50 years ago, the most exotic tourist attraction
in British history opened to the public.
It was an audacious plan
to allow visitors to come to an African safari park,
here in the rolling hills of the Wiltshire countryside.
50 lions lay in waiting, and no-one knew what was going to happen.
Now you can picture the scene, can't you?
It would have looked exactly like this back in 1966,
and since then, millions of visitors have passed through these gates,
in search of the wonderful and the weird, the cute and the cuddly.
And this week, we're inviting you along for the ride.
We are back to find out how much has changed here,
but also to catch up on all the latest animal stories,
as we return to Britain's wildest animal park.
So, ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!
RATTING, RUMBLING, ROARING
Listen to that.
Open the gates!
It's like the olden days! I know!
I'm so excited to be back, aren't you?
Welcome to Animal Park!
We've got a series of action-packed summer specials coming your way,
bringing you the most exciting and adorable animals you can imagine.
And today...
England won the football in '66,
but would the first visitors stand a chance against the lions?
The kids are screaming because this lioness had put her chest
onto the back window.
The locals were all terrified.
A vital giraffe baby is due.
It's the stress of watching them give birth
and hoping it's all going to be all right.
But can it survive the six-foot drop?
And one of the world's greatest wildlife photographers
gives us a unique chance to see how he gets his killer shots.
I thought she was going to come straight to...
straight at the door!
It's absolutely brilliant to be back,
and we can't wait to catch up with what's been happening at the park
this summer, and what better way is there
to get reacquainted with the nation's first safari park
than by driving through a pride of wild lions in a tiny vintage car?
I've been here dozens and dozens of times,
and yet the thrill of seeing lions
just outside your windscreen never goes away.
And to be in a little car like this,
I'm really getting a sense of what it must have been like
for the first visitors.
SHE LAUGHS
To be here in these rather smaller, lower-slung cars,
and it feels like a much more visceral
and slightly scary experience.
Incredibly, it was close encounters with these magnificent lions
that held the key to saving
one of the country's greatest country estates.
And that is, of course, the very estate we're at today.
Longleat House has been the seat of the Thynne family
for over 500 years.
The current heir to the estate, Lord Weymouth,
lives at the estate today with his wife, Lady Emma, and their family.
And he's incredibly proud of its rather unusual history.
It is difficult to imagine that, when this happened,
it had never been done before.
Because the park you see today
is all down to Lord Weymouth's grandfather,
the sixth Marquess of Bath.
He made the unique decision to turn the grounds of his country estate
into a wild safari park 50 years ago.
The original safari park opened in 1966, with 50 lions roaming free,
while excited and often terrified customers drove through the gates.
This was the first-ever safari park to exist outside of Africa,
and the grounds of this estate
were suddenly home to wild and exotic animals.
I know you want to go walkies, come along.
Come along here. No.
But the nation had never seen anything like this before.
Oh, Michael. It caused complete uproar across the country,
with the press labelling Lord Bath "the Mad Marquess".
There was a big body of public opinion that thought my grandfather
was completely off his rocker!
But, of course, the park was an instant hit.
And we have invited some of those first visitors back today,
complete with the original vintage cars they would have been in.
When we came to the big gates,
I remember feeling...quite scary, you know?
When you first come in, the very first time you come in,
it's a totally unique experience.
It's something that you've never experienced before.
Something you never forget.
Something you never forget, that's right.
It was of course the lions that were causing the biggest stir.
When you first went through the gates of the lion enclosure,
it was that feeling of...
..awe, and what are we going to see, and is it going to be safe?
And we came to a halt, because the car in front halted,
and a group of lions crossed the road.
And I clearly remember this lion
walking along the outside of the car,
and a big beast it is, you know, and I was sort of holding,
I was holding the steering wheel.
So it was a very exciting first time.
With 50 wild lions suddenly roaming round the grounds of the estate,
it was up to the first head warden, Mike Lockyer,
to try and maintain some kind of order.
We had some basic knowledge of what animals would do,
but because nothing quite like it had been done,
we didn't know exactly what might happen.
It was the unknown that was the sort of thrilling bit.
Back then, the 100-acre lion enclosure was surrounded
by a heavy-duty chain-link fence,
army surplus from prisoner of war camps in Korea,
to stop the beasts from escaping.
But inside the enclosure, the lions did exactly what they wanted.
We were just driving through,
and the kids were excited because we were seeing the lions,
and they were actually getting up close,
and they were getting up closer.
And then I looked in the mirror and the kids are screaming
because this lioness had come up,
and she'd actually leaned onto... put her chest onto the back window.
She put one paw on one side of the window,
and one paw on the other side of the window,
at which the kids thought she was going to come in, or crush the Mini.
And then we went through the gate and everybody goes...
"But wasn't that exciting!"
THEY LAUGH
It may have been exciting,
but the keepers were forced to create stunts
to ensure the public were aware of the very real danger.
Such as this dummy up against a car.
That was the object of the exercise,
was to show the public how dangerous it is if they don't obey the rules,
because if you get out of the car, you will be eaten alive.
And the legendary lions still lie at the heart of
the safari experience today.
SNARL
I'm about to catch up with an animal
who's even older than this golden anniversary.
Nico, the western lowland gorilla,
lives by himself on an island in the middle of Half Mile Lake.
Now, it may be the safari park's 50th birthday,
but there is another birthday that I'm even more excited about.
It is Nico the gorilla's, and I made him a cake,
because he is a staggering 55 years old this year.
And I have come to see my old mate, Mark Tye...
"Old" being the operative word.
We're both, look at us both, we're getting a little bit old...
As... NICO GRUNTS
Hello, mate.
He's looking amazing, Mark.
He's super, isn't he? He really, really is.
I mean, 55 makes him, is it, the oldest male gorilla in Europe, now?
Yes, he is, oldest male in Europe,
and he is about the sixth oldest in the world overall.
And, yes, you are right to give yourself a round of applause, Nico,
I think that's absolutely an incredible feat.
And, I mean, yes, he's a bit greyer than when I last saw him.
Every bit as feisty.
Absolutely, he still is completely sharp as a razor.
Mentally, there's absolutely no difference in him whatsoever.
You know, he still got that... You can see that edge,
he's looking at the camera, thinking,
"Get a bit closer and I'm going to grab that!"
LAUGHTER
So he's still absolutely all there.
And he looks physically...
I mean, I would have expected him maybe to be a little bit creakier,
like you and me.
I'm not sure how long we're going to be able to stay kneeling down!
But physically, he actually looks in very good shape.
He is. You know,
he has lost a small amount of muscle tone around his sort of backside,
and the tops of his legs,
but the top part of him is still very strong.
He still goes out every day, he still walks all round the island,
you know, chasing ducks, getting annoyed with sea lions,
all those things that he always ever did.
So, you know, he's really good.
He's just, like all of us, a little older,
a little greyer and a little fatter!
You guys, you do have the most extraordinary relationship.
How long have you been together now?
Well, I've been working with him since 1989, so quite a few years.
Quite a few years!
I don't know whether you can tell, but do you think he remembers me?
NICO GRUNTS
He just said so. Yes.
Nico, you old charmer.
Now, you're looking over my shoulder, aren't you, Nico?
Do you think it's about time we cut it?
What's the best way to do this?
Well, I think we'll just...
Which bit do you want? All of it.
All of it, please. Yes.
'This cake is entirely made up of fruit,
'Nico's favourite.'
Look at this. See what you think.
Oh, look, Nico.
That didn't touch the sides, did it?
THEY CHUCKLE
Happy birthday, old boy.
It's very, very good to see you again.
What do you think?
HE GRUNTS
From ancient gorillas to cuddly lemurs basking in the sun,
the park is currently home to over 1,000 animals.
And another addition is expected any day now...
..because the 121st giraffe is due to be born.
Keeper Bev Evans has come to check up on heavily pregnant Ella.
Hello, ladies.
Since the first 19 giraffe arrived at this country estate
nearly 50 years ago,
the park has built a superb reputation for giraffe breeding.
Currently, there are 12 giraffe here including Ella and her mother.
We are very, very lucky with our giraffe breeding.
We do incredibly well.
We've had a very successful birth rate.
It's the keeping them alive sometimes we had difficulty with.
Unfortunately, quite a few years back, Ella being a first-time mum,
she lost that first calf.
She had it out in the reserve, middle of the day, very quickly,
all a bit of a shock to her, and she abandoned it.
We brought the calf up on the truck,
bought it back in the house, and put Ella and calf back together
and she wasn't having any of it.
She was just not happy with it at all.
She just did not want it anywhere near her.
The team did their best to hand-rear the calf, but sadly,
it didn't survive.
Ella went on to have her healthy daughter, Adele, a few years later,
but Bev is still feeling worried.
It's the stress of watching them give birth
and hoping it's all going to be all right,
can be quite traumatic.
To try and help all giraffe births,
the park recently had a new birthing pen installed.
So, this is quite a thick bed.
It's got its own water, its own food source.
We've got hydraulic feeders as well, with new hay racks.
But even in here, Bev can't help feeling anxious.
Everybody knows I do favour and worry and stress
about the giraffes a lot more than any other animal we've got
because there is so much that has gone right with our giraffes here
at Longleat, and so much that's gone wrong with them as well,
so the worst-case scenario is we come in and we find
mum hasn't mothered her at all, she's abandoned her in the corner.
Even worse than that, you know,
all the afterbirth is still over her face
and she hasn't been able to take that first breath.
It's a big responsibility.
In the end of the day, it is up to you whether you call a vet out,
it's up to you whether you're going to save mum and baby,
or are you going to lose both.
Looking at Ella now,
she looks nice and quiet and calm and her tail isn't cocked,
her udder's tight but not completely balloon tight,
as we call it.
So I would like to say, from the progression of all the signs,
that it would be in the next week.
Worrying about new mothers and their babies doesn't stop after the birth,
as Ben is about to find out.
Sometimes, keepers have to actually become Mum themselves.
I have come along to Penguin Island to meet head of section, Georgia.
Hello, Georgia. Hi, Ben. And some of her 34 Humboldt penguins.
They are beautiful, aren't they? They are indeed.
Now, we're going to do a quick checkup today on two individuals.
Who are they? Yep. So, these two were actually hand-reared,
so we are going to do a quick checkup
cos we've just introduced them, make sure they're doing well.
OK, how do we get close to them?
So, they're quite friendly cos they are hand-reared,
so we're just going to pick them up and lift them up under their wings
and we will take them to the rocks cos it's best when we're sitting down. OK.
How are we going to encourage them? It's actually these two here.
We'll just... See the ones chatting?
Yes. So, what you do... Just under the wing, pick them up.
And this one here? And that one there, yes.
Hello. Hello.
Do you want to come here? Hello.
There we go.
And hold it under my arm like...
Oh, look! I've fallen in love. There we go.
Hello. So, who have I got here? You've got Echo.
Echo. And I have got Ant.
Echo and Ant.
Pop them up. We will perch over here.
Here we go. There we go, there we go.
So why did they need to be hand-reared?
So, unfortunately the parents didn't parent-rear.
They were not very attentive,
it was their first time so it was to be expected
that a few of the parents didn't do that well.
Georgia, to make that decision, to hand-rear an animal,
take it from its mother for whatever reason, that is a big one to do.
It is a very tough decision.
We keep an eye on them really closely
in the first few days of parent-rearing
and it's a last resort to hand-rear, it really is,
cos we would like the parents to do it naturally
and it is not a bane on us to hand-rear as well, then.
So you effectively became a surrogate penguin mum?
Yes. Sleepless nights, all of that?
Luckily it wasn't that bad.
The penguins eat early in the morning,
throughout the day and we can just do a late feed and go home
and come back in the morning again.
But would you say you have a pretty unique bond with these guys?
Definitely. They talk to us quite a lot.
They see us as their parents, effectively.
How do you talk to a penguin?
Give them cuddles. So they will come up to us and they will start begging
for food and they like a little scratch behind the head.
OK, scratching. Here we go. Little tickle under the neck as well.
Just like that. Yep.
And they do like to sit on your lap as well and just relax.
Do they? Shall we see whether this is...
This is Ant. Let's have a little sit on here.
You are beautiful.
These are just two of 242 animals born here last year.
In fact, over the last 50 years,
thousands of animals have been born to the park.
Ever since the gates first opened 50 years ago,
breeding programmes have been at the heart of the safari park's work.
And over the years they've had some great successes.
Breeding is especially important for the endangered species,
but any baby is always welcome,
because many animals just won't start a family
unless they're happy with the accommodation.
So if their animals are breeding,
it shows the keepers are getting things right.
But the biggest problem with babies is sometimes the birth itself,
because while they usually go perfectly smoothly,
they can go horribly wrong.
A few years ago, we followed a life and death drama up in the Deerpark.
Tim Yeo was the keeper in charge of all the deer,
and he became concerned when one of the red deer hinds
seemed to be having a problem giving birth.
After she had been in labour for over 30 hours,
Tim called in the vet, Nanja Verkuijl.
A long labour like this could be because the calf was breech,
twisted in the womb,
or caught, with its head bent backwards.
If it is the head back then we do have to interfere
and get down to her
and actually get the head in a normal position, get her out.
But then, two feet started to come out.
They should be the front ones, and these were the back feet.
The baby was breech.
Tim and Nanja knew they must act immediately.
I'm not completely convinced that the calf is still alive either.
It might well be that she has been so restless and nothing's happening.
Also the other reason could well be because the calf is actually dead.
The hind was suffering,
but she wouldn't let them get close enough to help.
They would have to catch her, and to do that,
she'd have to be darted with a careful dose of anaesthetic.
We're just going to go up to her and try and put the dart in.
So if the crew could stay here,
I think that would be the best thing.
Until we've hopefully done that.
Tim had to get as close as possible.
For the dart to work properly,
it must hit the hind in the rear haunch.
Luckily, Tim was always a very good shot.
The sedative would be passed from the mother to the unborn calf,
and if the baby was already weak,
a full dose of the drug could kill it,
so to be cautious they used a minimum dose.
It took 20 minutes before the hind went down.
To stop her from struggling, they used a net.
But she was more lively than they expected.
We're never, ever going to get her.
The only way to catch her would be to dart her again
with a stronger dose of sedative.
But that could prove fatal for the unborn calf.
We're just working out, the vets are just working out doses now...
to...
to go again, and we are going to try and dart her again.
This time they're using a stronger, faster-acting sedative.
It's extremely powerful, so must be handled carefully,
and the dose calculated exactly.
The tiniest of spillages, you know, can be fatal to us so...
I'm ready.
With just an hour left before darkness,
there was no time for any more second chances.
We'll find out very soon
if they save the mother, and perhaps the baby too.
For nearly a decade,
Kate and I met every unforgettable animal the park has had to offer,
so it's time to introduce a new face this summer.
How lovely! Jean Johansson is here to get to know all the creatures,
great and small, cute and scary.
But the difference is not always that obvious.
Hi, Kim. Hiya.
Now, I thought I was coming to meet one of the most ferocious animals
on the park, but...
This is Marooni.
She is a category one so she is just as dangerous as keeping a lion.
As you can see now, it's because of these very large claws.
Marooni may look friendly, but South American giant anteaters
can fight off pumas and jaguars with those claws.
Now I can see why you might put her in the same category as a lion.
And something else I'm noticing is a very long tongue.
Yes. The tongue is about roughly 60cm.
When they open termite mounds,
they just use their claws to make one hole and use the tongue to just
go straight into there and get as many as they can.
The reason they don't destroy them is obviously if they destroy
the termite mounds then they can't come back and eat it again later.
I'd love to feed her. I'm just giving her some avocado now.
What we can use is a bottle, here. OK.
And then that will show you her tongue a little bit more.
You will have to tip it up slightly for her,
just so she can obviously get it. And she'll get her tongue right inside.
You can see her tongue right in there. Oh, wow.
This tongue is going super, super fast.
It's sticky, it's spiky and that tongue can flick over 150 times
a minute to suck up those bugs.
And tell me some of her favourite foods. Oh.
So, this is definitely one.
We've got a mixture of mealworms, egg and avocado in there.
That is something quite different for her.
It makes it a bit of a challenge because it's not just mealworms.
It's quite sticky, so she has to work for it a little bit.
As you can see, she's shutting her eyes,
so she's enjoying it quite a lot. Really enjoying it.
And are there any teeth in there? They have no teeth at all.
This has got to go down as one of the most weird but wonderful feeds
on Animal Park. Well done.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary,
the park want to get closer than ever to the incredible animals
that live here.
Who better to ask than world renowned naturalist
and award-winning photographer Simon King?
He's a man who'll stop at nothing in his quest to reveal the most
exciting and dangerous animals on the planet.
But it's here on this country estate that he's trying to
capture the animal kingdom as it's never been seen before.
But it's no easy task.
It's a challenge. It's a real challenge trying to get a view of
these animals that, let's face it, have been photographed thousands,
tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of times.
A fresh perspective, a fresh view.
It was childhood trips here that ignited Simon's love of wildlife and
he's determined to capture the awe and amazement he felt years ago
in this project.
He's got a completely bonkers plan.
It's important that you get to the level
or below the level of the creature and that was particularly the case
with the predators. The tigers, the lions, the wolves.
In order to do that, I would have to be within a metre or so of an animal
that, let's face it, could kill me.
And the only way of achieving that
was to build a specialist camera mount.
But when Simon says camera mount, he actually means camera cage.
Because he decided that in order to really showcase the animals' world,
he needed to get inside it.
Similar to a shark cage,
Simon's contraption is attached to the side of a four-by-four and it
allows him to be mere centimetres away from the deadly big cats.
The only access point from the camera point of view is what
I fondly refer to as the cat flap, which is a small hole
just big enough for me to push the largest of my lenses.
And I thought a cat flap was to encourage cats to come in!
Well, let's hope not...
because today Simon is in with the tigers.
The park's home to three female Siberian tigers.
Siberian tigers are the world's largest cats and are known
for their power and stealth.
I'm just looking at the conditions in the tiger enclosure,
the light conditions and where I think they may come and play.
Stopping to photograph these animals is actually more dangerous here
than out in the wild.
The cats here are familiar with humans so are more curious and bold.
But that's not stopping Simon.
It's looking good. I'm going to drop the cage here.
PNEUMATIC WHINE
Good, isn't it?
But can this cage really protect Simon from three fully grown tigers?
I am armed...
..with this. This is not to protect me if the tigers decide to attack me
but if they do think about popping a tyre and chewing the car
and I can see them from here, then a little squirt of water in the ear
can just detract and deflect their behaviour.
So, yeah, armed and dangerous.
So with the cat flap wide-open and his secret weapon at the ready,
it's time to release the tigers.
This is Simon to Tiger Team.
Ready when you are. Over.
I love this moment. This moment of waiting.
They come out of the house straightaway.
Do you know, it does tickle some kind of...
..primeval reptile brain fear triggers.
I'm not afraid, but there's no doubt that there's a heightened sense
of awareness, a heightened sense of being alive.
Here she comes.
CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS
TIGER ROARS
HE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY
That was a rev! Straight at the car!
Simon might be laughing but the tigers aren't.
Yeah. That's quite cool.
Wow! I wasn't expecting that.
That was dramatic. The last one was...
..somewhat marred by me getting out of the way.
I thought she was going to come straight...
Straight at the door.
I'd do that again.
It looks like Simon will get another chance, because one of them's
heading straight for the cat flap.
Hello, sweetheart.
CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS
Simon has to act fast.
This one's getting a bit too interested.
It's getting too close.
METAL CLUNK
Naughty. She was trying to get my beanbag.
That's a paw in through the window.
HE LAUGHS
I tell you what, that's a big paw!
It's almost the size of her face.
And you know that shrouded in that velvet glove are daggers.
Tigers are powerful hunters that get close enough to attack their prey
with a quick spring and a fatal pounce.
So, as you can see, it's a very, very intimate experience when you've
got a tiger's face here and you're a few centimetres away.
You know you're alive.
You want to stay that way.
Simon needs to raise the cage but he isn't taking any chances.
One of the things tigers do with their prey, of course,
is attack it from behind
so that it has absolutely no way of knowing that there's a tiger
about to jump on its back.
But has today's life or death experience been worth it?
That's got some energy.
That's got some dynamism.
That's the shot of the day. That was worth it.
Simon lives on to photograph another day.
A few years ago, we followed dramatic events
when a pregnant red deer hind got into difficulty giving birth.
When Tim Yeo and the team finally got her sedated,
it was clear that the baby was the wrong way round in the womb.
So vet Nanja Verkuijl had to try to guide it out.
In the wild, both hind and calf would have died.
This way, there was at least some hope for the mother,
perhaps even an outside chance for the baby.
Nanja was joined by her colleague, vet Martin Bores.
At last, the calf was born.
It wasn't breathing.
Nanja gave an injection to reverse the effect of the sedatives.
While the team urgently rushed to massage the heart
and try to stimulate the breathing.
Just lift it up again, Martin, and I'll try and see
if we can get some...
It wasn't working.
The baby was still lifeless.
Come on there, little one.
There was just one thing left to try.
As a last resort, Nanja gave the kiss of life.
Slowly, the calf started to revive...
..and then the rest of the red deer herd came over to see
what was going on.
Although the calf was still weak, it was quite alert.
It looked like the baby and the mother were going to be all right.
It was going to go either way there and, fortunately, I mean,
there was some life there and for all the calf's been through...
I mean, it's been through a tremendous amount of trauma.
It's quite amazing that it's managed to come through like this.
Back at the park today, Jean has been continuing her initiation into
the wild and wonderful world of Animal Park.
And she's about to get up close and personal with those famous lions.
Forgive me if I seem a little nervous but right here
is the big cat feeding wagon and 50 years since they started feeding
the lions on Longleat, I'm going to find out first-hand
how they do it today.
Wish me luck.
The park is currently home to 31 lions.
Currently, these majestic cats represent the largest group of lions
in the UK, and right now, this pride are hungry.
What are we going to do today?
How are we going to get this meat to those lions?
The tractor averages out, maybe, 30mph, if it's lucky,
to get to the top speed, so we are going to circle around
the lion section, try and get them running at those top speeds.
51mph is how fast the lion can go for short periods of time and we've
definitely got a couple of girls in there
which will have a good go at it.
And then once Caleb's happy that they've worked hard enough for it,
we'll start dropping this meat out down through the chute and they'll
all pick it up piece by piece.
Right, we're actually entering the lion enclosure now so they're
about to be let out so especially now, don't put your fingers through,
don't lean up against the cage.
We've got to get a nice good centre of gravity
and hold on to these bars.
They can see us, I can't see them? Yes, they can.
If you look down over there, they're in that paddock and so they're
going to wait for our cue to get let out and then they'll
start chasing after us, but if you can just about see,
they're already running up and down the fence line.
Ready and raring. There are 15 huge lions waiting to be fed.
Come on, lions! Here they come!
We're actually being chased by lions.
Come on, lions!
They look really hungry, Eloise.
Yep, they are. We are their prey. We're going to try and make
them work as hard as possible. I can feel them bumping against the cage.
It's amazing to be this close to a pride of lions.
If you look into their eyes, they are clearly being like,
"You are my food." They are hungry.
They've got that predatory look about them for sure.
HORN BLARES Right.
That beep of the horn is our sign to start throwing out the meat to them.
OK. So, Jean, get going.
There is a lot of meat down here so this is a big job.
They seem to be enjoying it.
It's pretty heavy but you don't want to keep 15 lions
waiting for their lunch. Definitely not.
Obviously, they can go long lengths of time without eating
because in the wild they would find prey not every day,
so what's the longest you can leave them without feeding them?
In captivity, a week, probably even two
because in the wild that's what they potentially have to do.
And they've actually got these extra flaps of skin on their belly as well
so when they do find their food, they'll eat as much as possible
and so their belly will expand and the flap of skin will expand over it
rather than stretching their skin.
So everything about them is designed to eat as much as possible because
they never know when their next meal's going to be.
But it seems the lions aren't ready for this meal to be over yet.
Although we've chucked out all the meat,
we still have some lions chasing after us.
There's still a couple of stragglers who maybe didn't get enough.
They definitely got enough.
They're just greedy. Do you have any indicators for them
that the feed is over? Because there are some hungry faces
up at these bars.
The fact we're trying to move them away and go into the gate,
they sort of know, but...
But obviously it's not working as well as we'd hoped.
They're really not leaving us.
We are actually surrounded.
All I can see is lions.
It's going to take the whole keeper team to restrain them.
Look at that blockade all of our trucks have formed now
so that our lions can't pass them.
Quite relieved, I didn't think we were going to lose them.
As adorable as they are, that was getting a little bit hairy.
But there's one casualty after the hunt.
It sounds like one of our lions might have popped a tyre.
Oh, I can hear a hissing sound.
I think it's a front tyre by the looks of it.
But they've definitely popped a tyre!
I'm so glad we're out here and not in there.
Scary stuff!
Over at the giraffe house,
it's time to find out how Ella is coping with her pregnancy.
Keeper Bev has got some news.
Ella finally went into labour.
Bev and the team used a small video camera to bring us exclusive footage
of the nerve-racking event.
First, the feet and head appeared.
But then, nothing.
Eventually, the birth started to progress.
But giraffe are the tallest animals in the world and give birth
standing up, leaving the babies to negotiate a terrifying six-foot drop
to the ground.
Would the baby survive the fall and would Ella accept her baby
this time?
Thankfully, Ella felt the bond straightaway.
In the wild, young giraffe are never left alone and live in
a nursery group, where all the females
look after each other's calves.
The baby was protected as it adjusted to the world.
It was a little girl.
I'm thrilled it's a little girl
because we can keep them in our herd long-term.
You can watch them grow up, have babies of their own,
and all the way up to the end of their life here.
We've seen her first steps and feeding for the first time.
Now, we'll be her first guests.
She's only four days old,
so this is a bit of a nerve-racking time for mum to meet new people.
She's used to the people that she knows on a regular basis
but this is the first time we have popped someone in just to see her
who she doesn't know.
So she's going to come across as a little bit nervous,
flaring nostrils, flicky tail and she's going to be watching the calf.
Hi, Elles.
OK, so you can see standing next to her is the little calf.
So that's the little girl. She hasn't got a name yet
because she's only four days old. We never name anything until it's over
a week old. It's kind of a giraffe tradition, really.
Ella and her baby have got a young male giraffe called Kaiser
in with them as a companion animal to help create a calm atmosphere
for them both.
Kaiser's been really sweet actually. Because there's different people
in the house, he's gone to stand next Ella and he's helping Ella
protect the calf.
Baby giraffe would be an easy target for predators, such as lions,
in the wild, so it's completely normal for Ella
to be feeling nervous.
So the little calf is doing really well.
She's very strong, she's definitely finding her feet.
I think she's quite small,
personally, but that's only in stature.
You get tall giraffes, you get short giraffes.
At the minute, if you look at the little calf's head,
her horns aren't quite upright.
When she came out, they were flat, and as each day goes on,
they can straighten up and they'll fuse to the skull
and they'll be part of the skull.
But, obviously, when you're being born,
you don't want big old pointy horns to hurt the female as she's calving,
so it's a great design.
Her markings are great. You can tell she's Rothschild because she's got
the white socks, so the marking doesn't go all the way down
to the toe, like it does in other subspecies.
All the giraffe here are Rothschild subspecies.
Poaching of Rothschild giraffe continues to be a
very serious problem
and today there are only a few hundred left in the wild...
..which is why this baby is so important.
And it's a little girl, so she can carry on and breed
and we'll have more giraffes, so it's win-win, really.
And, a few weeks later, Ben is on his way to meet the new baby
out with the herd.
12 weeks later and I've joined up with the very proud Bev,
and just over there is our young giraffe, looking very healthy,
very confident and outdoors.
Yes, she's out and about.
She's doing really, really, really well.
Hiding behind a jumble of legs and necks.
Yes. Now, you said you never name a giraffe before a week.
That's right. It's tradition. It's a giraffe tradition.
So it's quite clearly more than a week now, does she have a name?
She certainly does and as it's our 50th anniversary,
we've named her after Lady Emma, and we've called her Lady Emma.
Very nice, so named after Lady Weymouth.
That's right. We've got someone. Who's this coming over to say hello?
This is Gertie. Gertie. This is her auntie, so this is Auntie Gertie.
So Auntie Gertie wants to come and see what's going on.
For a 12-week-old... Mm-hm. ..she is incredibly tall.
Have you any idea... I mean she's over six foot, is she?
She is. When she was born, she was six foot
and she's definitely done some growing,
so I would say she's teetering on towards seven foot, easily.
You're beaming with pride just talking about this.
Do you have this kind of maternal instinct
just because you're so invested in the giraffes in particular?
Yep, all of the giraffe team, we're here, you know, Christmas Day,
bank holidays. We're here all the time, we see them being born.
In fact, Gertie's due in November.
Is she? So we've got another one on the way.
Gertie, who's here now? That's right. Congratulations, Gertie.
Gertie, can I say congratulations?
She's too busy licking someone in the car,
hassling them, wanting some food, presumably.
Hey, poppet. Congratulations. Say hi to Ben. Hey.
You all right? Good girl.
Yeah, look. Oh, look at you.
They are the most magnificent looking creatures, aren't they?
Do you know what, I could look at giraffe all day long.
They are beautiful.
There you go, Gert. Bev, thank you so much.
No worries. Gert, I am thrilled that another baby is on its way,
keeping everyone on their toes and in the meantime,
here's what's coming up on tomorrow's Animal Park.
Thanks, Bev.
A keeper's worst nightmare comes true
as a sea lion breaks out of the park.
By this point, we're starting to get worried.
She could end up following this river all the way,
and this eventually goes to the sea.
It's double trouble over in the African Village.
This morning when I came in to check on them,
she had two little twins in her arms.
And Jean comes under attack
as the biggest birds on the planet defend their nest.
What are we going to do?
They'll be all that and more coming up on the next...
Animal Park.