01x01 - Tampa: Stingray Stunner

[bunniefuu]

(honking)

(purrs)

(trumpets)

AMANDA: Hello, girls.

I have snacks for you.

Come here.

The Wallaroo section of the zoo
is Australian themed,

but you do not need
an Australian accent to go in.

We have a lot of playgrounds
for the kids to play on.

There's a water park.

We have wallabies and koalas.

I would say my favorite
is wallabies.

Hello, Lovebug.

You want to come over
for a peanut?

Good job.

They really like to use
their hands;

they're super inquisitive
and friendly.

Good job, lady.

She's like, bye.

(laughs)

Also in Wallaroo we have
two adult koalas.

It is relatively rare
to have koalas in zoos

in the United States.

ANGELA: Came to see Heathcliff.

AMANDA: We have Heathcliff,
who is the male koala.

He is pretty laid back,
super chilled.

ANGELA: You want
some of this, buddy?

AMANDA: (laughs) He's like,
just put it in there,

we'll see what happens.

And then we have Ceduna
who is the female.

She's a little spunkier.

ANGELA: Ceduna doing
yoga poses today?

AMANDA: She is. She's been
doing some silly stuff.

(laughs)

Oh, my gosh,
we brought you snacks.

KATIE: That's like me
in front of a bowl of ice cream.

AMANDA: Oh, yes. (laughs)

We have not seen
a ton of interest

between Heathcliff and Ceduna
as far as breeding goes.

She seems to be very protective
of her pouch today,

so I'm not sure what's going on.

ANGELA: Oh, really? OK.

Ceduna wears the pants
in that relationship.

They have two
different bedrooms;

she is welcome to go
to his room,

but Heathcliff goes to her room,
and she'll usually move him out.

So what's going on?

KATIE: She's just
kind of hanging out.

ANGELA: We could try to do
a pouch check now.

We do a pouch check
every days,

just to make sure that there's
not a joey in the pouch,

looks OK.

KATIE: I mean,
she's looking pretty relaxed.

So I think if we want
to give it a sh*t.

ANGELA: I think I could probably
stick my finger

in there now, but...

KATIE: Give it a sh*t.

(laughs)

ANGELA: No, I don't think so.

Nope, she doesn't
want me touching it.

KATIE: Lately, when we
kind of touch near that area,

she's a little bit sensitive;
she'll draw back,

where normally she would be
completely fine with it.

ANGELA: We might wait
until Monday to do this.

KATIE: OK.

ANGELA: Just so that
she's not stressed out.

KATIE: She is due
for her two‐year checkup.

ANGELA: My fingers are crossed.

I really, really,
really hope we have a joey.

You know, it just doesn't
seem like we do,

from looking at her
from the outside,

but it's very possible
that it's at an angle

that it's tucked to the side
and we just don't know.

KATIE: Knowing if a koala
is pregnant can be difficult,

because when they're born

they're only days old
and they're super tiny,

and they crawl into the pouch
and attach to one of the teats.

When they're that small and
inside kind of a cushy pouch,

you can't tell.

ANGELA: We'll just wait
to see what we see

in the pouch on Monday.

KATIE: Cross our fingers.

ANGELA: Alright.
Koalas aren't endangered.

However, it's always good
to be on top of genetics,

so we'd like to keep
that number growing.

But the big picture is not
about the zoo's family,

it's about the potential
of that species

living on for
generations to come.

KATIE: Bye, Ceduna.

You be a good girl.

I'm really excited.

(laughs)

ALEX: Welcome to Zoo Tampa.

My name is Alex.

And off to the right‐hand side

we're gonna see
the Aldabra tortoises.

When fully grown,
they can reach weights

of up to and around
pounds on average.

JASON: Alright, we need a length
and width on this shell here.

SPENCER: OK.

JASON: Bruce is
an Aldabra tortoise,

which comes from
the Aldabra Atoll

off the east coast of Africa.

SPENCER: and three‐fourths.

JASON: They are the second
largest tortoise species

in the world.

Brice is actually years old,

but currently there's one
that's about

that's living on an island
in the Atlantic.

So he could potentially live
another hundred years or more.

You got to get that sweet spot.

SPENCER: You can feel
the weight difference.

JASON: Yeah, I've noticed that
over the last few weeks, too.

What's concerning
about Bruce this year

is we've started to notice
weight loss

as well as Bruce isn't
moving around as much.

Every winter he does tend
to lose a little weight,

and he does seem to go
into shutdown mode,

but this year we kind of saw
a little bit more

than we're used to.

So we're just concerned
that more is going on.

We want to make sure we bring
him back to full health

so he can live with us
for a very long time.

DR. NICO: OK. Hello.

JASON: Hey, Nico.

DR. NICO: Here we have
Mister Bruce?

JASON: Yep.

He's been eating pretty well
for us, but it's not...

SPENCER: It's not
where we want it.

JASON: Not where
it's been in the past.

DR. NICO: Bruce is amazing.

He is really cool.

Some of them have
different personalities;

some of them are more shy,
but Bruce is a really nice guy.

I just want to make sure
that he is OK.

I'm hoping that his heart is OK,

so the plan is to get
an electrocardiogram on him.

If we can have some food
that we can offer him

while we're doing this,
that will be great.

SPENCER: Alright.
DR. NICO: Alright.

JASON: I got him these flowers.

Here you go, buddy.

I won't even give
my wife flowers.

(laughter)

DR. NICO: This instrument is
an electrocardiogram,

and it gives more information

about the electrical
activity of the heart.

It will probably give us
a really good idea

of what his heart
might be doing.

SPENCER: It's so hard working
under a ‐pound tortoise.

(laughs)

JASON: This year
we're also seeing him

have a more difficult time
supporting his body.

We're worried that we're on
kind of a slope downhill.

DR. NICO: Ryan, I'm not getting
the reading that I want.

I think the machine
is having trouble,

'cause his heart rate is so low.

(beeping)

JASON: He's officially a rock.

DR. NICO: That's it. That's one.

We got a good,
we got a good one in here.

RYAN: OK.

DR. NICO: I think it's
a challenge for any veterinarian

that deals with
this kind of species;

'cause he's not a dog,
he's not a cat,

there's not all this
research out there

that we can understand.

Oh, let's just try Mr. Al.
I would love to have Al.

JASON: We're gonna go and do Al.

We want to get a good baseline

of what a healthy tortoise
would have for a heart rate,

and we can then compare that
to Bruce's

to indicate if there's problems.

(beeping)

DR. NICO: I think that's
probably right then, Ryan.

'Cause I'm getting...

RYAN: About beats per minute?

DR. NICO: Yes.

So we're getting a more normal
b*ating on Mr. Al here.

Bruce was a lot slower.

There might be
something going on.

What I want to make sure is
that you guys keep feeding him,

feeding him, feeding him,

and report of any kind
of little change.

JASON: Hopefully it's not
something major with his heart,

because that's something

that we'll have a really
difficult time rectifying

and I don't want to say bye
to Bruce anytime soon.

(squeaking)

(growl)

JACKIE: Who wouldn't
love that face?

Look how cute he is.

Mentari is a Sulawesi babirusa.

Babirusa literally translates
to "pig deer" in Indonesian.

I love Mentari, I really do,
with all my heart.

He could do this all day long.

I've raised Mentari
since he was a baby.

Oh, he was about this, this big.

He's coming up to be
about two years old now,

and reaching sexual maturity,
so that means

we're gonna need to start
finding him a girlfriend

and increase the population
of babirusas around the world.

The female that Mentari
is getting paired with

is actually at another facility,
so sometime soon

we're gonna actually have
to say goodbye to him.

Why are you fascinated
with my ring today?

(laughs)

But we do have two weeks left
with Mentari,

where I'll get to spoil him

before he actually
gets transferred

and hopefully start
a new family of his own.

It's definitely gonna be
bittersweet to see him leave.

I don't have any food
for you right now.

Before he goes, he is scheduled

for a full exam
at the vet's office,

which includes
trimming his tusks back.

In the wild, there's actually
been cases shown

where the male babirusa's tusks

grow back into their skull
and k*ll them.

Alright.
Almost ready, little man.

In order to get Mentari
to hold still for the tusk trim,

we're gonna have to give him
a sedation.

You're alright, sir.

Today we are gonna be doing
a mock session

of a hip inject with Mentari.

You want to get some scratches?

Katie, do you want to try
scratching him with that brush?

KATIE: Mentari loves a rubdown.

JACKIE: Oh, what is that, sir?

There we go.

KATIE: Oh, yeah.

JACKIE: Good job, Mister.

We walk through this
several times,

in hopes that when he does get
the regular injection,

he shouldn't react at all.

You ready for a stick?

KATIE: He's ready.

JACKIE: Sticking.

KATIE: Good job.

JACKIE: What a good pig!

He has a slight reaction;

basically just a little bit
of a butt twitch.

But besides that,
he's reacting perfectly to it.

JACKIE: We're done.
KATIE: All done.

(laughs)

JACKIE: He said no.
KATIE: We're done.

JACKIE: He wants us
to keep going.

(laughs)

In the next session, he'll
actually get the real deal,

he'll get an actual needle.

Piece of cake, or grape.

I'm very confident that
he's gonna do very well.

♪ ♪

JASON: What song would
a stingray like?

"Under the Sea?"

KATIE: Ooh, maybe.

Watch, they're like AC/DC fans.

(laughs)

KATIE: Hi, Lauren.
JASON: Hey, welcome.

DR. LAUREN: One of the joys
of my job

is I get to work
with aquatic species,

and I love working
with stingrays.

And it's always
really exciting to me

to be able to work hands‐on
with these species

that I know live in our backyard
in the state of Florida.

KATIE: Here, you want one?

JASON: You just got snubbed.

KATIE: I did.

DR. LAUREN: So, Katie,
on the two girls,

have you seen
any more distension

or anything different?

KATIE: No.

DR. LAUREN: OK. 'Cause last time
we ultrasounded them,

we didn't see
any fetuses, right?

KATIE: No.

We do have a male,

but because he likes to keep
breeding with our females,

we had to remove him and put him
in our quarantine area.

It gives the females
a little bit of a break,

because after doing
pregnancy after pregnancy,

it's a lot of stress
on their body.

DR. LAUREN: We don't actually
want these animals

to be pregnant at this point.

JASON: How can you tell
which one's which?

KATIE: Darker one's Tracy,
lighter one is Martha.

Come on, Tracy.

DR. LAUREN: The staff has been
working very hard

on getting the stingrays to
actually station voluntarily

for some ultrasound images.

KATIE: Come on.

Yay!

Target training is basically
asking the animal to come up.

Good girl.

When we first started doing this
stingray training with them,

they actually got it
right on the spot.

Here we go.

DR. LAUREN: Yeah, no babies.

KATIE: No babies.

DR. LAUREN: No babies.

KATIE: Come on, Martha.

Come on. No, don't follow
your sister.

Come here.

Good girl.

DR. LAUREN: There you go.

KATIE: The stingrays
are just basically goofballs.

They're, honestly, they remind
me of a golden retriever.

They have so much personality.

I know.

They know when
to purposely splash a guest

to get their attention.

They will slap the wall
sometimes.

I love them.

Ooh, that's my hand.

DR. LAUREN: Alright. I didn't
see babies on any of them.

KATIE: That's a good thing,
though. Well, cool!

DR. LAUREN: Alright, cool,
thank you.

So no stingray pups
at this time.

That's OK, that's what
we were hoping to find.

And for now we're gonna actually
keep the lady stingrays

and the male stingray, Stuart,
separated for a couple of weeks;

give them a rest from breeding

until we introduce him
back into the main pool.

♪ ♪

ANGELA: Hi.
DR. RAY: Morning.

DR. RAY: Alright, are you ready
to get this girl?

ANGELA: I'm ready to go.
DR. RAY: Alright.

ANGELA: So this morning,

we are going to sedate
our female koala.

We're going to pouch check her,
we're gonna pull some blood,

and do some hip and shoulder
checks for dysplasia.

DR. RAY: She can be a little...
ANGELA: Yeah.

DR. RAY: ...cranky, so, we'll
give her a little something.

One of the things that mislead
people the most about koalas

is that yeah, they're cute,
they're adorable,

but they can be ornery.

Alright, sweet girl. Ready?

Alright.

We're gonna give her
a little sedation.

I want her nice and calm
for this procedure.

DR. RAY: Got her?
KATIE: Yep.

DR. RAY: Alright.
She doing the Superman?

Could you call animal duty
and the clinic, please?

ANGELA: You got it.
DR. RAY: Thank you, ma'am.

ANGELA: Koala en route.

WOMAN ON RADIO: ‐ .

DR. RAY: You comfy?
KATIE: Yep, we're good.

DR. RAY: Alright, Michelle,
we've got a flying koala.

We want to get
a set of radiographs,

we're looking at her shoulders

and we want to really
document her as she's growing,

'cause she's still
a pretty young girl.

ANGELA: Before we do anything,
can we check the pouch?

Just to double check.

DR. RAY: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

ANGELA: We want to just confirm
there's not a joey

before we continue on.

It's dirty in there.

KATIE: It's dirty.
ANGELA: It's really dirty.

DR. RAY: Yeah, it's kind of
gunky in there, but...

KATIE: It's kind of stinky.

DR. RAY: Ooh, it's very gunky.
ANGELA: It's very dirty.

DR. RAY: Wow.
ANGELA: It's weird.

DR. RAY: It is a bit moist.
ANGELA: Yeah, it is.

DR. RAY: That's...
ANGELA: Strange.

DR. RAY: That's odd.

That's a little unusual

when there's not supposed to be
a joey in the pouch.

Have you actually
seen them breed yet?

They've been courting
a little bit, but...

ANGELA: Some here and there,
but no.

DR. RAY: Yeah, I didn't
think so either.

ANGELA: I feel a...wait,
something. Is that?

DR. RAY: Yep, yep, look at that.

DR. RAY: Ooh it's very gunky.
ANGELA: It's very dirty.

DR. RAY: Wow.
ANGELA: It's weird.

DR. RAY: Yeah, that's not...huh.

ANGELA: We are doing a workup
on our female koala Ceduna.

I feel a...wait, something.

I'm putting my hand
in Ceduna's pouch

and it's much deeper than
it has been in the past.

ANGELA: Is that?
DR. RAY: Yep, yep, look at that.

ANGELA: It's a joey.
DR. RAY: That's why we got him.

DR. RAY: He's big.

ANGELA: It's a joey!

DR. RAY: That's why there's
so much gunk in there.

ANGELA: That's amazing!

(laughs)

Oh, my god.

This is so exciting.

I'm so happy about this,

'cause I didn't expect
for there to be a joey.

I was preparing for
something to be wrong.

DR. RAY: We found a baby koala,
to everyone's surprise.

KATIE: Good job, Ceduna.

ANGELA: Should we put
the gunk back?

(laughter)

HEATHER: It's probably
joey poo.

DR. RAY: It turns out
that brown material

that we found in her pouch
was actually joey poo.

Yeah, this joey is this big.

Yeah, between here and here.

This little joey I would guess

is probably a little less
than days old.

Few more months, and maybe
we'll start to see

a nose kind of pop out.

ANGELA: Heathcliff did it.

KATIE: (laughs)
Who would have guessed?

ANGELA: Good job.

DR. RAY: Heathcliff is
a little bit of a sluggish boy.

So, no one's seen
any breeding,

so for them to have pulled it
off, that surprised us.

OK. Now let's wake her up.

KATIE: Yep.

DR. RAY: We don't need
to do this.

ANGELA: Oh, my god.

We're calling off the exam,
we're reversing her,

and we'll take her back
to her house.

DR. RAY: This is very exciting.

KATIE: Very exciting.

DR. RAY: You know, we don't mind
pleasant surprises.

This is the first koala joey
this institution's ever had.

Alright, a little reversal
there.

Sometimes you never know
these animals are pregnant

until you actually get
your hands on 'em,

and getting your hands on 'em

a lot of times
involves anesthesia.

They're just gonna be
a little sleepy

and then they're gonna
wake up together.

Good morning, sunshine,
you back?

KATIE: Hi.

There you go.

DR. RAY: This is what we've been
hoping for, for a while,

but we really didn't have
any strong indications

that they even liked each other,
to be honest with you.

How you doing, sweetheart?

KATIE: There you go. (laughs)

Heathcliff's like,
"What is happening?"

ANGELA: Oh, are you serious?

KATIE: They're kissing.

(laughs)

ANGELA: It's super rewarding
to have a pregnancy,

but beyond growing
our zoo family,

it's gonna have a bigger,
global impact in the future.

Ceduna, you had us all fooled,
acting like you didn't like him.

(laughs)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(radio chirp)

SPENCER: Herps to
all animal staff,

can somebody give us a hand
lifting a tortoise?

It's been about two weeks

since we've tested
our Aldabra tortoise Bruce.

He hasn't really recovered
from his winter funk yet.

He hasn't been eating
as much as we'd prefer,

and he's been kind of lethargic.

Today we're gonna do
a weigh‐in for Bruce.

Last time we weighed him
he was just under .

So we're hoping that he's
at least held that weight

if not gained some weight.

JASON: Alright, one, two, three.

There you go.

DAN: Watch your step.

SPENCER: He's always been

kind of a slower‐to‐move
tortoise, you know?

He's more reluctant to
get up and move around.

But he's been just
slower than normal.

JASON: .

DAN: So about the same?

JASON: Alright, we'll go
set him down in the pool.

One, two, three.

DR. NICO: Maintaining weight is
a good thing,

and that's why we want
to check his weight

and make sure that he stays
steady weight‐wise.

JASON: Alright, cool.
And we can just fill up.

SPENCER: Alright.

DR. NICO: So he's
at least maintaining,

well, that's a good sign.

JASON: Yeah.

DR. NICO:
But he's still weak.

I don't have a good grip on
what is his actual problem.

Any other animal,
you would have done surgery,

you would have opened him up,

you would have collected
some sample,

but he's not strong enough
to go under sedation.

The EKGs that we did
haven't got anything to say,

his cardio condition
is off or not.

His condition could be cardiac,
his condition could be cancer,

his condition could be
immune system.

JASON: Working so closely with
these animals for a long time,

you get to learn
their personalities

and you can tell
when something's off.

So with Bruce
we definitely are seeing

a big personality change
with him.

DR. NICO: We're gonna continue
to do the research on him,

we have him on antibiotics,
but we're concerned about him.

DR. LAUREN: Clinic to Asia.

JACKIE: Hey, what's your ETA
over for Mentari?

DR. LAUREN: We are ready
to head over.

JACKIE: ‐ . We'll see you
when you get here.

Today, we are going to be doing
a sedation on Mentari

so that we can transport him
up to our clinic.

We're gonna be trimming back
his tusks a little bit.

DR. LAUREN: Pigs are notoriously
difficult at times to sedate

'cause they've got
a lot of fat on them

and you really want to make sure

you get a nice
intramuscular injection.

JACKIE: Dr. Lauren
is on her way.

DR. LAUREN: We love Mentari,
he's such a sweet boy.

JACKIE: We've been practicing
a hip inject procedure training

with Mentari for several months
now, so today is the big day.

Hopefully everything goes well.

You want your scratches?

Oh, yes.

KATIE: It's the best.

DR. LAUREN: How's he doing?

KATIE: He's good.

DR. LAUREN: The minute Jackie
and Katie scratch him down,

I mean, he's down for the count.

JACKIE: Alright, you got him?
DR. LAUREN: Yep.

JACKIE: Alright,
cover your eyes, sir.

DR. LAUREN: When I first do
the injection,

Mentari, you know,
he kicks his leg a little bit,

kind of like, "What was that?
Something stung me."

And then goes right back
into "Just scratch me down."

(laughter)

Good boy.

KATIE: Good job, mister.

JACKIE: I'm very happy,
that went like...

KATIE: That went awesome.

JACKIE: ...that went amazing.

DR. LAUREN: He seems
really nice and sleepy,

in a good, safe plane
of sedation to move him

up to the clinic so that
we can continue with his exam.

Alright.

RYAN: En route with babirusa.

DR. LAUREN: Let's keep
his head up, elevated somewhat.

While Mentari is under
full anesthesia,

we're gonna give him
a complete physical exam.

We're gonna take some x‐rays,

we're gonna collect
some blood on him.

JACKIE: He doing OK?

DR. LAUREN: We're doing well.

And I'm gonna trim up his tusks,

and get him set to go
on to another facility.

Alright.

Someone got that?

Right there, watch his head.

RYAN: Got it.
DR. LAUREN: Oh, yeah.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

KATIE: We did it.
JACKIE: Yeah.

KATIE: Good job.

JACKIE: I think the training
definitely helped.

DR. LAUREN: Alright,
he seems pretty deep.

I think we can try.

RYAN: A little twitch
on that leg.

DR. LAUREN: Little twitch? OK.

RYAN: Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.

DR. LAUREN:
Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.

RYAN: A little twitch
on that leg.

DR. LAUREN: Little twitch? OK.

RYAN: Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.

DR. LAUREN:
Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.

RYAN: Somebody grab
the mask, please.

DR. LAUREN: Let's just go ahead
with this real quick.

He'll be OK.

Piggies are zero to .

KATIE: He had us all fooled.

DR. LAUREN: Oh, yeah.

He's like, "I'm fine,
I'm alive."

KATIE: Just gonna wait.

DR. LAUREN: Good job, guys.

KATIE: Yay.

JACKIE: He basically fooled us.
We thought he was sedated.

I just want to like
be able to help them.

KATIE: Yeah.

JACKIE: Go to sleep. It's fine.

DR. LAUREN: Alright,
so we've got a Dremel.

So, ladies, I don't want you
guys to get sh*t in the eye.

KATIE: Yeah.
JACKIE: Yeah.

(whirring)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

RYAN: Nice.

DR. LAUREN: I like power tools.

RYAN: Yeah. (laughs)

DR. LAUREN: He didn't have
a whole lot

that I needed to take off,

I only had really
a couple of centimeters

that I needed to remove.

Wanna check it out, Jackie?

JACKIE: I saw the tusk fly.

DR. LAUREN: Oh, you want
to save a piece?

JACKIE: Yeah.

KATIE: She's like,
"That's mine."

DR. LAUREN: Alright,
I think we're wrapping up.

JACKIE: Yep.

He looks handsome.

RYAN: Steering's up
on the other end there.

KATIE: We got it.

DR. LAUREN: Plan for transport.
Y'all's den is ready to go.

JACKIE: Already ready.

DR. LAUREN: The staff has made
him a nice, comfy hay den.

They'll move around quite a bit
during their recovery process,

so we want to make sure
he doesn't harm himself.

Alright, I think that's good.

So I know this is good progress.
We just got to give him time.

He's starting to get all his
motor function back together.

KATIE: Yeah, you're doing
much better.

JACKIE: And down again. (laughs)

Mentari's looking very handsome
with his new tusk trim.

In a few days Mentari's
gonna go to his new home

and get paired with his new
female lady friend,

and producing baby Mentaris
of his own.

We'll miss him, but we know
it's best for our boy.

KATIE: You're doing good.

You're doing good.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

AMANDA: Hello, everyone.

How are you guys today?

BRYCE: Yeah, I'm good.

AMANDA: Here to do
koala photo experience?

JESSICA: Yep.
AMANDA: Perfect.

AMANDA: We just started
a new photo experience

with our male koala, Heathcliff.

People get the chance to pose
for a little photoshoot.

(laughs)

ANDREA: Ready to say hi
to Heathcliff?

BRYCE: Yeah.

ANDREA: Alright. Let's do this.

AMANDA: Andrea from
the marketing team

is the brains behind
the koala encounter.

She is obsessed with Heathcliff.

ANDREA: I love them so much.

Koalas are my favorite animal
here at the zoo.

I think they smell divine,
they smell like angels.

Look, he's walking.

(gasps) Did you ever think
you'd be so close to a koala?

Koalas are one of the most
expensive animals to feed

at the zoo.

They have a very expensive diet.

They eat a super toxic plant,

it's the only thing they eat,
eucalyptus.

We get it shipped in from a farm
a few hours south in Florida,

so it costs a lot
to feed the koalas.

Oh, my gosh,
did you see that jump?

I'm freaking out.

We wanted to come up with a way
for people to get close to them

and take a great photo.

TIFFANY: Can everyone turn
around and look at Heathcliff?

ANDREA: That was a way for us
to help pay for them to be here,

help pay for that food.

Yay, Heathcliff, you did it!

ANDREA: What a stud.
He's such a star.

When do you think the joey's
gonna pop out?

AMANDA: I don't know.

It does seem like
it's pretty big right now.

ANDREA: Heathcliff has no idea
he's gonna be a dad.

(growling)

MADISON: Hi. Good morning.

Do you want some breakfast?

KATIE: Hey, Stuart,
time to go see your ladies.

You ready?

I think we're gonna be
good to lift.

JENNA: OK.

KATIE: Going.

Stuart is our male
southern stingray.

You got him in?

He's been in quarantine for
about four or five months.

The reason why we moved him

was so then we didn't get
the females pregnant.

However, he is starting to get

a little bit of
discoloration on him.

Today he's getting his checkup,

which he's gonna get
his checkup regardless,

but we just kind of made it
a little bit more a priority.

Hey.

DR. LAUREN: Hey, good morning,
Katie, how's it going?

KATIE: Good.
We're just moving him.

DR. LAUREN: He definitely has
some abnormal discoloration.

Southern stingrays are usually
kind of a tannish to gray color,

and he looks
very abnormal to me.

KATIE: Oop, OK, let's go.

DR. LAUREN: So we're gonna put
Stuart into an outside pool,

we're gonna let him
soak up some sun.

KATIE: Here you go, buddy.

DR. LAUREN: We're gonna check
on him in a couple of weeks

and hopefully everything
is back to normal.

♪ ♪

SPENCER: So how much did he eat?

RACHEL: He ate a little bit
of the lettuce,

he ate some bananas.

SPENCER: OK, I'm glad he ate.

Oh, Bruce Bruce.

RACHEL: How you doing, buddy?

Did you enjoy your
breakfast in bed?

SPENCER: Breakfast with Bruce.

Bruce has basically
just slowed down.

He's been waking up
a little bit more grumpy.

So Rachel sat inside today
and hand‐fed him,

but the problem is,

he's not eating as much
as we want him to.

DR. RAY: They're very stoic,
they're very tough.

You know, you're not gonna know

when there's something
wrong with them.

If they have some subtle illness

or they're just
not feeling right.

Those things are very, very hard
to pick up on.

So when we do see some things
that catch our eye,

that bring us to our,
you know, attention,

you know it's probably
very significant.

SPENCER: Dr. Ray's coming.
He'll check him out.

RACHEL: OK.

SPENCER: We're gonna physically
move Bruce into the pool.

One, two, three, up.

And then we'll go through
soaking him

to make sure he doesn't
get dehydrated.

Alright. That's the hard part.

RACHEL: Alright, I got
three sizes for you.

SPENCER: Three sizes, alright.

Hi, buddy.

I know, we're just gonna sneak
this under your head.

Tortoises hold their breath
for quite a long time.

They still have lungs
just like a human does.

So they can still
take in water and drown.

So we're gonna use a pool noodle
so that if he does feel weak,

that something else will
keep his head above water.

There you go, buddy. Perfect.

RACHEL: Looking good.

DR. RAY: Nice noodle.
SPENCER: It works, right?

DR. RAY: It does work.
No, that's perfect.

♪ ♪

See his eyes are rolled up
like that?

SPENCER: Uh‐huh.

DR. RAY: You know, he doesn't,
he doesn't look good.

SPENCER: Oh, Bruce Bruce.

DR. RAY: See his eyes are
rolled up like that?

SPENCER: Uh‐huh.

DR. RAY: You know, he doesn't,
he doesn't look good.

He needs some strength,
there's no doubt about it.

But the way he's just carrying
himself is not as vigorous

as we obviously hope to see
with him outside like that.

I'm very worried.

I'm very worried about it.

SPENCER: One, two, three.

It's nerve‐racking when
an animal's not doing good,

but I believe we're gonna
pull through this.

I have percent confidence
we'll come through with him.

He's gonna get better.

OK.

One step at a time.

You're alright, buddy.

VICTORIA: Alright, Tiziri.

Be good, we'll see you later.

JULIE: See ya.

No. (laughs)

No, you've got to stay in here.

Oh, Tiziri.

(laughs)

VICTORIA: Do you want to come
with us? Wendy, too, huh?

JULIE: Yeah, come on.
Alright, come on, everybody.

VICTORIA: Come on.
JULIE: Let's go.

JACKIE: Let's go check
on Mentari.

I'm like so proud of him, he did
so well for that procedure.

KATIE: I know.

JACKIE: He just had his tusks
trimmed a couple days ago.

We were worried that they were
gonna be penetrating his nose.

We caught it just in time though

and just trimmed them up
a little bit.

He's actually looking
really good.

Mentari!

Come on, I want
to see your tusks.

KATIE: Yay!

JACKIE: Good job.

Look how awesome he looks now.

His new girlfriend will be
really impressed with him now.

KATIE: Really impressed,
'cause he's so handsome.

JACKIE: Any girl is
gonna be lucky

to have him as a boyfriend.

Since he's gonna be leaving
soon, I definitely...

I'm gonna cry.
I'm gonna miss him.

KATIE: Really? Aw.

JACKIE: I'm excited
for him to be leaving

because he's going to be
with another babirusa,

but when they walk into
that crate, and you lock it,

and you know it's that
last time, it's definitely...

sad.

He's a great pig.

KATIE: It's always
bittersweet when they go.

JACKIE: Ooh, careful, bud.

KATIE: He's definitely
full of personality.

JACKIE: Yeah.

KATIE: We're gonna
miss you, big guy.

But we know you'll be happy.

JACKIE: See you later.
KATIE: Bye!

KATIE: Ladies' man.
JACKIE: Yeah. (laughs)

(squawk)

MELINDA: The macaw flyover
is really one of our

signature encounters that
we do here at Zoo Tampa.

You're very fluffed.

I think it's just the idea
that the birds are out free,

and that they can go
wherever they want,

and people are pretty blown away

that they don't just
leave the zoo

and that they stick around
and hang around with us.

Don't be sassy with each other.

Rude!

They will fly out and
they'll go to one perch,

and then they wait for a cue

and they have another trainer
waiting at the next perch.

Then they fly at head level,

so they zip right by people
as they're walking along,

looking at animals
in their habitats.

MAN: Waaah! (laughs)

MELINDA: Magoo!

Are you ready?

The grand finale of our flyover
is that all of the birds

do a big, beautiful flight

around the outside of
our manatee fountain.

...from five, four,
three, two, one.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

KATIE: He's right here.

He just blends so well.

Stuart, he's kind of got
some discoloration on him.

We were hoping that it's just
because he was inside,

and he's always been outside.

However, the discoloration,

the lines on him
really haven't gone away.

So today we'll be pulling
bloods on him

and then we'll just do an actual

physical, external checkup
on him.

Watch, he's just gonna come
straight up to the side,

and you got changed for nothing.

That's how it always goes.

RYAN: And, you know,
had he not changed,

then he'd be in the middle
of the pool.

KATIE: I know, that's
what he was talking about.

Which direction is he headed?

Oh, Tyson! Right here.

He's really fast
compared to the females.

DR. LAUREN: He's like,
"Not today."

KATIE: He's like, "Suckers!"

DR. LAUREN: He was savvy
to our exam today,

he was trying to avoid Tyson.

KATIE: Come on, Tyson.

Woo.

Good job.

He's gonna be so angry.

(laughs)

DR. LAUREN: They're like,
"Glad it ain't me."

KATIE: It's not aquatics
if you don't get wet.

Here you go.

DR. LAUREN: I still think
he looks pretty yellow.

KATIE: Yeah.

DR. LAUREN: Being outside
in the sunshine has not helped.

I'm very worried.

I want to get to
the bottom of this.

KATIE: It's scary.

Like if your own child
gets sick,

you start getting super worried.

DR. LAUREN: I still think
he looks pretty yellow.

Stuart has some
very abnormal coloration.

I want to get to
the bottom of this.

Slowing down a little bit.

KATIE: Mm‐hm.

DR. LAUREN: We have him
in an induction system,

and so this is where he's going
to become very sedate,

and then we'll move him over
to our anesthesia cart

which we will do
all our diagnostics.

DR. LAUREN: Alright?
KATIE: Yep.

DR. LAUREN: Hey, little friend.
KATIE: Hi, bud. Hi.

KATIE: We have a pump
with a hose going up,

and it's just pushing that water
over their gills

to make sure that we're able
to keep them out of the water

a little bit longer.

DR. LAUREN: He's a little leaner
than the other guys.

There's his heart.

Alright. Very good.
We can try and get some bloods.

RYAN: Be the vessel.
DR. LAUREN: Be the vessel.

RYAN: Be the ray.

DR. LAUREN: I can see it
right there.

OK.

Alright. Sweet.

Let's flip him over,
let's just check him out.

KATIE: Like a pancake.

What does it mean if it's
like elevated like this?

DR. LAUREN: So we're noticing
these kind of like brown,

you know, squiggly lines
throughout his entire back,

and I'm able to pick it off,
and it kind of looks like slime.

So when I have increased mucus
or slime on any type of fish,

that's got me concerned

'cause they will do that
when they don't feel well.

I'm gonna do a skin scrape.

This is a common practice that
we do in all kinds of fish

to pick up on any type
of parasites, you know,

see if there's any cells
that we can find.

It tickles,
it tickles back there.

He definitely has some
excessive sliming on him.

We need to look at it under a
microscope to see what we have.

I'm gonna go back and
see if there's something

that we can potentially treat

or maybe we need to take the
next step and pursue a biopsy.

KATIE: We're good to put him in?

DR. LAUREN: We're good.

KATIE: He's so sweet and I don't
want anything to happen to him.

Come on, buddy.

I'm hoping that it's
just something simple

'cause I love these stingrays so
much, I consider them my kiddos.

See, he's moving his tail.
There you go.

Go, Stuart, go!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

JASON: Bruce has had
ups and downs his whole life,

so we were hoping that
this was another one

where he would
bounce back from it.

It was just too much,
too much to overcome.

Unfortunately Bruce passed away.

We were trying to do
everything we could,

but unfortunately that
wasn't enough this time.

This was something that
he's probably been developing

for years, and it was problems
with the heart,

problems with the lungs,
problems with the liver.

Just like people, sometimes...

sometimes we get
taken too early.

DR. RAY: It's always
very difficult

when you get to know these
animals, day in and day out,

especially an animal that lives
as long as an Aldabra tortoise.

But you know, when they do pass,

sometimes that's actually
the most compassionate thing

that can happen,

and I definitely think
that's the case for Bruce.

JASON: He was an amazing
ambassador.

He touched a lot of lives.

He, he was a great tortoise

even when he didn't
want to cooperate.

(laughs)

Yeah, I will miss Bruce.

We'll all miss Bruce.

(trumpets)

♪ ♪

TIFFANY: Look at Dira.

DEVON: Oh, my gosh.

TIFFANY: How many times a day
do we say, "Look at Dira?"

DEVON: Oh, one million. (laughs)

TIFFANY: Oh, my gosh,
you're so cute.

SUSAN: You're so cute.

KAELA: Hello.
AMANDA: Hi.

AMANDA: So Ceduna's joey
has started

to emerge more from the pouch.

KAELA: Can we see its face?

AMANDA: We want
to see your baby.

KAELA: It's moving.

AMANDA: The gestation for koalas
is only days

before the baby comes out
and moves into the pouch,

so it's extremely
underdeveloped.

And then it stays in there
for close to six months

before it starts venturing out.

We're probably at
the ‐ish day mark

based on the development
we've seen.

So we should be seeing
more and more of it.

Uncross your leg.

KAELA: I know. Put that leg,
straddle that pole.

AMANDA: Can you like
just do this?

KAELA: Lay like this.

AMANDA: Can you move?

(laughs)

KAELA: Ugh, you're
giving us nothing.

Ceduna is being
one stubborn mom today,

so we are gonna see if
we can maybe, just maybe,

bribe her with some delicious
eucalyptus branches

to show us her joey.

Alright.

Want some more food?

You hungry?

♪ ♪

Is that an eye?

(gasps)

KAELA: Is than an eye?

(gasps) I see its face!
Look at that little cute nose!

We've just been waiting
and waiting patiently,

or impatiently.

(laughs)

Oh, it's so cute.

We see a little face
peeking out, a little eye.

It looks bright‐eyed and very
healthy, so we're very excited.

It's our first time getting
to see a little joey.

Looks just like Ceduna.

Like a little miniature koala.

AMANDA: We're assuming
it's maybe that big.

It looks like
it might have a head

like the size of a squirrel.

KAELA: Eventually it'll start
riding on mom's back

and will start eating
the eucalyptus

and we'll get to see more
and watch it grow up.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

KATIE: Good morning.
You ready for your checkup?

DR. LAUREN: Today we're gonna go
check up on Stuart.

He's our male southern stingray.

His coloration was off,
he looked yellow,

he had a really nasty, thick
mucus layer on him,

and he had lost some weight.

KATIE: Stuart's actually right,
ready to go.

DR. LAUREN: OK, perfect.

We'll bring him up over here,
we'll get a weight on him,

and I'll just do
a quick look on his skin.

Stuart has been on a couple
of weeks' worth of antibiotics

so I'm gonna see how he did.

KATIE: OK, I'm gonna
go behind him.

Going forward. Ah!

DR. LAUREN: You got him.

KATIE: Nope.
DR. LAUREN: Nope.

KATIE: He slid underneath.
He knows. (laughs)

Ah.

Ah, he saw it.

DR. LAUREN: Stingrays are
really fast swimmers

and Stuart's evading us, which
is actually a really good sign.

KATIE: I'll try this one.
This one's a lot lighter.

DR. LAUREN: OK.

KATIE: OK.

OK, I'm gonna lift up.

DR. LAUREN: And scoop.
Perfect, nice job.

KATIE: There you go.

DR. LAUREN: Alright.

His skin is much better.

He's not as yellow.

KATIE: No.

DR. LAUREN: Every stingray will

have a little bit
of variation there.

So what I'm seeing today is
nowhere near what I saw

on the day when we had
our first concerns.

And all those tracking lesions,
the slime layers,

I don't see anymore.

KATIE: Yeah.

DR. LAUREN: That's awesome,
that's awesome.

So, I mean, we definitely want
to back up my impression

that he's looking better,
I want to get a weight on him.

KATIE: Oh, dear god.

DR. LAUREN: If Stuart
hasn't gained weight

then that means we haven't
fixed the issue.

KATIE: . .

Oh, god.

He definitely gained weight.

DR. LAUREN: So he's gained
a whole kg.

So that's awesome.

Super excited,
he's gained a kilogram,

so a little over two pounds.

I think he was
immune suppressed,

and what happens is
that leaves them open

to secondary infections.

So I think using antibiotics
was a combination for success.

I think he looks fantastic.
Really nice job.

KATIE: I am ecstatic
for the good news

that Stuart is looking so much
better and he's gaining weight.

It's a very good day
for all of us.

(bellows)

CHRISTI: Mbali!

Mbali!

Come on, pretty girl.

Let's come inside.

Let's get inside,
get some breakfast.

Look at the enthusiasm.

(laughs)

Let's go, let's go, let's go!

Is it too hot?
You gonna hang in the shade?

Yeah, I see you peeking.

(laughs)

She's really not moving.
I'm talking to a log.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

AMANDA: Hello.

Good morning, gorgeous girl.

We brought you a snack
for you and your baby.

♪ ♪

It's so cute now.

It's like a mini koala.

His head is so round and furry.

ANGELA: It's perfect.

AMANDA: It is perfect.

(laughs)

ANGELA: The joey's out.

Very exciting.

We did find out that
the little joey is a male

and his name is Sydney,
and it's adorable.

Just in love with this baby.

AMANDA: (laughs) I know.
I think everyone is.

ANGELA: Oh, it's just too much.

It's perfect.

AMANDA: It is perfect.

ANGELA: It's a perfect
koala joey.

AMANDA: Looks a lot like Ceduna.

ANGELA: Let's come back
later today.

AMANDA: OK. Twist my arm.

ANGELA: OK. (laughs)

We're really excited
about the joey,

and it's great to grow
our family,

but in a bigger picture, it's
fantastic for conservation.

What we've done on our part
is producing one more koala

to meet that goal
of genetic diversity.

It's incredible.
It feels really good.

I'm proud to be part of the team
that helped make this happen.