ALEX: Alright, friends.
Welcome to Expedition Africa.
My name is Alex.
I'll be your safari guide
and driver here today.
So, if y'all are ready,
I'm ready. Let's roll.
And welcome to Zoo Tampa.
CHRIS: We've got an incredibly
diverse population of wildlife
in our African section‐‐
everything
from African elephants,
white rhinos are certainly
one of my favorites as well.
ALEX: They all go to the
bathroom in the same area,
and from the smells
inside their waste,
they are able to tell who's
single and ready to mingle.
CHRIS: Most people,
when they think of rhinos,
they think of those
living in Africa,
so the black rhino
and white rhino.
So, there's another rhino
we have here
that's much more charismatic,
a lot more personality.
That's our greater one‐horned
rhino in our Asian section.
(honks)
ANGELA: Jamie is cycling.
Thought she was pregnant
yesterday,
but unfortunately she's not.
KEEPER: She proved you wrong.
ANGELA: Yes, she did.
Jamie Rhino surprised us
with a cycle,
which means she's in heat
and she could become pregnant.
The signs that we're seeing
are her spraying, her honking,
and her whistling,
and staring at Johnny.
(honks)
We've put them together every
days for five years now,
and he has figured it out
successfully two times.
It's five years,
so we're always like,
"Aah! Just, you know,
make it happen."
So, it would be amazing to have
an offspring from Jamie.
This would be her fourth.
We would be beside ourself.
(honks)
Hey, Jamie Rhino!
CHRIS: Right, there's my girl.
ANGELA: Here's Chris.
Oh, little snort.
CHRIS: So, our two
greater one‐horned rhinos
are Jamie Rhino,
who is just an incredible,
fantastic rhino,
and then Johnny, who came to us
quite a few years ago.
He's a big lug.
I probably give Johnny
a hard time.
I really, really do like Johnny.
He's a great, great rhino.
Certainly animal care team
loves him.
In fact, they like Johnny
better than Jamie.
That's okay.
Jamie gets my love.
So, I've got a long history
with Jamie here.
Jamie has had three calves,
all with a different bull.
So, that bull is part
of the Species Survival Plan,
went to another zoo,
and we brought in Johnny
to change up the genetics,
and Jamie has been very,
very patient with this guy
because it took him
several years
just to figure out
what he was doing.
(laughs)
I was trying to give Johnny
a pep talk the other day, so.
ANGELA: What did you say to him?
CHRIS: Be more like me.
ANGELA: God!
CHRIS: Take control
of the situation.
Every time we have a birth here,
I always say
it's a sign of hope,
and it really is a sign of hope,
because the reality is
if we don't work now,
we don't work together,
we're not gonna have rhinos.
For me to play some small part
ensuring the survival
of the species,
it's an honor, it's a privilege.
(honks)
We really do have to
take into account, you know,
if he can't get the job done,
bringing in another bull.
She's gone too many years
not having a calf,
so we definitely need
to get her another calf.
ANGELA: You know,
I want Johnny to stay.
I think everybody
wants Johnny to stay,
but it's super important
that Jamie become pregnant,
so we need to do what's best
for the population
if he's not able
to make that happen.
(honks)
Since Jamie Rhino is showing
signs that she's ready to mate,
we're gonna put Jamie and Johnny
together later this afternoon,
and hopefully Johnny
gets the job done.
(honks)
KEEPER: You're huge!
Oh, my goodness.
CHRIS: We've been
really fortunate
that we've had
quite a baby boom.
We have so many babies
right now,
including Tiga, our tapir,
growing up really, really fast.
And then there are some animals,
like our orangutans,
that grow up a little slower
as they stay as babies
and little kids much longer,
more like we do.
And when you have
a lot of babies in here,
not only is the team
working really hard,
but all the moms are working
really hard at the zoo, too,
so all the credit should go
to all those animal moms
out there raising these babies.
JACKIE: Good job, Ubi!
We actually have
three Malayan tapirs here.
We have Ubi,
which is our adult female,
Albert, who's our adult male,
and we have
our newest addition, Tiga.
She's a three‐month‐old calf.
She is Albert and Ubi's
third calf together.
That's one of the reasons
we chose the name Tiga,
'cause it means three in Malay.
Malayan tapirs are the only
tapir species found in Asia.
They're also found
in dense rain forest.
When they're first born,
they look like
little black watermelons
with white spots and stripes.
They're very playful.
They jump, they throw their
head, they hiccup, they squeak.
They're just
all‐around super cute.
Hello, girl! Good job!
Ready to eat?
Dr. Lauren is on her way over.
We're getting ready to do
a blood draw session.
Right, before your mom
comes in and steals it.
We get baselines
on all the animals.
That way, if she gets sick,
we can collect blood again
and compare them to her baseline
and see if anything changes.
Tiga, Tiga! Come here!
DR. LAUREN:
Look at that little munchkin.
Hi, baby.
Malayan tapirs are herbivores,
so they eat a plant‐based diet.
They also have a very
interesting appearance,
almost kind of
a cartoonish look to them.
In some ways, they look
like elephants or a big pig,
but they're actually
more closely related
to horses and rhinos.
JACKIE: Here you go.
I got you this apple.
DR. LAUREN:
What I love about baby tapirs
is their little proboscis.
I think it is so cute because
they're just exploring the space
and they're so curious
and you just see them working
their little snoot everywhere.
JACKIE: Oh, yeah!
Alright, you can come in.
DR. LAUREN: It's really
important that staff
are working with Tiga
to desense her to my presence
and to me doing blood draws.
JACKIE: She's closing her eyes.
(laughs)
DR. LAUREN: Little stick.
It's very rewarding because,
when they scratch 'em down,
one, you know
this is a positive event,
and then,
when we do that blood draw,
Tiga doesn't seem
to mind at all,
and I think that's
very positive for the animal.
How much does she weigh now?
JACKIE: I believe .
DR. LAUREN: ? Oh, my gosh.
When we did our neonate,
she was like, what, pounds?
JACKIE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
DR. LAUREN: Wow.
Tiga responds, I think, more
than I've seen any other tapir
to her little scratches.
Sometimes, you know,
honestly I just go back there
and scratch her down and
just enjoy that time with her.
She's, she's a really fun,
neat animal.
JACKIE: I think we got to go,
though, Miss Tiga.
We do have work to do.
DR. LAUREN: She's, like,
"There are no other animals
in the zoo but me."
(laughs)
Tiga is growing up.
She's growing very, very fast,
and she's still spending
a lot of time with her mom, Ubi,
but she's becoming
a big tapir all on her own.
JACKIE: Thanks again, you guys.
DR. LAUREN: Thank you.
♪ ♪
(squawking)
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
TIFFANY: Guenon are
a primate species from Africa.
The group that we have here
are actually
the red‐tailed guenon
or the spotted‐nosed guenon.
They are notorious
for being just curious.
We call 'em naughty because
they're always into everything.
Doesn't matter what it is,
they're gonna check it out.
Njano is
the most dominant female.
She is definitely the one
who is mom to most of the kids.
In fact, when her daughter
Nala had a baby,
she was pretty convinced that
she needed to raise that baby.
She's not only been a great mom
but also now
a great grandmother.
DR. RAY: So, this morning,
we need to get a contraceptive
implant placed into her.
She's had at least
five babies that I know of,
and the management group
has decided
that we need to slow that down.
Some of the problems
that you'd run into
if you continue to produce
the same pairs of animals,
you keep producing
brothers and sisters.
That's a limited diversity,
and if you aren't careful,
you can actually get
some health issues with that.
And that's certainly something
we want to avoid.
Depending on
if she's sleepy enough,
we'll just hang on to her
by her elbows,
and we'll actually sit,
one of the keepers
will have her on her lap,
and we'll just
follow them behind.
Alright.
(radio beeps)
Clinic to clinic.
We're in, we're out
with the guenon.
WOMAN ON RADIO: ‐ .
DR. RAY: This is
a pretty routine procedure.
You know, she's healthy,
she's robust.
What's possible is that,
once we get hold of her,
that she actually
is pregnant already.
So, in that case, yeah,
obviously I won't put the
contraceptive implant into her.
We'll finish our exam, make sure
she and the baby look good,
and bring her back
and let her have another kid.
TIFFANY: It will be a little
surprising if she is pregnant,
but guenons are adorable,
they're a lot of fun,
so we won't be all that upset.
DR. RAY: So, we're
gonna ultrasound her.
Alright,
right there's her uterus,
and that stripe,
that's a white stripe,
she's probably
actually in estrus.
TIFFANY: Okay, and it's fine
to add the implant
while she's in estrus?
DR. RAY: Yeah.
TIFFANY: Okay.
No baby.
DR. RAY: Her ultrasound
shows she's not pregnant.
She actually looks like
she's getting ready
to come into heat sometime soon,
so I think our timing
is probably pretty good.
Here's our implant,
and we're gonna just place this
between her shoulder blades.
It's nice and soft.
Alright, let's see
what we can do here.
The type of implant we're using
has a hormone in it
that's slowly released,
so it's temporary.
It actually will fade
and sort of dissipate.
Lovely.
But if it comes up
that they decide
in, say, six months or so
that there's another male
and she needs to breed with it,
we can go back in
and just pull it back out
and she'll start cycling again.
These are tiny little sutures.
I'm not gonna lie.
(laughs)
I'm trying to bury the sutures.
I want to close it up
so that she doesn't
draw attention to herself,
so have to be a little bit
clever if I can.
KEEPER:
That's pretty tiny, yeah.
DR. RAY: You can feel it. The
implant's just right up there.
So, we'll give her
a couple minutes.
We'll take the oxygen off.
I mean, her color's
nice and pink.
She's doing well.
You good?
KEEPER: Yep.
DR. RAY: Just kind of
watch her color here.
This is how we take care of you
if you're very successful
at breeding around here.
There's other ways to do it.
We could simply
remove all the males,
but then you disrupt
their normal family groups
and, you know,
all the social interactions
that are important to 'em.
TIFFANY:
We are transporting guenon
from clinic to the building.
Alright, if you want to put
the door towards you.
When we bring her back,
they're gonna be looking
through the door.
KEEPER: We're going back.
DR. RAY:
Managing genetic diversity
by controlled breeding,
that's one of our
biggest responsibilities
when we're taking care
of all the animals that we have.
TIFFANY: And there she is.
(laughs)
DR. RAY: So, Njano now
can just be a grandma.
She can just take care
of all the offspring
that have been put out there,
and maybe at some point in the
future, she can be a mom again.
TIFFANY: Look at her.
KEEPER: Oh, now she's ready
for a full‐on grooming session.
TIFFANY: Wouldn't it be nice
if you could just lay around
and let people, like,
groom you all day?
KEEPER: They're all just like,
"What happened here?"
So, they're glad to have her
back in the group,
and I think
she's glad to be back.
TIFFANY: Yeah.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
KEEPER: You want scratches
on your belly?
What are you doing?
(honks)
ANGELA: Jamie Rhino
is showing signs of cycle,
so we're gonna get the team
together, and once we're ready,
we're gonna put Jamie and Johnny
back together once again
and hopefully Johnny
gets the job done.
You guys know the drill.
Done this a few times.
Hope for the best.
KEEPER: It's gonna be this time!
KEEPER: Please!
ANGELA: Everyone
will be on a gate
so that all the gates
will open at the same time,
and we're basically just gonna
let them do what rhinos do.
JACKIE: Hey, John‐John.
Come here.
You ready? I know, bud.
I would love to see
a baby Jamie and Johnny.
Jamie is a great mom,
and you can tell she wants
to have another calf.
John's ready.
I know, buddy, I know.
We're just gonna wait for her
to come over here. I know.
Go get your good boyfriend.
Good, girl!
(radio beeps)
ANGELA: You guys ready
for me to open the gate?
KEEPER: ‐ .
JACKIE: ‐ , I'm ready.
(laughs)
ANGELA: I'm expecting them
to maybe spar a little bit.
Alright. Are we ready?
And then I'm expecting Jamie
to turn around pretty quick
so that he can mount her.
Open!
JACKIE: Opening.
ANGELA: We'll watch and see
and be hopeful
that he hits the mark.
We just need
one successful mount.
ANGELA: Open!
JACKIE: Opening.
ANGELA: I'm expecting them
to maybe spar a little bit.
And then I'm expecting Jamie
to turn around pretty quick
so that he can mount her.
For this particular pair,
the best window we have
is in the first hour.
The part where John
is missing a step
is lining up in the right place,
either too far forward
or not far forward enough.
That's his downfall.
JACKIE: Right now,
in this position,
he's way too far forward.
He's still fairly inexperienced,
so he ends up mounting
several times.
Full mounting can last
about minutes,
so she would support
the male's weight,
which is close to , pounds,
for almost an hour.
She's a trouper.
Ah, ah, so tired.
And he's done.
It's exhausting.
He tends to get tired.
Oh.
KEEPER: Round two.
JACKIE: Every mounting,
he puts so much effort into it,
and then he just gets lazier
and lazier each, each mounting.
He's trying.
ANGELA: Oh, coming down.
So, what we're seeing is
a lot of history repeat itself
today unfortunately.
There's a lot of walking.
There's a lot of mounting,
but no successful copulation.
What we're going to start seeing
is them both take breaks
and then come back together,
and this will go on
through the night.
♪ ♪
(howling)
♪ ♪
ASHLEY: Hi!
This is Jett.
You want to say, "Hi, Jett"?
BOY: Hi, Jett.
ASHLEY: Here at Zoo Tampa,
we do a lot of Animal Mingles,
and it's so much fun for us
because we really get
to bring the animals out
and close to people,
and we get to help educate them.
This is Jett.
She's an eastern indigo.
It's the largest natural snake
in North America,
and they're really cool.
Hi, buddy! Do you want
to come meet my friend?
Snakes are somewhat scary
to certain people,
but they're actually really
great for the environment.
They're great for the ecosystem.
Two fingers.
Perfect! Good job!
You did it!
She's still pretty young.
She's only about
five or six years old,
so she's still pretty small.
Does she feel dry?
BOY: Yeah.
ASHLEY: Yeah.
You want to know a secret?
You are more slimy
than a snake.
You can pat her
right there for me.
They're awesome
'cause they're immune
to the venom of local snakes,
so these guys love to eat
a diamondback or a cottonmouth
if they found one.
So, here at Zoo Tampa,
we have five eastern indigo
juvenile snakes.
They're still pretty young,
but they're almost to the size
where they need to be
so we can release them
back out into the wild.
She's sticking out her tongue
a little bit.
Do you think
she's making fun of you?
No, that's not what she's doing.
She's smelling you.
That's how snakes smell.
They smell with their tongues.
Doing the mingles here at
Zoo Tampa is really fun for me
'cause I get to share
my passion about Jett
and about all the animals
that we have here in Florida
and really make a connection
with all the guests
that come through.
Bye, guys.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
MADISON: Bingwai is our
‐year‐old reticulated giraffe.
He's the tallest
of our three boys.
Good boy!
His name, Bingwai,
means champion in Swahili,
and he definitely
acts like that.
He is our toughest.
He definitely shows his weight
when our boys get into fights.
He definitely is the one
who is on top,
and I just really love
that spunky personality he has.
(thump)
Last night I got a call
from my coworker Ashley,
stating that there was
a problem with Bingwai.
She says that he was having
some problems urinating.
His back legs
were kind of pushing up,
and his tummy muscles
were contracting,
so those are not good signs.
It's a little bit nerve‐racking.
(phone rings)
So, this morning
I'm gonna ask Dr. Ball
to come look at Bingwai.
DR. RAY: Alright, yeah,
let me check on the records,
and then I'll grab Samantha,
and we'll head your way.
Alright, see ya.
There is one very, very
important condition in giraffes
that kind of fit this scenario,
and that's a kidney stone,
a bladder stone that's actually
obstructing the urinary flow,
and that jumps
into my head pretty quickly
when I hear and see a giraffe
having this sort of problem.
Samantha, come on in.
When I hear a call like that,
yeah, we're gonna jump
on this one pretty quickly.
Let's go check him up,
and we'll see what's going on.
SAMANTHA: Okay.
DR. RAY: There's been
a couple cases go to surgery.
None that I know of
have gone well.
SAMANTHA: Yeah.
That means surgery.
DR. RAY: Having stones in the
urinary tract of a male giraffe
is a, potentially
a life‐threatening situation.
If he becomes completely
obstructed and can't urinate,
that could actually k*ll him.
The only surefire way
to correct that is surgery,
and to date,
that's not been successful.
DR. RAY: This morning,
Madison gave me a call
that she saw some unusual
behavior with Bingwai.
He'll urinate
a little bit, stop.
It's not a consistent flow.
Most of the time,
these big male giraffe
just stand there
and just urinate.
There is one very important
condition in giraffes
that kind of fit this scenario,
and that's bladder stones,
and that's a little concerning.
Look.
He's got a nice puddle
of urine down here,
so he's passing urine okay.
SAMANTHA: I feel the way
that he has his hips,
like, forward,
he seems very uncomfortable.
DR. RAY: It's a little tucked.
SAMANTHA: Yeah.
DR. RAY: I agree. I agree.
He seems to settle down
a little bit now.
Yeah, we're just kind of
not pushing him,
not crowding him a little bit.
MADISON: You're alright.
There's lots of new people.
You're fine.
DR. RAY: Was he
in the stall all night?
MADISON: No, he was in
the sh**t holding and the barn,
but that is his urine.
DR. RAY: Okay. So he has
urinated this morning. Okay.
MADISON: I watched him do it.
He wasn't straining.
DR. RAY: Do you see anything
different on his sheath?
MADISON: No.
Him and Randall
were posturing this morning
like they wanted to fight,
but I didn't see anything.
DR. RAY: Male giraffes,
if they're together
for any length of time,
they're gonna start battles.
They're, they're necking,
they're hitting each other,
they'll swing
their heads around.
I've seen 'em pop each other
up underneath the belly.
(thud)
So, I am genuinely concerned
about this being a stone
because that's potentially
life‐threatening,
but, in the back of my head,
I'm wondering,
"Okay, did this guy just take an
ossicone up under the hood there
and it's just
a little tender and sore?"
MADISON: Good boy!
There you go!
Giraffe have two ossicones.
They kind of look like
unicorn horns up on their head.
They're actually just
extensions of their skulls,
so when giraffes neck,
which is what we call fighting,
they swing those,
and then those ossicones hit
either the flanks of the giraffe
or the underbelly,
so they are just used
for fighting,
and they make them look cool.
DR. RAY: Samantha.
SAMANTHA: Mm‐hmm.
DR. RAY: You're okay,
just kind of come slow.
The first thing we need to do
is just watch him closely
to make sure that discomfort
that he's feeling
doesn't escalate, and then
just all the basic things.
Is he drinking? Is he drinking
more than they expect?
MADISON: He can go out?
DR. RAY: Yeah, just kinda
watch those things.
It just makes us
think about stones,
and that's a big deal
for these guys,
so we need to try
to stay on top of that.
MADISON: Yeah, we can
definitely do that.
DR. RAY: Alright.
There's just something
sort of up underneath him
and in his abdomen and belly
that aren't right,
but to escalate to some sort
of a full intervention,
not quite yet, not quite yet.
Alright, keep an eye on him.
If you see something you don't
like, just give us a shout.
Thank you, ma'am.
MADISON: Thank you.
He's giving you the stink eye.
(laughs)
You're alright.
Was that a little bit scary?
That's my boy.
(radio beeps)
DR. NICO: Clinic to Herps.
Do you think we can swing by?
JASON ON RADIO: Yes, ‐ .
DR. NICO: ‐ .
JASON: Alright.
Nico will be here any minute.
Let's start getting ready.
SPENCER: Alright.
JASON: We have five eastern
indigo snakes here at Zoo Tampa,
and our goal is to reintroduce
them back into the wild,
but first we need to make sure
that they're healthy,
and to do that, today we'll
be doing some gut swabbing.
KEEPER: Hello.
JASON: Hey, welcome.
KEEPER: Alright.
DR. NICO: We had to test
the indigo snakes for crypto,
which is an organism that
typically lives in the stomach
and is very contagious,
so we don't want
to just bring something
that could potentially
be affecting these animals
and then bring them to the ones
that are already trying,
you know, to do well.
You guys can restrain?
JASON: Yes.
DR. NICO:
Head, body. All gloved.
If you want, I'll get started
on getting the snake.
I'll start on my side.
JASON: This will be
our first one here.
Alright, and you can see she's
kind of shaking her tail at us.
SPENCER: Ah, she's already mad.
I don't blame her.
JASON: Nico will be
inserting a rubber tube
down the throat of the snake
into the stomach.
DR. NICO: Well, it's more
of an irritant to the snake,
what we're doing,
but this doesn't hurt them.
The preys that they eat are
much more bigger than this tube.
Put him more horizontal.
JASON: He'll be injecting
a saline solution
that'll help shush
around everything in there.
DR. NICO: This one was
a really good flush there.
JASON: Hopefully,
when he retracts the fluid,
he'll get some of
the mucus lining of the gut.
DR. NICO:
Yeah, we got some debris.
JASON: And that mucus lining
will tell us
if they're positive
for crypto or not.
DR. NICO: A little debris
from inside.
JASON: These samples
should be sent out to a lab.
Once we get the all clear
from the vets,
these guys are going
back to the wild.
DR. NICO: So, we know
where these ones are going?
JASON: These are going
back to Alabama
where they were
historically found.
One of the big issues was they
require gopher tortoise burrows
to den in over the winter,
or they can't survive.
Where we're releasing them,
it's very cool.
We actually walk around and
find gopher tortoise burrows,
and we release the indigos
into the burrows.
DR. NICO: So, they work
on that population first,
and now they're working
on the second population.
JASON: Right.
DR. NICO: That snake is just
protecting the environment,
not just for herself,
but for the deer,
for the fox, for the hawk,
and using
that particular species
has helped that gopher tortoise
that you like to see, you know,
out there in the park.
And, down the road,
we can go ahead
and take a hike,
you know, to the forest
and say this forest
is all preserved
because of the indigo snake.
Good to see you. Good luck.
Keep me posted. Bye, guys.
JASON: See you later.
DR. NICO: That's always cool.
You know, the guys
are happy, I'm happy.
Snakes are happy.
The environment
is gonna be happy.
That feels good, you know?
♪ ♪
ANGELA: Hi, beautiful.
So, about days ago,
we put our rhinos together,
Jamie and Johnny.
She was showing
all the right signs.
He was showing all
the right signs.
They attempted to breed,
but it wasn't successful.
(honks)
AMANDA: Well, she's vocalizing.
That's a good sign.
KEEPER: Yeah.
AMANDA: Jamie spraying
is our go‐to sign
that she is
in full‐blown estrus
and she's gonna be
receptive to a male.
Have you seen her
spraying a lot?
KEEPER: Yes.
AMANDA: Seems like
she's ready, then.
KEEPER: Yeah.
(honks)
AMANDA: We were
getting ready to go home
and had to make
a change of plans
because it was time
for rhino intros.
KEEPER: Hey!
AMANDA: She's taking
a snack break but‐‐
ANGELA: She's eating.
But you've definitely
seen spraying?
KEEPER: Yeah, she has
the, the frothy nose.
ANGELA: She has the frothy nose.
Are all the gates open?
KEEPER: No, not yet.
ANGELA: No? But you wanna just,
we'll get all the gates
and get everybody.
KEEPER: Cool.
ANGELA: Indian rhinos
are vulnerable to extinction.
Rhinos in general, they're all
hunted for the same reason,
and those numbers
can change dramatically
in a quick amount of time.
Doesn't take very long,
so we always want to have
genetics where they should be
and have a population
that could potentially
be introduced to the wild.
We're helping make a difference
here in Tampa, Florida,
to this amazing animal
that lives so far away.
Hey, John, are you ready?
You look ready.
You do look ready.
Just like, hurry up.
You know, I,
I want Johnny to stay.
I think everybody
wants Johnny to stay,
but it's super important
that Jamie become pregnant.
KEEPER: You ready, Jamers?
ANGELA: So, we need to do
what's best for the population
if he's not able
to make that happen.
(radio beeps)
KEEPER: I'm ready on my side.
(beep)
ANGELA: ‐ , I'm gonna
go ahead and open.
(honking)
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
KEEPER: Well,
that was really fast.
It was actually a little bit
faster than usual.
ANGELA: The first mount
is the most crucial mount
when it comes to this pair,
so this is a very good
start for Johnny.
(gasps)
Oh, my god!
It's like right there!
(honks)
(gasps)
ANGELA: Oh, my god!
It's like right there!
His main issue is the lineup.
Go forward, go forward, buddy.
There we go.
So, if he gets
in the right position
and he's not too far forward
or too far back,
then we're golden.
(radio beeps)
Don't get too excited,
but it is in.
KEEPER: Aah!
It's in.
ANGELA: Johnny did it
on the first mount.
We were all just, like,
standing there in awe
because it happened, like,
right in front of us
and with the first mount,
so we were pretty happy.
This is amazing.
This is amazing.
KEEPER: This could be the one.
That's really exciting.
ANGELA: He's been holding
himself up for a while,
but ultimately, he should
stay in this position
for minutes.
This is huge.
Jamie having a baby with Johnny
is actually really important
because Johnny, his genetics
are really valuable.
He hasn't sired
an offspring before,
so that makes this birth
incredibly important
on the genetic side of things.
We want little Johnnies.
AMANDA: Good job, buddy.
ANGELA: I know.
AMANDA: We have kind of
a running joke in our department
that every time Johnny hears he
might be going to another zoo,
he finally
successfully breeds Jamie
to win back a little more time.
Hopefully that's the case
this time
and she has a calf
and he gets to stay.
ANGELA: He looks
pretty pleased with himself.
AMANDA: Rightfully so.
ANGELA: How long's it been?
AMANDA: minutes.
ANGELA: Ah!
AMANDA: You did it, John!
ANGELA: You did it, Johnny!
AMANDA: Good job!
ANGELA: I think
it's naptime now.
KEEPER: Yeah.
He's like, "Naptime!"
ANGELA: Oh, my gosh. Wow!
AMANDA: That was
very dramatic, honey.
I don't think Jamie's seeing
any more action tonight.
KEEPER: I don't think
Jamie's seeing anything
for the rest of the night.
ANGELA:
So, if Jamie is pregnant,
we're looking
at months from now.
There's nothing I would
rather see in the world
than a little
baby Indian rhino calf.
Oh, my gosh.
AMANDA: So cute.
KEEPER: Giant Johnny bunny ears
on a little, tiny rhino.
(laughs)
AMANDA: That's cute.
ANGELA: It is a good day,
and Jamie agrees.
♪ ♪
KEEPER: Do you want some browse?
That's the ticket.
SPENCER: Alright!
Good job, gators.
JASON: I work with reptiles
and amphibians,
and that basically started
because my older brother
was allergic to anything
with fur on it,
so we couldn't get
anything with fur,
so I started off getting
aquariums, fish t*nk,
catching lizards and frogs
and toads outside,
and from that, I just
started going more and more
into the herp field.
Look at him, he's just shredded
that meat already.
There's just chunks dangling.
percent,
reptiles have personalities.
Sometimes my family thinks
I'm nuts for doing this,
especially when I'm
sending them pictures of me
working with crocs
or venomous snakes,
things that they might not
be comfortable around,
but this is what I like to do.
You guys are gonna have fun.
So, a few weeks ago, we did
stomach swabs on these snakes
to determine if they carried
any pathogens.
The results are negative.
We got the results we wanted.
They are all clear.
Their health is good, and they
can go back to the wild.
Okay, you got a little shed.
TYSON: We're gonna pack up
the indigo snakes,
load 'em up in the van,
and then we're gonna
drive them up to Alabama,
where we're gonna release them
into their natural habitat area.
SPENCER: What a beauty.
JASON: Next stop, the wild.
A couple of years
of raising snakes,
and then you release them into
the wild and hope for the best.
SPENCER: Is that what
it's like to be a parent?
I don't know.
JASON: After two years, just
send your toddler to the wild.
You're good. You got it.
Alright, let's get these
in the car,
and you guys can drive them up.
I am very proud of working
with these snakes.
This is an awesome opportunity
not just for us and for the zoo,
but for the snakes themselves.
Alright. Bye, snakes.
Without this program,
the population might not
be able to recover.
KEEPER: Bye. Have fun.
SPENCER: Bye. Don't be jealous.
JASON: Bye, snakes.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
(laughter)
♪ ♪
SPENCER: Alright, man,
we're finally here.
TYSON: Yeah.
SPENCER: It's gonna be awesome!
Natural habitats.
TYSON: We're out here
in National Forest in Alabama.
I'm excited for today.
It's great doing the
conservation work in the zoo,
but this is actual
in‐the‐field conservation work.
JIM: Hey, guys.
Good to see you.
TRACI: Today, in cooperation
with the Forest Service
and Auburn University,
we are going to release
five snakes that came
from Zoo Tampa.
JIM: We're ready
to take the snakes out,
distribute them
through the forest.
TYSON: Cool.
TRACI: Are these all
two‐year‐old snakes?
TYSON: Two‐year‐old males.
JIM: An important reason for
bringing the indigo snake back
is that it is an apex predator.
It's at the top
of the food chain
from the standpoint
of what it eats,
which is mainly other snakes.
SPENCER: It's hard
to wrap your head around
how many people have come
together in celebration
of this one species
and this one moment.
It's kind of overwhelming.
JIM: ‐ ‐ ,
and so this is the one
that we will first release.
TYSON: This is
a dream come true.
Eight years at the zoo,
I finally get to come back
and release one of those animals
that we've taken care of.
JIM: See if we can go in
a little deeper.
Kind of keep them
away from the road.
TRACI: Get away from the road?
JIM: Yeah.
SPENCER: Right now,
we're going to look
for gopher tortoise holes,
and we'll find a burrow, and
we'll release the snake there.
JIM: This type of a day
puts everything in focus.
We come out here,
and we're reconnected
with the natural world,
with this environment.
SPENCER: And there he goes.
JIM: And the indigo snake
is part of this,
and the gopher tortoise
is part of this.
TRACI: Oh, you found a nice one.
JIM: We have
an active tortoise burrow.
SPENCER: It's one of those
feelings that is humbling,
which is why
I appear calm right now
when inside I am just,
like, screaming my lungs out,
but it's an overwhelming feeling
to have that climax
all come into one,
and this is where it goes.
It's cool.
(laughs)
That's awesome.
It makes you glow almost
there with pride.
To be in the field doing this
is a dream come true,
like a legitimate
dream come true for me.
TRACI: Oh, there's one.
There's a snake, a big snake.
SPENCER: What is it?
TRACI: I can't see its head.
It's coming this way, Jim.
TRACI: There's a snake,
a big snake.
SPENCER: What is it?
TRACI: I can't see its head.
As we were walking along looking
for a gopher tortoise burrow,
I see that dark body
slither across...
It's coming this way, Jim.
...so I just dived
in the bushes.
I got it!
SPENCER: Whoa!
Ah, wow!
TRACI: Look!
SPENCER: Oh, my...
KEEPER: Wow.
JIM: We have one of the snakes
that has been released
either a year ago
or two years ago.
TRACI: I've never seen this
since I've been associated
with the project,
just out in the field.
Our excitement level is
through the roof right now.
That feels really good.
I think I'm kinda out of breath.
(laughter)
It is just what we're here for,
and we can see
that it's working.
JIM: I've scanned his PIT tag,
and we can go back and we can
see exactly which snake it is.
TYSON: It gives me a lot of hope
that the five that we put here
have a great chance
of surviving.
TRACI: See, there's no reason
to fear snakes, right?
SPENCER: No, none at all.
I mean, we literally
just picked him up and‐‐
TRACI: Yeah.
SPENCER:
He's all sorts of behaved.
TRACI: I feel like this is
a national success story.
It's just a piece of history
in my heart
that's gonna last forever.
SPENCER: I don't think I could
ever get tired of watching this.
TRACI: Yeah, you just want
to be like Johnny Appleseed
and throw snakes out
everywhere now, don't you?
SPENCER: You get a snake,
you get a snake.
Every tortoise gets a snake.
TRACI: Thank you
for your hard work.
SPENCER: Right, yeah.
♪ ♪
ANGELA: Would you mind
calling him away a little bit?
Hey, Jonathan.
You got to move your noggin
over here, buddy.
I'm scary, I know.
Good boy.
Alright, I'm gonna open.
CHRIS: We're really excited
that we actually had
a successful copulation
finally with Jamie and Johnny.
ANGELA: Okay,
you're good, buddy.
CHRIS: Now we've just got to
figure out if it's gonna take.
ANGELA: Thank you.
CHRIS: Hey, Johnny.
What's up, buddy?
There's my boy.
I never doubted you
for a minute, right?
(honks)
ANGELA: Hey!
CHRIS: Hey.
I was just telling him
I never doubted him
for a minute.
I knew he could
get the job done.
All the support,
I've been telling him about.
He's such a good boy.
ANGELA: Aw. Yeah, he did it.
CHRIS: What do you think
the chances are?
ANGELA: Probably / .
CHRIS: So, you guys gotta be
much more optimistic.
I mean, I'm the pessimistic one.
You guys have gotta be
rooting this guy.
I've been telling you
you've got to move him out
for a year now. Yeah.
ANGELA:
What do you think, Chris?
CHRIS: I'm skeptical
we have success,
but I've been wrong
once before, so.
Only once.
ANGELA:
Just the one time. Okay.
CHRIS: No, I'm really happy.
The good thing is
if we think we are successful,
and we find out we are,
now Johnny has earned
his permanent stay here,
so the next couple of months
will determine that.
ANGELA: I'm happy with that.
Amanda?
AMANDA: I'm good, too.
ANGELA: Yeah.
AMANDA: Good job, Johnny.
ANGELA: Alright,
we'll keep you posted.
CHRIS: Fingers crossed.
♪ ♪
TIFFANY: Give me your tongue.
There it is!
(laughs)
We have a group of eight
orangutans here at the zoo.
They range from a year old
all the way up to years old.
DeeDee is our oldest female,
and then RanDee is her daughter,
and RanDee is ten.
There's also Dira,
who is our one‐year‐old.
Right now she spends
most of her time hanging on mom.
COLLIN: They're waiting for us.
KEEPER: Oh, but here they come.
TIFFANY: Yeah.
KEEPER: We were just saying how
they're completely ignoring us,
and then you guys come
walking over with food,
and they perked up.
COLLIN: Yeah, you don't
have the good stuff.
KEEPER: We don't. We don't.
COLLIN: Today we are
planning to do something
called an A to B session
with our orangutan.
TIFFANY: We call this
A to B training
because we're trying to get the
animal from point A to point B.
Just like dogs
and other animals,
they do have verbal cues,
so if I want RanDee to go
to a different location,
I'm gonna say send.
COLLIN: RanDee, send.
TIFFANY: And the other person,
they're gonna ask her to come.
DEVON: RanDee, come.
TIFFANY: The reason
we are doing this
is we have eight orangutans
and one doorway,
so it will be very helpful
to be able to call them
individually in by their name
versus all eight of them trying
to do it at the same time.
COLLIN: You ready?
RanDee, send.
DEVON: RanDee, come.
All the way.
KEEPER: See her look back
like, "Should I?"
DEVON: I don't know.
TIFFANY: So, just that,
and then Devon's going inside.
In the past, any time one
of them have gone to the door,
whether they're getting
something or not,
if they think that
they're getting something,
they're all coming, so all
eight of 'em are in the doorway,
so being able to have them come
individually is gonna be huge.
It's gonna be
really great for us.
KEEPER ON RADIO:
Devon, are you ready?
DEVON: ‐ .
COLLIN: RanDee, send.
DEVON: RanDee, come!
KEEPER: Good girl.
COLLIN: There we go.
KEEPER: She's on her way.
TIFFANY: Good job, RanDee.
KEEPER: Good girl.
COLLIN: She's like,
"Oh, it's open. It's open."
DEVON: Good girl!
TIFFANY: The fact that RanDee
is the only orangutan
coming to the door
when called is great,
and it's the first steps
into being able to do this
with the whole group.
KEEPER: Here's the test.
TIFFANY: Yeah.
Is she willing to leave inside
to come out?
COLLIN: She's got to
come all the way back out
to the main platform.
That hopefully
will be easy for her.
It's her first time,
so we don't know.
DEVON: What a good girl!
Good job!
TIFFANY: We give them
a variety of different fruits.
RanDee really
loves strawberries,
so if she does well,
we've got a nice big juicy
strawberry ready to toss to her.
DEVON: Are you ready for me
to send her back?
I don't want to give her
too much in here.
KEEPER: Yeah, we're good.
(radio beeps)
DEVON: ‐ . Sending.
RanDee, send.
COLLIN: RanDee, come.
(cheering)
COLLIN: Good girl!
Oh, yeah. Now I'm gonna
throw her a strawberry.
TIFFANY: For her to do
that big of a distance,
it's a huge accomplishment
for the team
and also for RanDee.
KEEPER: That was awesome.
DEVON: Yeah, it was great.
COLLIN: You know, when she
came out, she came out fast.
KEEPER: She's like,
"Oh, why didn't you tell me
that's what you guys wanted?"
TIFFANY: So, after
we finish up the training,
typically we'll talk
about our session
and kind of watch the animals
for a little bit,
and we notice DeeDee and RanDee
both kind of looking
in the same direction,
making some vocalizations,
which is different
behavior for them.
There's something over there.
They are not happy.
(growling)
TIFFANY: DeeDee and RanDee
both kind of looking
in the same direction,
making some vocalizations,
which is different behavior
for them.
There's something over there.
They are not happy.
We have had different native
animals in the habitat before‐‐
a bug, a possum, and all kinds
of different things.
Oh, yep, I see it.
It's a frog,
climbing up the rocks.
So, these big brave orangutans
seem to be frightened
by a little, tiny frog.
(laughs)
RanDee, you got this.
It's just a little frog.
Eventually DeeDee lost interest.
She decided it wasn't
worth her time anymore.
RanDee, she wasn't
gonna let it go.
KEEPER: Look at her. Ah. Ah.
TIFFANY: Oh. She's gonna
throw something at it.
Oh, my gosh!
Tool use at its finest.
KEEPER: Get off of there, frog.
TIFFANY: Ah, it jumped
in the water.
She didn't get that brave,
but she did use a tool.
Orangutans are very smart.
Good job, RanDee.
We want to make sure
that they are stimulated,
that they're using that brain,
they're problem solving,
or, in this case, get a thr*at
out of their environment.
KEEPER: Woo!
(laughter)
TIFFANY: You taught
that frog a lesson.
Awesome. Great job, everyone.
Good job, guys.
KEEPER: Yay!
Mom and baby eating
next to each other.
It's pretty awesome.
♪ ♪
♪ ♪
DR. RAY: On my way
to check Bingwai.
He was having
some trouble urinating
and had some abdominal pain.
Gonna catch up with Madison
and see what he's up to today.
Hey, Madison.
MADISON: Hi. How are you?
DR. RAY: I am good.
MADISON: Randall is
just loving life up here.
DR. RAY: Yeah, Randall's
just being Randall.
Bingwai, of course,
is gonna hang out in the shade.
He's not gonna have anything
to do with me, I'm sure.
MADISON: Yeah, he's still
a bit shyer lately.
DR. RAY: He's not showing
any more problems with his belly
like he was the other day?
MADISON: No, I haven't
seen any straining.
He's been walking normally.
DR. RAY: Okay.
He urinated, so we don't think
there's a stone anymore.
He's not painful in his abdomen,
so I don't think
it's that dramatic.
My guess is that these boys
were kind of roughhousing.
He just probably
took an ossicone
up under his belly there
and was just a little tender,
so as long as that's all it is,
then we'll let boys be boys.
MADISON: Yeah. They haven't been
tussling, roughhousing, so.
DR. RAY: Alright. Oh.
Obviously you can see
how quick they are
and how much they react,
and if they're doing this kind
of sparring with each other,
it doesn't take a lot of motion
to throw a head
and get that ossicone someplace
that's a little tender.
So, Bingwai looks good.
We'll just watch
him and the boys
when they get into the next
little round of scuffles.
One more bite.
Alright, I'm out of here.
MADISON: Thank you.
I'm super relieved.
He's acting like himself.
He's walking a lot better.
It's a great feeling for me.
I can go home knowing that
when I come in in the morning,
nothing's gonna be wrong.
♪ ♪
KEEPER: You're so excited, huh?
ANGELA: Hey, Jamie Rhino.
DR. LAUREN: So, I'm gonna head
over to catch up with Angela.
We're gonna chat about Jamie.
We're really excited because
it's been about days
since the last breeding date
with Johnny,
and she has not
returned to cycling,
so this is really promising
that we're gonna have a baby.
ANGELA: Jamie,
greater one‐horned rhino,
may be pregnant.
We're really
feeling good about this.
This is actually the longest
Jamie has gone without cycling.
This is amazing.
I feel really confident
that there's a baby
growing inside Miss Jamie.
(laughs)
DR. LAUREN: I think what
we could do, moving forward,
is we'll do the monthly weights
like you guys have been,
and we can try to monitor
her weight gain.
ANGELA: Okay. Great, we'll
start working on bloods again
at the end of the month.
DR. LAUREN: Okay.
ANGELA: And call you up
when we think we're ready
for a vet staff person
to be there.
Good job, Jamie.
DR. LAUREN: Are you done
with this, Jamie?
She's like, "You're
out of lettuce? Alright."
(laughter)
ANGELA: It's gonna
be so wonderful
to see a baby Jamie
or a baby Johnny
and know that this individual
is gonna make a big difference
in generations to come
of Indian rhino.
♪ ♪
CHRIS: Zoos are
so vitally important
to the success and survival
of so many species
around the planet.
We really are putting
together insurance populations
for many of these species
that are critically endangered,
and, in some cases,
some of these animals
are actually extinct
in the wild.
All the animals here really
depend on the animal care team,
but the animal care team really
depends on the animals, too.
That's where
their passion comes from,
that's where their happiness
comes from,
and we share that together.
You know, it's that
mutually beneficial relationship
that makes this work so well.
01x03 - Tampa: You're the Rhino I Want!
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Nat Geo Wild is taking viewers inside the grounds and allowing them to experience what visitors can't: compelling, heartwarming stories, and behind-the-scenes moments and adventures.
Nat Geo Wild is taking viewers inside the grounds and allowing them to experience what visitors can't: compelling, heartwarming stories, and behind-the-scenes moments and adventures.