01x06 - North Carolina: Much Ado About Puffin

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Secrets of the Zoo". Aired: July 29, 2018 - present.*
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01x06 - North Carolina: Much Ado About Puffin

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Jb: That's a cute calf.

Emma: She's very fluffy.

(elephant trumpets)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(roar)

(roar)

(purr)

(roaring)

kristy: Alright.

So you wanna set them
at the top of the hill?

Tori: Yeah, I think that's
where they hang out the most.

Kristy: Ok.

This morning we're gonna do some
enrichment for our two lions,

mekita and reilly.

Mekita is a very sassy cat.

Any chance she gets to scare us,

she's gonna take
that opportunity.

(growling)

but we still love her.

Tori: This is like
a sensory enrichment

that we use for the big cats.

They like a lot of the perfumes.

Lions have a really good
sense of smell.

It's just to kind of make
their environment

a little bit more fun for them.

Kristy: Mint is
mekita's favorite,

so we'll see if
she reacts to that.

All over these items you can see
bite marks and claw marks.

She interacts with almost
anything we put out here,

even a giant pickle.

Let's release.

Ok.

(roar)

good girl, lady kitten.

Hi, kita.

Oh, look at that!

Tori: Reilly loves this cologne.

Yeah, go, reilly!

Kristy:
Is that your boomer ball?

What do you think?

You're not gonna go get it?

Well, she didn't really go after
it like I thought she would.

Tori: Not really interacting.

Kristy: Yeah.

Maybe she's not super into it
because of her tooth.

During mekita's
last annual checkup

we noticed that she had
a fractured premolar.

We are a little concerned that
the tooth has gotten worse,

I'm a little bit worried.

An infection in the jaw could
actually make mekita really sick

and then it could also be fatal.

Maybe we can try
something different.

Let's go grab some bones and see
if that gets her up and moving.

Tori: She is very
food motivated.

Kristy: She is,
she loves her bones.

Tori: Mekita, you ready?

She picked it up
with her left side.

Kristy:
With her left side, yeah.

If she's not chewing
a whole lot on the right,

that's an indication for us

that there is some pain
on that right side.

So our vet staff, they've
decided to remove the tooth

so it won't cause her
any more issues.

Since mekita is
a dangerous animal,

having her under anesthesia
before going to the hospital

is to ensure human safety
as well as her safety.

So, on the day of
mekita's procedure,

I am going to be
the one responsible

for giving her that injection.

I am a little nervous;
it's my first time.

Tori: You got this.
Kristy: Yeah?

Tori: You got this.
Kristy: We'll see.

Tori: And I have faith in her
that she's gonna trust you.

Kristy: I hope so.

Child: Guys, over there, look!

(barking)

(honking)

woman: Do you want
to wave to the puffins?

Child: Hi!

Melissa: Hi, squirt, hi, kids!

Good job, aj.

Hello.

What you doing, lilo?

Here at the north carolina zoo

we have a pretty big
group of horned puffins.

I brought actual-sized
herring today!

Horned puffins are a type
of diving seabird.

Hi, langley.

They are all sorts of energy
and excitement and personality.

Hi, aj.

There's never
a dull moment in there,

because there's always someone
causing some kind of mischief.

Owen!

Our colony has
multiple breeding pairs.

Hi, bella.

For the most part
they're socially monogamous,

so they are with
the same partner every year,

and some of those partnerships
can last decades.

We have two pairs: Dory and owen

and bella and logan.

That's logan
right on the island.

Hi, logan. What you doing, sir?

So right now, we have two eggs

that are hopefully
gonna hatch soon.

Even though logan and bella
have raised a chick,

it's been about five years,

so they're a little bit
out of practice.

Owen and dory, they've
never been successful,

they've lost both
of their chicks.

They've never gotten
past day zero.

They've never had to bring food
in, they've no experience.

So, lots of concern there.

If they can actually
have a chick,

that's a huge thing for them,

and that's really good
genetics for our colony,

and it's a really exciting
experience for them and for us,

chicks are always super fun.

Hi, dory. How you doing?

Go sit on the egg, please.
Think happy baby thoughts.

It's really important
for the puffins

to be sitting on their eggs,
because it's cold in there,

it's alaska, so they have
to keep the egg warm.

An inexperienced pair
might not know

that they have to sit on the egg

for as long as
they're supposed to.

So today we're going to candle
owen and dory

and bella and logan's eggs.

Good girl, bella.

(honk)

to make sure everything
is going ok.

Candling is a process where you
hold the egg up to a lightbulb.

It gives you a look
inside the egg,

and you can see the structures

and the chick,
and hopefully some movement.

Sally: Hopefully everybody's
been incubating well,

and we might even be able to see
when they're gonna hatch.

I do want both sets of
these parents to succeed.

I would love to have
all the pufflings possible.

So, who are we gonna start with?

Melissa: We'll start
with bella and logan.

Sally: Lights out.

♪ ♪

melissa: Is that--
there's a baby!

Sarah: There is a baby.

Melissa: Fluffy baby!

There it is!

Sarah: It's moving a little bit

and then the head's
right over here.

Melissa: That's crazy.

(peep)

sarah: Did you hear that?

(peep)

melissa: Is that a peep?

Sarah: That's a peep!

Sally: You can actually hear
the chick in there

vocalizing to the parents.

(peep)

sarah: Ohhh, look, there are
some stars right there!

Sally: Awesome.

Sarah: So the stars are
just really small cracks.

That means the chick is inside
is just pushing up against

the eggshell with its bill,
and on the top of the bill

there's something
called an egg tooth,

and that's helping it push
through the eggshell.

When a puffin chick
starts to hatch,

it generally takes
about three to four days.

Sally: It's really hard.

It's definitely a big test
of strength for a chick.

Melissa: He's only like a couple
days away from hatching.

Sarah: Oh, yeah.

Sally: That's awesome.

Sarah: Looks like
logan and bella

have been doing
a really good job.

Alright, so,
owen and dory's egg.

Sally: Ok.

Melissa: Owen and dory weren't
sitting on their egg

when we went to collect it.

That's not a great sign.

Sally: Can you hear the chick?

Sarah:
No, I don't hear the chick.

But I do see a head and a wing.

The chick is right there.

So you can see a lot
of the stars right here.

Sally: So, chick seems
to be doing really well?

Sarah: Yeah.
Melissa: Awesome.

Sarah: Let's get it back in the
nest before it gets too cold.

Sally: Alright.

Sarah: I get so excited
right when they hatch,

it's like opening
a christmas present!

Melissa: Oh, god!

Jb: So the life of a zoo vet is,
it's unpredictable at best.

There are nearly , animals

and well over
different species

here at the north carolina zoo,

so there's always
a new problem coming up.

We've got things
that are planned,

but if an emergency pops up,
I have to drop what I'm doing.

If I'm looking at a turtle,

and I may have to go look
at a b*at-up chimp.

But that's one of the things
that I love about my job:

There's no routine.

Today we are going to be
getting mekita the lion

under anesthesia, so that we can
hopefully get a tooth out.

Plan a today is kristy is going
to hopefully encourage her

to come up to the mesh

and be able to get that
anesthetic injection into her.

The backup plan for us
is to dart her.

I don't like darting animals.

And when they see me
and they see that g*n,

their stress level goes way up.

Kristy: There is
a lot of pressure for me

to get this injection
in this morning.

Come on, I got your food.

Mekita and I, we've been trying
to build that relationship up

to where she trusts me.

Good job, sweetheart.

Working with each other
for the past few months

on her lean-in behavior to get
that anesthetic drug in there.

Mekita, come here,
let's lean in.

But mekita is very observant.

I've got your meatball.

Open. Good!

So she notices
every little thing.

Alright, let's lean in.

You were doing so well.

Jb: Are you ready?
Kristy: I'm ready.

Jb: Good luck.
Kristy: Thank you, sir.

Jodi: You got this.

Kristy: I got it.
Thank you, ma'am.

(roaring)

we've noticed that mekita
has been pacing in her room

and that could just be
because she senses my nerves

and she's feeding off that.

Hello.

(roar)

so hopefully that's not a sign

that things are
not gonna go well.

Hi, mekita.

Are you ready?

(purring)

do you want to come over?

It's ok.

Mekita.

Not in the mood?

(growl)

jb: Mekita, she's been
trained to realize

that if she puts her shoulder
up against the mesh

and kristy touches it,
she's gonna get a treat,

but mekita's a pretty intense
and very intuitive animal,

so this may not go
according to plan.

Kristy: Mekita, I've got
some food for you.

It's your favorite.

It's ok.

(growling)

it's not that bad.

Just like we did before,
princess.

Good girl, alright,
let's lean in.

Alright, good girl.

(roaring)

kristy: Today is
mekita's procedure day.

It's ok.

(purring)

we're going to check out
that fractured tooth,

hopefully get it removed.

Just like we did before,
princess.

There is a lot of pressure

for me to get this injection
in this morning.

Good girl.

Alright, let's lean in.

Alright, good girl.

(roar)

I know, mekita, I'm sorry,
no meatball this morning.

I got the injection.

I'm proud of her
and I'm proud of myself.

We'll see if she falls asleep.

Jodi: You got it?!

Kristy: I did.

Jodi: Awesome!

Kristy: We'll see, though.

Jb: Good job.

Kristy was able to get
the injection, it's awesome,

it means we don't have
to do any darting.

So now the plan is
just wait it out,

between eight to nine minutes.

Emma:
It's been six minutes. Yeah.

Jb: So we're waiting
for the dr*gs to work.

I mean, this is a lioness.

If we go in there and
she's not fully asleep,

she's potentially gonna bite
you, scratch you, hurt you.

Good?

Ok, I think she's asleep.

Emma, our third-year
zoological resident,

she's training with us,

and this is her first
dental procedure on a lion.

One, two, and three.

Emma: Today is a big day
in my career.

Really excited,
a little nervous.

Jb: Ok, ok, set her down.

Emma: Lions are
such cool animals

and everybody wants
to work with them.

Jb: Woo, this got slippery.

Emma: So when it's your job
to do a procedure on a lion,

it's a great day.

Jb: Let's move!

Hospital to hospital scott,
we're on our way.

Emma: When you're practicing
veterinary medicine

on so many types of animals,

you just have to have
a really flexible mind.

Jb: Straighten out.
Jodi: Straighten.

Emma: When I come up to
something that I don't know...

Jodi: Watch your step.
Jb: Watch your step.

Emma: I look it up,
talk about it,

and then put it in my brain
for the next day.

Let's get her hooked up
to all her monitoring.

Jb: I'm gonna try to let emma
take the lead on a lot of this

because she needs
the experience.

Emma: You ready to take
this radiograph quick, jb?

Jb: But it does take
a lot of energy and effort.

Clear!

She may get tired;
she may just need a break.

So, I'll tag in.

Emma: The x-rays we have
from mekita's last procedure

show that just the very tip
of the tooth was broken.

Jb: Since that time, probably
from continuing to chew

on bones, she's fractured
the entire crown off.

So all we have now
are the two roots.

So what we're gonna to do is
remove both of these roots

from the underlying jawbone.

Emma: The first step is
just cutting the gum

away from the root.

Jb: If we didn't do anything
about this tooth,

it could become infected, and
I'm not willing to risk that.

Emma: Extracting this root
is really difficult.

My arms are getting
really tired.

Lions have really strong jaws,

so these roots are stuck
really solidly into the jaw.

Jb: These procedures can
become very frustrating,

because it takes
so much energy and effort

to get this tooth out.

If you want to say, ok, I need
a break, we can switch out.

Emma: Ah, it's so close.

No.

Jb: Let's tag out
for a minute, come on.

Emma: I got such a good spot.

Jb: I'll go to the low one.

Emma: Ok.

Jb: Emma's been at this a while.

I don't want either one of us
to become too tired,

because we'll get frustrated,
and these roots will snap.

This lower one's close.

Emma: Yeah, it's super close.

Jb: You are tough.

Can switch out.

Emma: I don't feel so bad now
that I see jb also struggling.

This is definitely the toughest
extraction I've ever had to do.

I should have been working out
to get ready for this.

Oh, it's so close.

(snip)

ugh. Oh, man!

Jb: Fracture?
Emma: Yeah.

Jb: Let me see it.

Despite doing everything right,
the root broke.

This is not uncommon.

Getting a root out of a jaw
of this size is really hard.

This is one of the pieces
of the root.

So there is a small piece left
inside of the, the jaw.

That could act as a wick
and bring bacteria

down to the bottom of the tooth.

If any bacteria got
into the jaw,

we could develop
some bone infection.

And that can be very dangerous.

Emma: Do you want to see
if you can help me

get the rest of the root out?

It's a tough one, right?

Jb: That last ligament
in there is just tough.

I'm just wiggling it,
I mean, it's not coming.

(bleep)

it got fractured in pieces.

Emma: In multiple pieces?

Jb: Mm-hmm.

Ideal situation, they would have
come out in one piece,

but both of these roots
have fractured.

Just a day-to-day
of what happens

when you are a zoo veterinarian.

We're gonna have to drill.

(drill buzzing)

emma: You want me to drill
through that root?

Jb: Yeah, you're gonna basically
drill that root part out.

Hollow it out from the inside.

Emma: Ok, I see what
you're saying.

Working here at the zoo
I've definitely learned

how to stay calm under pressure.

Jb isn't panicking;

he is just finding a new
solution to get the job done.

Ugh.

We finally got both roots out.

I'm really tired.

Jb: Good job.

We're gonna sew up the hole,
and then we're done.

Now we've got to do
everything in reverse.

We've got to get her
back down to her enclosure

and get her inside
before she wakes up.

Woman: Are we ready?

Jb: Yeah, let's take off.

Her pupils are
starting to dilate,

andrea, let's speed it up.

Now turn it, now turn it sharp.

Woman: Stop!

Jb: All the dr*gs are
starting to wear off.

One, two, and three.

It's a race to get back into the
enclosure before she wakes up.

Let's get this done
as quickly as possible.

Let's go.

Emma, bring the drug box!

This one?

Emma: Yeah, in that one.

Jb: Ok, ok, take it.

Stay focused.

Jb: Let's go fast.
Woman: Yeah.

Jb: I got her.
Woman: Ok.

Jb: Keep an eye on her, ok.

Shut that door, that door.

The reversal's in!

Shut this!

Not all the way.

That's good.

She's waking up.

Kristy: Mekita was
a rock star today.

I'm very proud of her.

We're gonna keep
a close eye on her

to make sure she recovers fine.

Jb said no bones
for a least a month,

which she's gonna be
pretty sad about.

Emma: Being a zoo vet is
a really unique job.

When people ask me what
I did today, I can tell them

that I worked up close and
personal with a -pound lion

and got to be her dentist.

Just another day in the office!

♪ ♪

woman: Good morning!

♪ ♪

(honking)

melissa: Hi, dory.

Every morning we check
on our nest tunnels.

So we're about to check on
logan and bella's egg

and hopefully it's a chick,

we're pretty excited
for it to be a chick.

(screech)

logan and bella haven't raised
a chick in five years,

so they're a little
out of practice;

hopefully it kind of comes back
to them like riding a bike.

(squawk)

if we find a chick,
we want it to be perky, alert.

It might be a little tired,

just it's a hard job
coming out of an egg.

Nikki: Tingles.

(melissa sighs)

melissa: What do you see?
Is there an egg?

Is there a chick?

(squawk)

melissa: Every morning we do
a quick check on our eggs

to see if they've hatched yet.

Nikki: Tingles.

(melissa sighs)

melissa: Yesterday
logan and bella's egg

was pretty close to hatching.

What do you see? Is there
an egg? Is there a chick?

Nikki: Hello!
(peeping)

melissa: Awesome!

Logan and bella hatched a chick.

Hi, monster.

He's less than a day old.

Amazing.

Ok, take the chick and
we'll get a weight on it.

He's like,
"this is all new to me."

nikki: grams.

Melissa: Hmm,
a little under average.

We don't know if logan and bella
have fed it yet.

You were in there this morning,

did you see them bringing
any food in there?

Nikki: At the time
I don't think I did.

Melissa: Ok.

There's no fish in the nest box.

That could mean that they
haven't brought anything

or it could mean that the chick
ate it or maybe they ate it,

we don't know.

Are you hungry?

With their previous chick,

it kinda took them
a little while

to click that
the chick was hungry.

So we want to make sure
that the chick gains weight

and it stays on track.

Hopefully he takes some food.

I'll even let you
pick it up yourself.

If the chick isn't fed enough,

they won't grow appropriately,
and we'll have to step in.

Keep trying.

Worst-case scenario, pulling
the chick for hand-rearing.

I know, it's a lot.

(peep)
oh.

There you go! Good job.

You're getting it down,
getting it down.

Yes!

Nikki: Nice!

Melissa: Good job, dude.

Nikki: You ready to go
back to mom and dad? Yeah.

Melissa: Ok.

I'm just a little concerned

about bella and logan
bringing food in.

So we are gonna keep a really
close eye on this chick,

but hopefully
they figure it out.

(peeping)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(frogs croaking)

♪ ♪

audrey: I have some rats
and chicken and fish.

Melissa: Alright!

(growling)

audrey: It's almost degrees,

so they should be
very food motivated.

Melissa: Definitely,
this kind of weather

is perfect for feeding gators.

Girl: Alligator, look!

Girl: Why is it staring at us?

(laughs)

melissa: I saw bubbles.

So today we're gonna be training
two of our female alligators.

Audrey: Xena's over
by her station.

Melissa: Alright,
let's go in and feed.

Audrey: Ok. Xena and spot
are housed together,

but they have a fence
between them,

so they have adjacent rooms.

Female alligator xena.

Do a training session with her.

The only way to train gators
is to get in there with them

armed with a bucket of meat.

If an alligator bites a person,

they like to shred and tear
large chunks of meat off,

so you could definitely
lose a limb.

(quacking)

a lot of guests are surprised
that we train the alligators,

but it's important to train them

in order to do
medical procedures on them.

(quacking)

hold.

We have water stations, to keep
them in the water for safety.

Hold!

Hold!

(roar)

(jaws snapping)

♪ ♪

xena does occasionally breach
the water, and when she does,

I take a step back,
kinda like a timeout.

I am not necessarily
afraid of alligators.

I'm just cautiously aware
of their abilities.

Hold!

She knows if she comes out
I won't give her food...

(roar)

...But she also wants it so bad
that she can't resist.

Hold!

It's like dealing with
a five-year-old sometimes.

Graceful!

Alligators have what you would
think is a really small brain

compared to the size
of their body,

but they're
incredibly intelligent.

Xena, hold!

It's very interesting
to see how evolution

sometimes can surprise you.

Xena, over.

Done, how are you doing?

Melissa: Three pieces left.

Audrey: Ok.

Melissa: Target.

Good girl.

Spot, over.

Audrey: Alright, melissa,
let's go check on gator boy.

Melissa: Alright, awesome.

(growling)

gator boy is our one male.

I'm his primary trainer.

He's the largest
and the most impressive

being at foot,
almost pounds,

and he's also probably
the coolest to work with.

Audrey: I guess we're gonna do
another training session;

we need to get
the blood samples soon.

Melissa: Come on, boy.

About years ago we had
a little bit of a health scare

with gator boy.

Hey, bud!

He started having
some respiratory issues.

Boy, come!

Given gator boy's
medical history,

we do want to keep a close watch
on his health

and monitor that
through blood samples.

Target.

Audrey: So, we're working
on blood draw training

with gator boy.

Melissa: Good boy.

Audrey: We ask him to
come out of the water

and line up against the fence,

and a vet tech will come in
and get a blood sample.

Melissa: Come on, bud.

Alligators don't eat for
six months of the year,

so we only have that
six months of time

with feeding and training them.

Target.

Audrey: Last year we weren't
able to get blood on gator boy.

Melissa: Hold!

Audrey: If we don't get this
sample in the next few weeks,

then we will miss
our opportunity

of getting it for
the rest of the year.

(growling)

♪ ♪

man: Good morning,
how are you folks?

Stephanie: Alright.

(laughter)

♪ ♪

today is annual exam
for our flamingo flock,

so what we're gonna do
is catch up

all of our chilean flamingos,

give them a once-over
and see how they're doing.

Jb: Ok, let's get
these exams done.

What's the number on that bird?

Bobby: This is .

Jb: They look great.

(honking)

the actual exam itself
is not that challenging.

We're gonna get them
and we're gonna be checking

how the organs are functioning.

Do we need more blood
on that bird?

Woman: Yeah.

Jb: Okay.

The challenging part is trying
to get all of these birds done,

it's almost like we get into
like an assembly line with them.

♪ ♪

three vaccines left.

Who couldn't like a flamingo?

Long-legged and most of them
have a pretty good attitude.

Stephanie: Flamingos
are always fun.

I mean, it's a hot pink bird,

what could you not love
about that?

Jb: This bird's got leukemia.

We've been monitoring him
for like years.

Stephanie: Number is
a special case for us.

Holding her is a challenge,

because she is a little bit more
susceptible to stress.

Jb: Right now, we're trying
to get the blood on this bird.

It's a blind stick, you don't
see the vessel really well.

We're gonna put a little bit
of pressure on it,

to see if we can get it
to pop up a little bit.

(squawk)

none of these birds want
to give blood today.

Stephanie: When birds
are stressed out,

it can be more difficult
to get blood from them.

So we are trying to get blood
from the brachial vein

going through her wing.

Jb: Ok.

We got the blood!

Can you hold that bird
for just a little longer?

Some of these birds
are really old,

I mean, we got birds in here
that are older than me.

(laughter)

andrea: Hey, jb?
Jb: Yep.

Andrea: We've got a bleeder
over here.

This is leukemia bird.
It's a pretty heavy drip.

Stephanie: Today is our annual
exam for our flamingo flock.

Jb: We're gonna get
blood samples from them.

Andrea: Hey, jb.
Jb: Yep.

Andrea: We've got a bleeder
over here.

It's a pretty heavy drip.

This is leukemia bird,
she might need oxygen.

Jb: Ok, amy get the oxygen
for this bird.

Stephanie: We noticed that
she is getting kind of weak,

and that her breathing is
getting a little too rapid.

Jb: Put your fingers on that
but just keep it down.

So, this bird, she's just
bleeding from that wing vein

a little longer than we'd like.

So, we're just putting
some pressure on it,

giving her a little bit
of oxygen.

Stephanie: And she is
getting a little hot.

Andrea: Yep, she's been
in hand a while.

Stephanie: Birds can overheat
very quickly

if they get too hot.

So I gotta make sure that
she's not stressing out.

Jb: Has that blood stopped?

Andrea: Not yet.

Jb: We don't want these birds
in hand for too long,

they'll get really stressed out
and they'll overheat.

So we gotta get this
bleeding under control

and as soon as possible.

Stephanie:
We're applying coagulant

to help this clot
and stop bleeding.

Jb: Ok, it's clotted now.

Stephanie: Put her down?
Jb: Yeah.

(laughter)

stephanie: We just finished
our exams,

we did get all birds in hand.

Jb: Heart sounds good, feet
look great, eyes look good.

Stephanie: Beautiful.

It is our biggest procedure, so
it's a relief to have it done.

(laughs)

jb: We've got some blood results
that are gonna be coming back.

We wanna get
a little bit more insight

into how the organs
are functioning,

but overall everybody
looks to be pretty well.

Oh, it's hefty,
it's a hefty bird.

Working at the north carolina
zoo is not a -to- job.

One of the things I love is the
teamwork and the camaraderie.

I'm never leaving this place.

♪ ♪

heather: This morning
I am headed to the swamp

to collect blood on gator boy.

(hiss)

my family definitely
thinks I'm crazy

for enjoying working with
a -pound alligator.

But it's our mission
to make animals

as happy and healthy
as possible.

The best part of my job,

I might work with
a teeny-tiny lizard one day,

and then tomorrow, I might get
to work with an elephant.

Every day is new,
no matter what I'm doing.

Melissa: How do you think
gator boy is gonna do today?

Audrey: A nice, warm day.

Melissa: Should be a good day
for a blood draw.

Heather: Hello.

Melissa: Good morning.

Heather: Hey, y'all.

Hi, handsome.

Melissa: He is definitely ready.

Heather: Yeah, he's in position.

It'll be good to get that
blood work and just make sure

he hasn't had any recurrence
of that fungal pneumonia.

He's what, now?

Melissa: Yeah.

Heather: Yeah, we want to, like,
keep an eye on him

and make sure he's staying
healthy in his old age.

(grumble)

I'm sorry, very young,
young, but.

Audrey: He's knows
we're talking about him.

Heather: I mean,
look at that face.

Handsome and young, buddy.
He is ready to train!

Alrighty, let's go.

Audrey: Alligators are
cold-blooded

and only really active
during the summer.

It gives us a very small window
of time to get a blood draw.

Heather: We really need these
blood samples on gator boy.

He has a history of a pneumonia,

and we can't easily
do chest radiographs

to make sure it hasn't returned,

so that blood sample is really
our biggest diagnostic tool

to check he's doing okay.

(whistle blows)

audrey: We blow the whistle
before we enter the habitat.

That tells them to move
to their stations,

they're gonna have a training
session, they're gonna get fed.

Melissa: Boy, come.

Audrey: There's a lot of things
that could go wrong today.

Melissa: Boy, come.

Audrey: Gator boy could decide

that he's not coming
out of the water.

Sometimes he's not
motivated enough.

Melissa: Come on, bud.

I'm gonna work on keeping
gator boy into position

as long as I possibly can,
but no promises.

Come.

Good boy.

It's ok.

Heather: I'm just gonna hang out
towards the entrance

of the habitat until melissa
gets gator boy settled.

Melissa: Target.

Heather: He is
a dangerous animal.

(growl)

he came out of the water
real quick.

Melissa: Target!

(hiss)

good boy. Alright.
I think we're good.

Heather: You feeling it?

Melissa: Yeah.

Heather: Once gator boy stations
then the pressure really hits me

to actually do my job
and get that blood sample.

Audrey: Hopefully, gator boy
will listen to melissa

and he won't respond to anything

that heather is doing
to his tail.

Heather: Hey, handsome,
I'm right behind ya.

Alligators have
very strong tails.

Little alcohol.

Gator boy is very large.

So if he actually takes a full
swing at me, just being hit

with basically a small
tree trunk, could injure me.

Alright, buddy, so you're ready
for a stick?

Melissa: Yeah.

Heather: Alright, going in.

Alligator skin is really thick,

so I'm actually looking for the
soft spot between the scales.

(growl)
good job, buddy.

Melissa: Hold. Hold. Hold.

Heather: Repositioning
a little bit.

The blood vessel
runs right below

the vertebrae in the tail,

so I need to aim right
below those vertebrae

to find that vessel.

I'm gonna reposition again.

Once the needle
is through the skin

I don't have a lot
of room to adjust.

Alright, melissa, I'm gonna
come all the way out.

I think that was
a little too high.

I missed the vessel,
it bent the needle a little bit.

Melissa: There we go.

Heather: I'm gonna get
another needle, melissa.

Melissa: Okay.

Heather: Hey, buddy.

I don't want to make him angry,

so if I don't get it
on the second stick,

we're gonna call it for the day.

Alright, let's try that again.

Going back in, sticking.

Good job, buddy, I know.
(roar)

melissa: Hold!

Heather: Hey, gator boy!

Melissa: Alright, there we go.

There's only a short time
I can keep him in this position,

so heather's got to get
the blood draw soon.

Heather: Going back in,
sticking.

Good job, buddy, I know.

Ugh!

I got a little sample.

Buddy, I know, I know.

So we got what we need.

Melissa: Alright, good boy.

Finally getting blood from
gator boy is a big deal.

Heather: Nice sample,
don't need much,

even though he's a big boy.

Melissa: Gator boy
did great today.

He definitely held
in position very well.

Alright, gator boy, over.

Heather: Melissa's
gator boy's main trainer.

The relationship that they have
built up is really great to see.

Melissa: Here, boy.

When I first came to the swamp,

I really wanted to work
with the cougars,

but then I've definitely grown
to love the alligators.

Gator boy is tired out now.
(chuckles)

I love working
with the alligators.

Gator boy is awesome.

Alright, great job.
You got blood! Awesome!

Heather: He did awesome!
(laughs)

it wasn't very graceful
on my end, but.

Now that we have our sample, I'm
going to take it back to the lab

and make sure
gator boy's healthy.

He threw his tail at me,
so he's feeling frisky.

I'm sure he's gonna
be just fine.

Robert: We wanna
welcome you today,

if we get everybody loaded up.

Woman: Hi, everybody.

(grunt)

nancy: Here we go.

(braying)

melissa: I hear you,
hold on, monster, I'm coming.

I don't see logan,
I think I see bella.

Logan and bella's chick
is a few days old now.

We haven't really been
seeing them bring in fish.

We're a little bit concerned,

because we don't know how
consistently they're feeding it.

Logan, that food is
for the kid, not you.

Logan and bella may be doing
most of their feeding at night,

we don't know.

There is a chance
we're not seeing it.

(honk)

this morning we also just wanna
check on dory and owen

and see if we have a baby.

I'm nervous.

Sally: Deep breaths.

Owen and dory
haven't been fantastic

about incubating their egg,

they've been off of it
a little bit more

than what we would like to see.

Melissa: It would be
really exciting

if owen and dory have a chick.

Hi.

I know, I'm sorry.

Hi, dory.

(honk)

hi, baby.

(honking)

didn't make it.

Sally: Oh.

(honking)

melissa: Looks like he didn't
make it out of the egg.

I'm really bummed.
I'm really bummed.

We were really excited.

Sally: Do you want to go ahead
and pull it out?

(honking)

melissa: I know,
I'm sorry, baby.

(honking)

melissa: There.
Sally: The egg's warm.

Melissa: He passed in the egg.

In the past we've had chicks
just get too tired

and not be able to
make their way out.

It's possible that
he just got too weak,

but it's also possible there
was something else going on.

That sucks.

Sally: He was making
a good hole.

I mean, you were almost out.

Melissa: They're gonna be
confused for a while.

I've been here years.

You get attached.

It's kind of like just walking
into a group of friends,

so when something goes wrong,
it does kind of hit you hard,

but, umm...

Logan and bella's chick
is still counting on us.

That's my responsibility.

(honks)

(sighs)

(honking)

robert: Folks, you have really
picked the right time to visit.

Mekita, our lioness,
just had a trip to the dentist.

But her keepers have
a little surprise

waiting for her to cheer her up.

Tori: This looks super realistic
and I love the tail.

Kristy: You think mekita's
gonna go after it?

Tori: Oh, for sure.

Kristy: Today is a big day,

mekita got the all-clear
to have bones again,

so today we're gonna give her
a nice papier-mâché zebra

with lots of bones inside.

She definitely deserves this.

I think she's dreaming
about bones.

Tori: Alright,
so where are you thinking?

Kristy: Um, I want to do it
at the top here,

and we'll put its butt
facing towards,

like, where she's coming.

Tori: Unsuspecting zebra.

Kristy: Yeah.

So this is gonna be a good test

to see if the procedure
went well.

Hopefully we see her
chewing on the right side,

since that's where
the tooth was pulled.

Agh. I'm hoping that she is
gonna just att*ck it,

get in there, shred it apart,
just like she's in africa.

Kristy: You ready?

Tori: Let's do this.

Kristy: Let's do it.
Sorry, mr. Zebra.

Mekita has no idea that we've
put bones inside this zebra.

It's like an easter egg hunt.

She's got to use that nose
to find them.

Drumroll, tori.

Tori: Drumroll.
What she's going to do?

Kristy there she goes!

Oh, there she goes!

Kristy: Mekita has no idea

that we've put bones
inside the zebra.

It's like an easter egg hunt.

She's gotta use that nose
to find them.

Drumroll, tori.

Tori: Drumroll.

Kristy: Oh, there she goes.

Girl, you better get it.

Mekita!

Yeah.

Tori: Oh, ok.

Kristy: Ok.
(laughter)

that is not at all what we
thought you were gonna do, ok.

You have some bones in there.

Tori: There's treats in there,
I promise.

Kristy: Get it, get it,
get it, get it.

There you go.

Good job.

Mekita is going to town.

She is head-deep into
the zebra's stomach.

It's just like
she's out in the wild.

Tori: She's eating
that thing fast.

She's using both sides
of her jaw.

Kristy: That's a good sign.

Tori: So I definitely think
that she has healed.

It doesn't seem to be
bothering her at all

that she's missing that tooth.

And I think she's
a happy lion now.

Kristy: She's got her bones,
she got a zebra,

she's got her boyfriend
just staring.

Tori: What more could you want?

Kristy: I am so excited that she
was able to get her bones again.

She's eating well, she's sassy.

She is back to her old self.

She's our delicate,
vicious flower.

Tori: She sure is.

♪ ♪

kristy: Hey, jb,
mekita loved the zebra.

She is chewing down
on that bone.

Jb: That's exciting news.

This job gives me access
to some amazing animals.

I get to be there
on the day they're born.

I get to watch them
grow and thrive,

and that's only
a small part of it.

A vet's main role is
to help an animal

that gets sick or injured.

I take that responsibility
very seriously.

(bleats)

the only thing
that really matters

is the health and happiness
of our animals.

It can be exhausting,

but I wouldn't change it
for the world.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(honk)

sally: So, have you seen bella
or logan feeding chick at all?

Melissa: I haven't really seen
a whole lot of them

picking up fish
and bringing it in.

Puffin parents have
to be good at feeding.

You want your chick
to grow fast.

So, dr. Emma's coming by
to do a physical.

We're gonna discuss weight gain
and make a call

on whether or not
we're gonna need to pull

bella and logan's chick
for hand-rearing.

Sally: Puffin chicks
ideally should be raised

by puffin parents.

We wanna make sure that they
have the colony around them

and they can learn all those
social cues and behavioral cues

from their parents.

So I'm really hoping that logan
and bella will get it together

so we don't have
to hand-rear anybody.

Melissa: Yeah.
Sally: That's my big hope.

Emma: Hi.

Sally: You can come stand
beside of me.

Emma: Perfect.
Sally: If you want.

Emma: Every puffin chick born
at the north carolina zoo

gets a veterinary exam.

A puffin exam consists
of looking at the puffin,

weighing it, listening
to its heart and lungs,

and making sure that
there's no signs of illness.

Alright, we'll take
a good look at him.

If a puffin chick's parents
don't feed it enough,

it can get sick
and sometimes pass away.

Melissa: He's really warm.

This is the warmest
I've felt him.

Sally: Oh, my goodness.

Melissa: Yeah,
he's getting squirmy.

Emma: That sounds good.

That umbilicus looks really
good, that's not swollen.

The little chick is about
the size of a softball,

and I love getting
to see them grow up.

Melissa: We're always a little
nervous when we weigh chicks.

We always want
to see an increase.

. .

(peep)

almost into triple digits.

Sally: Oh, gosh, so this chick
is doing really good.

Parents are, parents
have figured it out.

Emma: Yeah.

Melissa: I'm super proud
of logan and bella.

The chick gained
almost grams,

which is just a massive increase
for a chick this size.

Emma: He can go back
with his parents, then. Yay!

Good, I'm glad he's doing well.

Sally: Me, too, yeah.

Melissa: It's a big relief
to have confirmation

that we're not gonna
have to hand-rear.

Sally: It's wonderful news.

Melissa: The chicks get
to grow up with mom and dad,

and that is amazing.

(peeping)

that's the goal to give them
as natural a life as we can.

It's always exciting
to have chicks.

Hi, buddy.
When did you get so big?

They're little
new balls of energy.

They kind of reinvigorate you.

Don't eat that, no, no, no,
not yours, not yours!

(laughs)

(peep)
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