08We've got a watermelon because of course lions have watermelons in the wild.
07:13We've got ibis as well.
07:14Good old Australian native.
07:16Not those ones, these ones.
07:20Also affectionately known as the bin chicken.
07:25OK, so now we are going to pop some kangaroo mints in each of these balls.
07:31They've got lovely holes at the top already made for us.
07:34So we're going to pop some food in there.
07:36And that'll just add to the lion's joy this morning.
07:40Not only do they get to play with these, rip them apart,
07:42but then they're going to find some food inside them.
07:45I think I'm going to use about that size.
07:47That way it's a nice, nice amount for a lion.
07:51And maybe just, should we just do one per ball?
07:54Yeah, I think so.
07:55And any leftover roux mints, we can hide it around the exhibit.
07:59Pulling the balls apart, ripping them open and then finding some food inside.
08:03That all mimics that kind of hunting, stalking, chasing prey behaviour.
08:09And which is so important for our lions.
08:11That mints doesn't stand a chance.
08:14We've got two more to do.
08:16Well, that's if those lions make it through Liz's paper mache packaging first.
08:21It's such an important part of our jobs.
08:24Just as important as all the cleaning and feeding that we're doing
08:28is providing our animals with things that they would do exactly like they would do in the wild.
08:33Over at the new Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Centre,
08:42there are more than 40 scaly and slithery species to care for.
08:48Hungry, buddy?
08:52And with all those bellies to fill, feeding time is always a performance.
09:07So this is our food prep room.
09:09This is where we make all of our food for our animals.
09:11So chopping salad and collecting bugs.
09:14Crickets and wood roaches are on the menu.
09:16It's not a bad office.
09:19We get to play with all these amazing species and learn new things about them
09:23each time we come to work, which is a real buzz.
09:25I've been a casual reptile keeper here at Taronga for nearly three years now.
09:32As a reptile keeper, my job is to look after different parts of the reptile collection.
09:37Look after all the animals that we've got off display.
09:43These are our breeding pair of red bar dragons.
09:46This is a male here with all of his bright blues and yellows and oranges.
09:50And this is a female here, the duller grey-brown.
09:54And these guys have actually just finished their breeding season.
09:57So the last couple of months there's been a lot of head bobbing
10:00and dancing around from him, trying to get her attention.
10:03And it paid off, we got a little clutch of eggs out of him the other week,
10:07which is really exciting.
10:13Yeah, so this is five-year-old Luke's dream job.
10:17If you told him he'd be standing here being a reptile keeper for a living,
10:21he'd be pretty stoked.
10:23A new day...
10:29Luke to Myles Wheeler.
10:30Go ahead, Luke.
10:31..heralds the start of a new shift for Luke.
10:34Hey, Myles, just leaving the hospital now to come down and check out the get-go.
10:37And while the uniform's the same, today's job couldn't be more different.
10:42If we've got some time, we'll do the basilisk as well.
10:46I'm pretty lucky I get to wear two hats here at Taronga.
10:50Keeping is, you know, a bit of a side hustle for me.
10:53I've graduated uni a couple of years ago
10:55and now I'm working as a vet as well,
10:57which is, you know, an even bigger dream.
11:01Alrighty, let's go.
11:03We're just here to do a bit of a re-check on a rough-knob-tailed gecko
11:07who's got some skin issues.
11:09Hello.
11:10Luke, how are you doing?
11:12Yeah, I'm good, thank you very much.
11:14Now, while Taronga is known for caring for so many rare species...
11:19I love this room.
11:20..this time, the rare species is Luke,
11:24Taronga's only keeper cum vet.
11:28So there's our little one that's been having a slight issue,
11:30as you can see underneath.
11:31Oh, yeah, OK.
11:32Yeah, so it's a decent abrasion she's got there.
11:35So this is our female knob-tailed gecko.
11:38She's got a bit of an abrasion and ulceration on her belly.
11:41I think we're dealing with a bit of a local infection there.
11:44Definitely hollow her in the belly.
11:46Like, last time I saw her, she was sitting quite deep.
11:49We'll definitely stick with the flammazine.
11:51Yep.
11:52But I might throw pain relief in the mix as well.
11:55One of my favourite animals to work with.
11:58They're just full of personality.
12:03I think we're on the mend.
12:05The amazing thing about working at Taronga
12:07is the fact that it's such a big, diverse collection.
12:12And right on cue, keeper, ah, ah, vet, Luke,
12:17is about to be faced with a much bigger challenge.
12:22Got a few lesions around his neck.
12:24It looks like some sort of strangulation or crushing injury.
12:27Yeah, definitely very critical.
12:29Still to come.
12:32Louise to Georgia.
12:33Can you let the lions out now, please?
12:35A wild birthday surprise.
12:38This is going to be a really exciting day.
12:40And the mystery injury.
12:43I'm not convinced.
12:44We've still got a heartbeat.
12:45Threatening an Aussie icon's life.
12:51Wildlife conservation is one of Taronga's highest priorities.
12:55And today's mission has Taronga's animal behaviour expert travelling to the sparkling waters of Sydney's northern beaches.
13:08We're here at Barron Joey to do a survey of the fur seals.
13:13This is the first time we've ever surveyed the entire population of fur seals in New South Wales.
13:20For the last few years now, there's been a growing haul-out of seals here at Barron Joey.
13:25A haul-out is where you get seals coming and resting.
13:28And while it's great to have them here, they can be hauling out on places like boats or on people's front lawns.
13:35And so there's potential for them to come into conflict with boat strike and entanglement in fishing gear.
13:40Hey, Ben.
13:41Hey, Jamie.
13:42Good to see you.
13:43All set?
13:44Yeah, let's go.
13:47It's great weather for it.
13:50Taronga has teamed up with the Department of Environment
13:53to learn more about seal and human interactions.
13:57So now we need to know how many seals there are and where they're coming out along the coast
14:02so that we can manage those interactions.
14:05This high-tech seal team are testing a new piece of kit designed to zero in on these hard-to-spot creatures.
14:16We're going to have a drone team fly over and count them.
14:19And then another team, including myself, are going to count the seals using binoculars so that we can compare the results that we're seeing from the drone and from the boat.
14:31If the results match, the drone will get the green light for future surveys.
14:36But before they can count them, they're going to need to find them.
14:43We're up here at Pittwater, which is about an hour north of the Sydney CBD.
14:48And it's around here on Baron Joey Headland that the seals haul out, isn't it?
14:53You find them here at the western end of the headland.
14:55And the reason for that is that they get protected from the predominant south-east well and they're also protected from the wind.
15:03It's a fantastic spot for them.
15:05Million dollar views.
15:07These million dollar views come with a multi-million dollar price tag.
15:12So do you reckon we actually start from this end and work our way around?
15:17It's where Sydney's elite come to relax.
15:20And supposedly, so do the seals.
15:23Yeah, we've got two main focal areas with this shark rock.
15:27We might as well go in and have a look.
15:29And...
15:33They're really cryptic, aren't they? They really blend in with the rocks.
15:35Well, I did say, supposedly.
15:38They can also get in under the ledges sometimes.
15:42Yeah, the brown of the fur seal.
15:44It's a bit hard to tell.
15:48Here we go. There's one just there.
15:52And from the Pacific Ocean to Taronga's great southern ocean habitat...
15:58Hey, buddy.
15:59Keeper Ben is paying a visit to one of Australia's iconic ocean birds.
16:08Pelicans are found in most areas of Australia, especially along the coastline.
16:15Pelicans were never my favourite birds, back before I started keeping.
16:19But the first animals I ever really worked close with was these two boys.
16:23Yeah, the way money.
16:25And the more I got to work with them, the more I got to see their incredible personalities.
16:27Good boy!
16:30Yeah, so in the morning when I'm coming in, when you do see that wing flapping behaviour,
16:34that's an anticipation behaviour.
16:37Come on, buddy. You look hungry.
16:40That's them just getting really excited that they're about to eat.
16:43Hello, handsome.
16:45And who wouldn't be excited about a fresh seafood feast?
16:50This morning we're just working on some tactile behaviours,
16:52being able to check his entire body condition, especially around his chest where his keel is,
16:56so we can make sure that he's not going underweight.
17:01Come here, buddy. Touch.
17:03What we're really working towards with these guys is those cooperative care behaviours.
17:07Good boy. Touch. Good.
17:09At the start, they didn't trust me as much, and I got to build through that rapport with them.
17:14Are you a football?
17:18Having that trust and having that rapport with their trainer, it removes stress from their environment.
17:23Good boy.
17:25And an environment free of stress... Touch.
17:27...means these pelicans can live a very long...
17:30Good.
17:32...and fish-filled life.
17:33Both our two boys were born in human care in another facility and relocated to us about 16 years ago now.
17:40But here at Taronga, being on the harbour, we do get quite a lot of rescues coming into our wildlife hospital,
17:45especially pelicans and seabirds in general.
17:47Taronga is Sydney's largest catchment for seabird rehabilitation.
17:51We do quite often get them coming in after being hit by a bow or caught in awkward positions.
17:56And across at the wildlife hospital.
17:59Just trying to hear the heart.
18:01That's exactly what has happened.
18:04I'm a bit concerned he might have a neck injury.
18:07With his vet hat firmly on today, Luke is treating an injured pelican, brought in by a concerned member of the public.
18:17He's had an accident fairly recently.
18:19He was struggling to stand before.
18:23There's a bit of swelling here and he's got this lesion here too.
18:26This is a pelican that's found stuck between a few wharves.
18:30So he's got a few lesions around his beak and the base of his neck there.
18:35And given the lesions we're seeing around his face and neck, it looks like some sort of either strangulation or crushing injury.
18:42Yeah, definitely very critical.
18:45I'm just going to induce his anaesthetic now.
18:47The wing itself feels okay.
18:54The true extent of the pelican's injuries aren't obvious.
18:58I don't think his pressure is very good.
18:59And Luke is concerned the bird might now be in shock, which can cause dangerously low blood pressure.
19:11I'm just trying to hear the heart.
19:12Yeah.
19:13It's hard to hear anything.
19:14Yeah.
19:15I'm not convinced we've still got a heartbeat.
19:16In Taronga's African savannah, plans are underway for a very big, very proud pride party.
19:30Oh, that's about all I can take.
19:46Three.
19:47Oh, look at you, legend.
19:50All right, so we have piƱatas today for our lion family.
19:53Now how are we going to get through the door?
19:55I've got fingers.
19:56I've got fingers.
19:57We've got this.
19:58We're going to get very excited the moment they see us walk past them with these toys.
20:02Hey, guys.
20:03What do you guys have got?
20:04What do you guys have got?
20:05Yep, those lions look pretty excited.
20:08They're literally beside themselves.
20:13All right.
20:15And we have to work out where we're going to put them all.
20:17The lions love this.
20:18They love these activities.
20:20They just have to be spaced apart enough so that all the lions can separate.
20:25Yeah.
20:26Once we've put them out, we're going to see running, playful behaviours.
20:29That's for Mr Atto, our daddy lion.
20:32He generally doesn't partake in enrichment.
20:35He just usually goes and sits and watches out for his family.
20:39We're going to see if we can stand the ibis up.
20:42With every one of these piƱatas stuffed full of juicy meat.
20:46Oh, awesome.
20:47Love it.
20:48This ibis is now technically a sitting duck.
20:53We want to try and make this a little bit interesting for them.
21:00Our cubs are three years of age.
21:05And while they look like they're fully grown, they still are young at heart.
21:08So enrichment activities like this really get them excited.
21:13And they're the ones that I expect are going to, oh, is that going to stay?
21:18They're the ones that I expect are going to get the most benefit out of what we're doing today.
21:23Well, certainly more than these paper mache birds.
21:26Oh, there we go.
21:27Mr Ibis is up the tree.
21:28All right.
21:29I think.
21:30Are we ready to go?
21:39Can you let the lions out now, please?
21:43Off the northernmost tip of Sydney, Taronga's animal behaviour expert, Ben, is on a seal counting mission.
21:51They can also get in under the ledges sometimes.
21:54It's the first step of a massive project to count the Australian fur seal population across the entire state.
22:02This time of year, we're just about reaching the time the big males start heading south to the breeding colonies.
22:07Problem is, so far, he hasn't found any.
22:11They're really cryptic, aren't they?
22:13They really blend in with the rocks.
22:17Here we go.
22:18There's one just there.
22:21Oh, and another.
22:22There's several.
22:24You can smell them as well.
22:25You know they're here by the smell.
22:26Yeah.
22:28A bit whiffy.
22:30So, yeah, we've got probably two slightly older individuals and one or two slightly younger ones.
22:37While the seal's natural camouflage does make them hard to spot among the rocks, Ben's seal team have come prepared.
22:48Armed with the very latest in surveillance technology.
22:53Need to do a little bit of set up on the drone.
22:57I'm a drone pilot.
22:59My job is to use this drone here, which is a thermal drone.
23:02And what we can do is put it in vantage points that you can't see from the ground or on a boat.
23:11If the thermal technology works, it will be a game changer, making it much easier to keep track of Australian fur seal populations along the coast.
23:22There's a couple of cool tricks to help us find seals.
23:26It can synchronise a colour image with a thermal image.
23:30We can zoom in where a seal's camping out.
23:37We're able to look and find seals that might be in the nooks and crannies around the rocks.
23:41I've found another seal here on the rocks and it's just hanging out, having a snooze.
23:50And the thermal camera on the drone actually shows the temperature of the animal.
23:55It's currently 21 degrees.
23:57And once we've confirmed an identification of the seal, we can drop a pin on the drone, just like this.
24:07And the team in the boat can confirm if they have sighted the same seal or not.
24:13So there's five there.
24:15While the boat team are making their own count...
24:19These two are definitely New Zealand. I haven't seen the face of the other one.
24:21They spot a problem.
24:24Three fishermen are heading straight towards the seals.
24:29The seals are here.
24:31The seals are here.
24:33I don't want to disturb them because we won't get our drone shots if they jump in the water.
24:42They can sense him.
24:44Guys, you're going to disturb them.
24:47Just go that way.
24:51At Taronga's Wildlife Hospital...
24:52I'm just going to induce his anaesthetic now.
24:54Vets Luke and Naomi are examining a critically injured wild pelican that's just been rushed in.
25:09It was found stuck between a few wolves.
25:12Before they can treat the bird's injuries, they need to assess its heart rate.
25:18Just trying to hear the heart.
25:19Yeah.
25:21But there's a problem.
25:25The anatomy's not our friend today.
25:27They've got a bunch of air sacs that sit under the skin, above the bone and muscle.
25:33And they're basically giant floaties that keep an otherwise giant heavy-bodied bird afloat when it's sitting on the water.
25:39Those giant floaties are making it difficult for Luke to find the bird's heartbeat.
25:47It can be a bit tricky to hear.
25:52I'll be happier once I get a decent trace.
25:54The pelican's heart rate will help Luke determine whether the bird is in shock and just how injured it might be.
26:03We can always try a Doppler on the wing.
26:04Yeah, actually, that'd be a good idea.
26:07There's a vein here and this is a Doppler machine, so basically we'll turn the heartbeat into a noise that we can track his heartbeat with.
26:16That's so difficult.
26:17Yeah.
26:19I can't hear anything.
26:20Yeah.
26:22I'm not convinced we've still got a heartbeat.
26:24Might have just been a bit too compromised.
26:25Yeah.
26:26Luke tries to locate a heartbeat one last time.
26:44I'm getting 200.
26:46Finally, some good news.
26:47Okay.
26:48Yeah, I'm getting a steady 200 now.
26:51The ocean bird's heartbeat is consistent and back in the normal range.
26:57We'll take an X-ray at least of that neck.
26:59So now the team can get on with the job and fully investigate the pelican's injuries.
27:05I'm a bit suspicious.
27:06We might find a dislocation or a fracture there.
27:11We'll see what we can find on X-ray just to see what's going on in this region.
27:15Transferring to the gaseous circuit.
27:17While an X-ray will give Luke a much clearer picture of the pelican's long neck,
27:23he'll first need to sedate it more deeply with an anaesthetic gas.
27:28Normally we like to advance those tubes a fair way down there.
27:31But right at his glottis here, there's a bit of a membrane that pelicans have
27:36that's going to stop us going too much further.
27:37The membrane stops water from passing down the pelican's throat.
27:43But now it's stopping the anaesthetic tube.
27:46Oh, it's already slipped out again.
27:47Yeah.
27:48They'll need a plan B.
27:50On the Barren Joey Peninsula on Sydney's northern beaches.
28:00Guys, the seals are here.
28:03Some wayward fishermen are getting too close to a herd of resting fur seals.
28:09The seals are here.
28:10You're going to disturb them.
28:13If they jump in the water, we won't get our drone shots.
28:20And for Taronga's Ben and his partner agencies, who are trying to count this seal population,
28:28it's going to make a difficult job even more difficult.
28:35Down here, there's no seals.
28:38The fishermen sit on that flat rock just up there.
28:41There must be a path sort of back on that flat rock.
28:45So you're better off being here, otherwise you're going to disturb them.
28:49There's a track over that way, apparently.
28:52It's pretty, pretty steep.
28:54Be careful.
28:55Come down this way, but just go that way.
29:01Hey.
29:05He's found a track.
29:06Yeah.
29:09As the fishermen move away, the skittish seals can finally relax.
29:15One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
29:19And so can Ben and the team.
29:22And that goes nine.
29:23Yeah, they've been quite active at the moment, which is, there's one in the water.
29:28I've been looking.
29:29It's important to keep your distance away from seals.
29:36As the population is recovering, one of the biggest pressures, particularly around places like Sydney, is people loving seals to death and getting too close.
29:45So when there is a seal hauled out, it's really important to keep your distance and 40 metres is a good distance to stay away.
29:53And also, if you're walking your dog and there's a seal on the beach, you want to keep your dog on a lead and keep it away from them as well.
30:01Their time on land is a really important time for them to rest.
30:03Ten, eleven.
30:04There's two further down as well.
30:05Off-counted sixteen.
30:06We'll have to see whether the drone picks up stuff that we're not seeing.
30:19Fur seals are experts at camouflage on land and in the water.
30:27Oh, there's one in the water, is it?
30:29But the drone's thermal camera is giving Ben and the team an unfair advantage.
30:34And so if we zoom in here, we can actually see a seal that's currently in the water.
30:41And so we can click on the map there and it tells me the temperature of the seal.
30:46It stands out quite obviously in the thermal imagery.
30:49The seals are so well insulated from the cooler water, their body temperature makes it near impossible to hide from this eye in the sky.
31:00Drone technology's really become quite a valuable tool for scientists.
31:04The beauty of having eyes in the sky is that we're able to map quite a larger area in locations where it's not feasible to bring a boat in, enabling us to more accurately count the populations of seals in New South Wales.
31:18While the drone continues to locate even more seals, Ben moves on to phase two.
31:25While we're here counting the seals, we've also had a great opportunity to check out their general health and potential injuries and see whether there's any that might need some more attention.
31:36And if they do find any injured fur seals.
31:40They're definitely adults.
31:41This survey mission might just become a rescue mission.
31:45Oh, look at this one on the top of the rock. He's got an old bite or something like that.
31:50On the shores of Sydney Harbour, Taronga's African savannah is teeming with bird life.
32:02No, not those ones.
32:06These ones.
32:07These ones.
32:12Louise to Georgia.
32:14Stuffed full of minced meat, the paper mache is in position.
32:19And the lion pride are primed.
32:23Can you let the lions out now, please?
32:27Let the enrichment games begin.
32:32Here they come.
32:33So they're all running out exactly as I hoped that they would.
32:45Excited, running straight for the balls that we've put around.
32:53What I love about Maya, the mum, even though she's 12 years of age now, she's running, she's playing.
32:59Actually, I thought one of the cubs might jump up there, but she's showing them how to do it, how to reach out, how to grab those things out of the tree.
33:09And that's another behaviour that we want to encourage because it's like mimics that catching prey in the wild and then them having to, you know, open the hide of the prey to be able to get to the meat.
33:20Putting out enrichment like this, it really taps into a lot of those wild instincts that they retain, they don't ever lose.
33:30And they're showing us that right now.
33:32And with their lookalike paper cousins getting all the attention, I'd say these guys are winning too.
33:38Lizuko, he's one of our young males and he's just spotted that ibis that's up the tree.
33:50So what I'm expecting now is that they've expended lots of energy and they'll most likely do what all cats do and they'll go and sleep the rest of the day away.
34:02In the wild, they would do the same thing. They would hunt, they would feed, and then they would rest. And that's exactly what our lion family are all starting to do now.
34:15So this has been a really, really successful day. And as you can see, the lions have had an incredible amount of fun.
34:21So actually, there is an ibis still sitting there, so they haven't even noticed it. But I guarantee by the end of today, it'll definitely be gone.
34:32But for now, this particular bin chicken lives to fight another day.
34:38At Taronga's Wildlife Hospital, a very sick wild pelican has been brought into treatment room one.
34:45I'm a bit suspicious. We might find a dislocation or a fracture there.
34:50And Luke, a part-time Taronga keeper and vet, is investigating its injuries.
34:57It's definitely a unique approach to be both a keeper and a vet.
35:02Right at his glottis here, there's a bit of a membrane that pelicans have that's going to stop us going too much further.
35:08The bird's anatomy is preventing Luke from passing a tube down its throat so they can administer an anaesthetic gas.
35:16Oh, it's already slipped out again.
35:18Next door is a new pelican mask. You want to do that instead?
35:22That might be the go.
35:26Wow, that's awesome.
35:28Yeah, right?
35:30Exotics Medicine 101.
35:31While it does look a little exotic, this homemade mask is perfect for this long-billed native bird.
35:41It's a nice big deep breath there.
35:42Yeah.
35:44Get him on his side.
35:46Yeah, sure. Great.
35:48I hope his air sucks.
35:50Turning the pelican on its side helps keep the bird's airway clear, making it easier to inhale the anaesthetic.
35:57Turn the house lights off.
36:02X-ray.
36:11You can see a bit of, well, it looks like possibly bruising on the X-ray.
36:16It's just kind of increased whiteness here.
36:18It's just an indication there's more fluid in the side, so it's pretty consistent with bruising.
36:22Bruising has shown up on the pelican's neck muscles close to the skin.
36:29Is that bruising we're talking about?
36:34Given that he was found not really being able to use his hind end, I'm pretty suspicious.
36:38We do have a spinal cord lesion.
36:42A spinal cord injury can be difficult to assess on the X-ray.
36:46Trying to come down slightly.
36:49But the bruising and the bird's difficulty walking suggest the delicate cord has also been damaged.
36:57The thing about prognosis with spinal lesions is that in a bird this size, the nursing care will be quite difficult, particularly given his anatomy.
37:07We're not going to be able to immobilise our neck and keep it safe, say like a cat or a dog.
37:13Luke, decrease in PelƩ.
37:14Luke radios Vet Creason for a second opinion.
37:21Not seeing a lot of displacement of the spine, but I don't think that rules out a spinal cord injury.
37:27Yeah.
37:29We've definitely still got that, you know, soft tissue swelling.
37:33Yeah.
37:34What we say with any spinal injury, it can take a few weeks to months to years to sort of come right.
37:41And unfortunately with this guy, the kindest thing to do would be to.
37:47It's going to be euthanasia, unfortunately.
37:51I'll tell you about that.
37:53Yeah.
37:54The Pelican's injuries are too severe for it to make a recovery.
38:00Yeah, it's not an easy call to make.
38:06It's not something we take lightly.
38:08But, um, we're really lucky in veterinary medicine that we have euthanasia as an option.
38:15It's, you know, essentially an anaesthetic overdose.
38:18So he will just drop into a really deep sleep.
38:22And eventually his heart will stop and, you know, it's a very humane and peaceful process.
38:30It doesn't get easier, but I think, I think we'd all feel worse if we didn't have it as an option.
38:36It's in his best interest if we put him to sleep.
38:41Rather than let them suffer.
38:54Next, the results are in.
38:57I wouldn't have been surprised today if we'd only found half a dozen to maybe ten seals.
39:03And it's not what anyone expected.
39:07On Sydney's beautiful coastline, Taronga and its partners have begun the state's largest ever fur seal survey.
39:17Counting and assessing the health of this seal population from the air.
39:23The seal is a lot hotter than the water around it.
39:27And from the sea.
39:29We can see them over here resting in the water where they lay on their side and they stick their flipper up
39:34and they sometimes grab onto their rear flipper as well.
39:38And that's really important for them because they swim incredibly long distances, thousands of kilometres at a time without going back to land for a rest.
39:46And so they need to be able to rest on the surface of the ocean.
39:50It also lets them regulate their temperature, their body temperature as well by sticking their flipper up.
39:55They can get a nice breeze across that and they can bask in the sun.
39:58So they're really, really well adapted to being at sea for almost all of their life.
40:07Oh, and look at this one on the top of the rock.
40:10Looks like a bite or something like that.
40:12This is a little youngster just here too.
40:14Yeah.
40:16So one year old?
40:18Yeah.
40:19Like a little juvenile on the main rock.
40:21Yeah.
40:23I think there's three of probably this year's pups.
40:27Really? On the rock?
40:28Yeah, like the one right up on the very top.
40:30Yeah.
40:31That's this year's pup.
40:32Okay.
40:34They all look like they're in great condition.
40:37Their coats look really nice.
40:39Really good body condition.
40:40They're all looking fairly plump.
40:42Which is nice to see.
40:44There was one animal that had a small old cookie cutter shark bite on it that had healed up nicely.
40:51But all the seals are in tip top condition.
40:55They've obviously been foraging quite well over the winter.
40:58The size and health of this particular seal herd has surprised even this salty skipper.
41:05Six years ago there were none here.
41:08We've got two more animals up here.
41:10Actually, three more.
41:14And with the new addition of the drones, Ben and the team have really sealed the deal.
41:20We collected lots of great information.
41:22So we'll be rolling out this drone technology at multiple seal colonies so that we're able to get more of a spread of information of how many seals are visiting different locations.
41:34That'll help us really understand what pressures they might be under and what their populations are like at the moment.
41:40And as we move to other locations, the drones will really provide a lot of value, enabling us to more accurately count the populations of seals in New South Wales.
41:56Now it's time to process some of the images that we've captured and try and confirm some of the counts that the team on the boat were able to capture.
42:04Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised today if we'd only found half a dozen to maybe 10 seals.
42:14We actually counted 27 seals.
42:1927 seals accounted for.
42:22And just a few thousand to go.
42:25But that's a survey for another day.
42:28Yes, that was a good day.
42:31A great day.
42:33We counted a lot of seals.
42:39This survey today is the first of many to come.
42:42With seals returning to the coastline in New South Wales, we're going to be seeing them on our beaches all the time.
42:48So the best advice for people is if you do see them, keep your distance, stay that 40 metres away from them.
42:53If you're walking your dog, keep your dog on a leash.
42:56But if you do see an injured or an entangled seal, call through to the authorities and people like National Parks and the Zoo will be able to go and assist that seal and hopefully rehabilitate it and get it back out into the wild.
43:08More than what I was expecting to see.
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