01x02 - North Carolina: Dr. Zoo-little

[bunniefuu]

♪ ♪

boy: Whoa!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(growl)

robert: Now, the elephants,
you do not want to miss them.

Through the trees you could
catch a glimpse of c'sar.

Woman: He's huge!

(grumbling)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

deb: Target.

Good, foot.

Steady.

(whistle tweets)

nancy: Good boy, bubba.

Deb: He's so excited.

Nancy: Yoga day, big guy,
you didn't wear your yoga pants.

Where are your yoga pants?

Deb: Over here, bubba.

Nancy: Being years old,

c'sar is the oldest male african
elephant in north america.

He would be a senior citizen
if we're comparing it to people.

He would get
the early bird special,

he would take lots of naps.

Deb: Target.

He does have some challenges.

We are seeing a little more
arthritis and things like that.

Nancy: In the morning sometimes
you can hear his joints

kinda snap, crackle and pop;

mine do, too,
so we can relate on that.

Deb: We started his yoga
to help his range of motion.

Target.

Steady.

We'll tap his leg,
so he knows exactly where we are

and where we want
that leg to go.

Good boy.

He really does seem...
(tweet) to enjoy it.

Nancy: You did so good.

Deb: Food reinforcement is a way
that we can reward c'sar

for doing the behaviors.

It keeps him motivated.

He gets snacks
in between his poses.

Nancy: If there was a yoga
that would feed me in between...

Deb: Target.

Nancy: ...Every pose, I would
be more into yoga probably.

I'm not nearly as flexible
as c'sar is.

Deb: He agrees.
Nancy: Yeah.

Nancy: Looks like he's
getting a lot better,

he's working on
his core muscles,

getting the abs ready
for the girls.

Here in north carolina
he is a southern gentleman.

He is very good with
all the female elephants

that we have here.

Deb: Turn.

My hope for today is that c'sar
will be able to do his split.

Over here.

Good, steady. Back up.

We want him to lift his
opposite legs, front and back.

Steady!

And be able to hold it
for a few seconds.

Good boy. Back up.

All of the behaviors that
we teach our elephants

are important for
their health care.

Doing his split, that'll really
engage his core muscles

and his leg muscles as well.

So, I hope he does it.

Good, steady.

Split.

Steady.

Do it one more time.

Split!

Right here, bud!

Split!

Nancy: Ohhh, look at him!
(tweet)

deb: Good job, bud!

Atta boy.

Right here.

You did it!

(laughs)

good job, bud.

Nancy: It's humbling to have
such a relationship

with such a massive,
smart animal.

Can he do it two times in a row?

Deb: We'll see.

Back up.

Nancy: Doing yoga
three times a week

we've been able to build
a special bond with c'sar.

Nancy: He's like, "deb, I got
this, look at what I can do!"

we're trying to give him
the best life right now,

hoping that he has many,
many more years with us.

(tweet)

nancy: Oh, good boy.
Deb: Good job, bud!

Nancy: Who's the best boy?

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

boy: Whoa, look!

♪ ♪

girl: Look, there's one
over there!

Man: That's pretty cool, huh?

Stephanie: Hey, folks,
I'm stephanie,

I'm one of our gorilla keepers
here at the zoo.

Our gorillas get
a very, very healthy diet;

nothing but veggies and lettuce.

Women: Oh, look,
he's coming, he's coming!

Girl: Which one is that?

Stephanie: That is mosuba,
or we call him mo for short.

He is the silverback
of our group.

Women: Oh, my gosh,
look how big he is!

Woman: Oh, wow.

Stephanie: Around age
they get that grayish color

that gives them
the silverback name.

Every single male becomes
a silverback at some point.

Woman: That's amazing.

Stephanie: Mosuba has got
a very, very important role

here at the zoo.

He leads this troop, he makes
sure everybody is getting along.

In the wild his role would be
to pick where they eat,

pick where they sleep, and make
sure that everyone is safe.

Mosuba's health is
worrying us right now.

Mo!

We noticed that his nose and his
upper lip were a little swollen.

We had the vets check it out,

and we noticed that
on the inside of his lip

above his upper right canine,
there was a cut,

and there was some discharge
coming out of there.

A few years ago he had
a root canal performed

on that upper right canine,

so maybe there's something
going on with that root canal.

Next week we'll anesthetize him

and get a little bit
more information

about what's going on.

I am going to be delivering
the injection

that will anesthetize him.

So I've been working
on injection training

with him once or twice a day.

Do you want to train, mo?

Come on, mo.

Come on, handsome.

Good boy.

Mo?

Well, hello.

Hi, cutie, you wanna sit down?

Good job, cutie.

Can I see your hand?

Good.

When it comes to training
these animals,

you always start with just
building a relationship them.

Them getting used to your voice,
getting used to seeing you.

You start to feed them,

and that helps really build up
that trust as well.

Can I see your back?

Mosuba is my absolute favorite.

He is a gentle giant.

He is amazing to work with.

Good.

He is also
incredibly intelligent.

I started working on
this new behavior with him.

Poking his shoulder
with this blunt syringe

and then rewarding him
instantly.

Let's see your shoulder.

Hold, hold, hold, hold.

Good.

So, we want to try to move
as quickly as possible,

because once they feel
that needle and that liquid,

they're not gonna be thrilled.

Let's see your shoulder
one more time, buddy.

Hold, hold, hold.

Good!

He's definitely done a really,
really good training session.

He allowed me to poke him
multiple times.

I think he's ready to go
for next week.

And we'll be able to do
that anesthesia

without any problems.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(rattling)

boy: Which one's that?

♪ ♪

woman: There you go.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(rattling)

dustin: Jb.
Jb: Yes, sir.

Dustin: I've got
a surprise for you.

Jb: What you got?

Dustin: We have a pretty large
eastern diamondback rattlesnake.

Jb: Awesome.

Dustin: And it's pretty feisty,
as you can hear right now.

(rattling)

so this snake was recently
acquired from another zoo.

It's the only
individual we have.

We do hope to breed them
in the future.

Jb: For every animal that comes
into the north carolina zoo,

we put them through
a quarantine exam.

That's to ensure that they
don't introduce any diseases

into our collection.

How easy do you think
this is going to be?

Dustin: I don't think
it's going to be easy at all.

Jb: (laughs) she doesn't sound
too happy in there.

(rattling)

dustin: This snake is
very dangerous.

Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes
have one of the largest yields,

largest venom output of any
venomous snake in the world.

He's struck a few times,
so we'll have to be ready.

Jb: Yep, I will stand back.

Dustin: So what I'm gonna have
to do is I'm gonna take it out

and safely restrain it.

All of our handling in the zoo
is very safe,

we use snake hooks,
we use snake tubes.

Basically trying to encourage
the snake's head

to go into a tube

so that we can manually
restrain it without getting bit.

Jb: Be safe!

We are a big team here,
we're a big family.

His skill set is handling
venomous reptiles.

Dustin: Alright,
snake's coming out.

Jb: My skill set is taking care
of the health of these animals.

I'll do my thing, he can do his.

(rattling)

dustin: I'm going to do it
really slowly

so the snake doesn't fall over.

Jb: Ok.

We're going to get
this snake in hand,

and that in itself is
a pretty difficult process,

'cause she's a big snake
and she's got an attitude.

(rattling)

dustin: Just handling the snake
alone is extremely dangerous.

It's deadly, it really is.

(rattling)

so this snake can strike
a couple feet,

so I'm gonna be standing back.

I'm gonna slowly try to work its
head into one of these tubes.

Jb: Doesn't want
to participate, does she?

(hiss)

dustin: I did have
a friend get bit

by an eastern diamondback
rattlesnake.

To this day, he still
does not have any use

of almost half of the fingers
on one of his hands.

(rattling)

(rattling)

jb: Whoa!

(rattling)

jb: Doesn't want
to participate, does she?

Whoa!

This rattlesnake came in
a couple weeks ago

from another zoo,

and we're going to do
its quarantine exam today.

Dustin is trying to coax
the snake into the tube.

She's striking, she's rattling.

She's trying to tell dustin,
stay away from me.

Ohh!

She almost got you on that one.

Dustin: She's pretty pissed off
right now.

Jb: These are not evil things,

it's just a snake basically
trying to defend herself.

Dustin: So right now the goal
is to get the snake's head

about halfway up this tube,

and then once it does that,
I can safely grab it.

Jb: That was close.

Dustin: It wasn't worth
taking a chance.

Come on, buddy,
just a little bit further.

Jb: Good job.

Now that the snake is secure
inside the tube

I can come up and approach it
because the head is contained.

We've got dr. Emma houck here,

she's just performing
a physical exam on the snake,

making sure the snake
is in good body condition.

Emma: Everything
looks good so far.

Jb: Dustin, let's get
some blood on her real fast.

The best place to get blood
from a snake is from the tail.

There's a small vessel
that you can get with a needle.

Nice job.

That blood, we'll be looking

at overall general health
of the organs

and just to make sure
that she's--

(rattling)

she didn't like that.

Make sure that she's healthy.

Dustin: Snakes,
just like people,

have their own personality;

there are some snakes that don't
rattle the entire procedure,

and some like this one.

Emma: Look at her little tail.

Dustin: It's defensive,
it's not aggression.

This snake's way more scared
of us than we are of it.

Jb: So what we're going to do
now is sh**t some x-rays.

We're moving the snake
down the x-ray plate,

taking sectional images
of the entire body.

And this is gonna get us
an x-ray of the entire snake

that we're gonna have to
put together like a puzzle.

Dustin: I like snakes because
I think they're unique animals.

Jb: Emma, we're good if
everybody wants to back out.

Dustin: Most people fear them,
but when you're around a species

that is so unique
and has personality

and nobody else
appreciates it...

Kelly: Clear!

Dustin: ...It kind of
makes you appreciate it

even a little more.

I feel like I'm the voice
for snakes a lot of time.

(rattling)

jb: Clear!

Emma: Really good
technique, kelly.

Kelly: Yeah.
Emma: Looks great.

Jb: So we got
multiple images today.

Spinal column, the lungs,
the liver, the stomach;

everything looks great.

Dustin: Alright, he's going in.

So, our plan now is,
they're gonna run tests

based on the blood work
they took,

and then he will go live his
life in the streamside area

where hopefully this animal
will have a mate very soon

and it will be
a very happy snake.

This is definitely one
of the biggest rattlesnakes

I've ever worked with,

but if you stick
to your training

and you treat it with respect...

Jb: Perfect. Good job!

Dustin: ...Then you'll be safe,
and that's the, that's the goal.

Jb: Don't worry,
the next one's a rabbit.

Dustin: That's good,
much safer, much easier.

♪ ♪

(grumbling)

♪ ♪

(roar)

sarah: One bone each.
Kristy: Yeah.

Sarah: Ok.

The lions live here in
the africa section of the zoo.

On the habitat we have reilly,
our -year-old male lion,

and makita,
our -year-old female.

Reilly's been here years,
and makita's been here .

Oh, reilly!

Little ones first, yeah?

Kristy: Yeah.

Sarah: We give our lions bones,

so we add a little extra
variety to their diet.

The bones help
clean their teeth.

It's something that they'd
normally be eating in the wild.

, , .

Yay!

Aw.

Reilly, do you
want a big one?

Kristy: Want to step back?

Sarah: Yeah, I think you should.

Child: Whoa!
Woman: Nice!

Sarah: Lions sleep upwards
of -plus hours a day,

so by throwing bones,
they start moving,

then people get really excited

and you can spread more
of a conservation message.

Ok, kristy.

Kristy: , --oh, god-- .

Look out for your face.

Child: Whoa!

Sarah: I think I won.

Kristy: I think I won.

Sarah: Both of mine are farther.

Kristy: Oh, well, that
doesn't mean anything.

Sarah: We can always play
rock paper scissors.

Kristy: No.
Sarah: As far as who won.

Kristy: No. No.

Sarah: Yup.

(bell ringing)

kristy: Reilly!

(ringing)

(growling)

I am stuffing this pvc
full of meat,

so that we can use
our super cool meat g*n!

Jenni: The meat g*n seems to be
the most effective way

to get the meat directly
into his mouth.

In the past we've hand-fed,
and it's not the safest option.

Kristy: Hi, reilly.

Jenni: Hi, reilly.

Riley is years old.

One of the oldest male lions
in north america.

(roaring)

reilly's roar, you can feel
your bones vibrating.

Kristy: It jumped me.

Jenni: Such an angry old man!

Kristy: Alright!

Jenni: As he's getting older,

we're more and more likely
to find health problems.

Kidney disease is a very common
problem for a lot of lions.

We are a little bit concerned.

So in the next couple of weeks,

we're going to be trying to get
a blood sample from his tail

to monitor his kidney function.

(growling)

reilly, open.

It's important that we
keep reilly healthy.

He's doing a great job

of getting our visitors excited
about lion conservation.

This afternoon we're going
to do some training.

Lay down.

Good boy.

To see if he will present
his tail for us.

Good.

I would love for him
to lean in

and press his left hip...

(roar)

...Up against the...

(roar)

...Mesh.

Reilly, down.

(growling)

down.

(growling)

good.

(growling)

reilly, lean against the mesh.

(growling)

currently I'm just using a
little bamboo skewer as a prop.

Eventually we'll work our way up
to a syringe.

(snarling)

not liking the stick today.

♪ ♪

reilly is in a bit of a mood
this morning.

(growling)

it looks like maybe not
gonna participate today.

He kind of reminds me
of my husband.

I hate to say it...
(laughs) but it's true!

It's inevitable
that as reilly gets older

he's going to need
more medical attention,

so it's crucial
that we train him

for these procedures
so he's used to it.

We're just gonna have to
come back on another day

when he's in a better mood.

Alright, I think we're going to
call it for the day, we're done.

Kristy: Thanks, reilly!

Jenni: When the time comes
for a blood draw,

I hope everything's
gonna be alright.

♪ ♪

jb: Today we are going down
to take a look at mosuba

and get a really good look
at his canine tooth.

We did a root canal
two years ago,

and the keepers
have been noticing

that his nostril's
pretty swollen

and he's also developed
a little discharge.

I'm really hoping
that root canal's not failed.

So we're gonna need
to get him under anesthesia

to get a really, really good
oral exam done.

Stephanie: Come on, handsome.

Can you stand?

Jb: Stephanie's gonna be the one

that's gonna be administering
the anesthetic drug today.

It's not easy.

She's been working really hard
to gain mo's trust.

Stephanie: Good.

Jb: That keeper-animal bond
is extremely important.

It allows us to do things with
minimal stress to the animal.

Currently we are mixing up
mosuba's anesthetic cocktail

that stephanie is going to give
a hand injection with.

Stephanie:
I'm incredibly nervous.

Doing a great ape procedure,

especially on mo,
who is considered geriatric,

it's incredibly risky.

Jb: Needle's on.
There you go, ma'am.

Good luck.

Stephanie: Thank you.

Jb: You got this.

Mosuba's not going to allow me
to go up and inject him.

I don't have
that relationship with him.

He's only going to allow
stephanie to do this.

Stephanie: Hello.

Yeah, yeah.

Jb: There's a risk anytime
you anesthetize an animal.

Stephanie: Good job, handsome.

Jb: It's like taking them
to the edge of death

and then holding them there
for however long you need,

and then bringing them back.

So, the stakes are pretty high.

Stephanie: Mo's a little
concerned right now.

Ready? Can I see your shoulder?

Good, got it.

You're fine buddy, you're fine.

I'm sorry.

Keeper team to hospital ,

anesthesia injection
was successful

and we're good to go.

Jb: Stephanie got the entire
injection in, which is great.

It's going to take
about minutes

for all of that drug
to kick in.

So we're gonna hold tight

until he's fully,
fully anesthetized,

and then we'll move inside.

If he was to wake up on us,

he could get up and hurt us,
potentially k*ll us.

Jb: Hey, hey.

He's out. Ok.

Stephanie:
They estimate that gorillas

are about times stronger
than humans.

Jb: Pick it up.
One, two, three.

Stephanie: I'm sorry.

When you look at mosuba,

he's about pounds,
and that's mostly muscle.

Slide, alright.

Little bit
of adrenaline pumping,

but you know, that'll happen

when you're moving around
a -pound gorilla.

Now starts
the anxious waiting part

where we just got to wait
and see what the dentists find.

♪ ♪

jb: Can you take that
out of there?

I need a catheter.

We've hooked up
the anesthetic machine.

Stephanie:
Being under anesthesia

is very stressful for them and
it's really stressful for us,

so the second this is over with,

I'm going to breath
the biggest sigh of relief.

Jb: We brought in
the dental team

from the college
of veterinary medicine

here in raleigh, north carolina.

They specialize
in veterinary dentistry.

This is the tooth we're
looking at right here.

This nostril's all swollen.

You think it seems
like a complication

from the root canal?

Jb: He does think
that it's the root canal,

but to see how bad the root is,

the dental team is
about to do an x-ray,

and he'll give us
the best option.

Woman: Clear!

Jb: The root is infected,
so, possibility one,

he's going to try and go in
and redo the root canal

and then pack it
with antibiotics.

The other possibility is
that we take the tooth out.

We're gonna try to avoid that
the best we can.

(drill whirring)

it's a really large tooth,

and that's providing a lot
of structure to his face.

If you remove that tooth,
one side will be sunken in.

So, we don't want to take
that away from him.

The canal where the root sits,
all of that material was removed

and we filled it,
we packed it to keep closed.

Well, we've got to remove
all that material

to redo the root canal.

He's in there drilling
that old material out.

(snap)

jb: That's not good!

(drill whirring)

(snap)

jb: While lenny was cleaning out
that old root canal material...

Woman: Clear!

Jb: ...The file broke.

So now we've got a long file
stuck in mo's tooth.

If we can't get this out, we're
gonna have to take the tooth.

Stephanie: I want this over
as soon as possible.

I want him awake;
I want him back in the group.

Jb: -cc syringe.

Heather: Ok.

Jb: We're trying to just get
some fluid behind it,

bring it to the surface.

We can't get this out.

Lenny is using forceps
that we use on eye surgery,

they're so small
and so delicate.

Lenny: Oh, yeah!

Finally, we got it.

Jb: So, the file is out,
we're back on track.

Lenny is about to start actual
filling of the root canal.

He's filling that with material
called gutta-percha,

it's almost like
a rubber material.

Woman: Yeah.

Lenny: Very happy. Look.

Jb: I'm extremely pleased
the day went great,

from the initial injection
that stephanie did

all the way to the completion
of the root canal.

Ok, are we on? Let's move him.

Using this kind
of behavioral training,

with the keepers building
this trust with these animals,

it allows them to almost
to participate

in their own health care.

Today, for example, for mosuba,
it allowed us to get in there,

get this procedure done, get him
back down to his habitat,

I couldn't have asked
for a better day.

♪ ♪

robert: Over on your right
you can see the desert,

home to a lot of animals
that you will find

in deserts throughout the world.

And one of the coolest animals
is the sand cat.

Absolutely adorable, but you
do not want to pet 'em!

Kim: Najma!

Come on, cosmo!

Good girl.

So a sand cat
is from the middle east,

africa, and parts
of western asia

and is one of
the smallest wild cats,

that lives primarily
in the desert.

Our male's name is cosmo.

Najma is our female.

Jenn: I was jonesing
for some cuteness.

Kim: For some cute!
Jenn: Right?

This is the first place I come
when I need a break

from all the paperwork
and the computer.

Kim: Oh, they're the cutest.

On a scale of to ,
they're .

I mean, they are truly adorable.

Jenn: Our guests love 'em.

Forget the elephants
and the gorillas,

I think the sand cats,
they may be number one, right?

Kim: Najma, here you go.

Jenn: I think people
can relate to them

'cause they're the size
of a house cat.

Kim: Yeah, they're cute,
they look like puss in boots.

Jenn: But definitely not
house cat material.

Kim: No, no.

They're hunters,

and they have a really,
really strong bite force.

They can k*ll venomous snakes.

You would not want
one of these in your house.

Jenn: Just a wild animal.

The most amazing cute thing
in the whole wide world

would be sand cat babies.

Kim: Oh, my gosh.
Jenn: And I will never leave.

Kim: I will never leave.
I'll just sleep here.

Cosmo's hungry!

Jenn: This pair
is very, very important

to the united states population
of sand cats.

There's only about of 'em
in zoos across the country.

Cosmo did come to us from a zoo
in the czech republic.

He has genetics
that are unrepresented

in the united states.

Kim: He's extremely important
in the breeding program

that we're trying
to establish here.

We introduced them

when we thought she was
at sexual maturity,

and we haven't seen
any breeding behavior.

We should see
a lot more vocalizing.

We should see her rolling back
on her belly a lot more.

He should follow her around.

But we haven't seen any of that.

Jenn: The sand cats
have really seemed to fall

into a roommate-type
relationship.

Kim: We've separated them

to see if maybe absence does
make the heart grow fonder,

but when we put them
back together,

we didn't see any behavior
that indicated

they were more excited
about seeing each other.

Jenn: No breeding means
that the zoo population

is going to decline.

We need these two to breed.

Kim: The next step
is to get the vets

to examine their
reproductive systems.

♪ ♪

woman: Good morning, ladies.

(trumpeting)

♪ ♪

(screech)

woman: Walking the pigs
every morning,

the best parts of the day.

♪ ♪

(chirping)

♪ ♪

jenni: This afternoon
we're going to be trying

to get a blood sample
from reilly

to be able to monitor
his kidney function.

As lions get older, they do
tend to have kidney issues.

We want to do this
while he's awake,

because at his age
anesthesia can be risky.

Ok, and .

Sarah: Ok.

Jenni: I hope everything's
gonna be alright.

(bell ringing)

kristy: Reilly!

Jenni: If it looks like
his kidneys are failing,

we'll have to have a discussion
about his quality of life

and what the future
holds for him.

(growling)

hi, that's perfect.

Sarah: Good boy, reilly.

Jenni: I'm going to shut .

(growling)

we really hope that
today's session goes well,

because we really need
a draw from that tail.

(growling)

heather: Jenni's role is
actually the most important.

Jenni: Back up.

Heather: Because she's the one
watching his body language

and whether or not he's going
to let us do what we need to do.

Jenni: Back up a little bit.

Perfect.

Heather: Yeah, that's good.

The keepers work very closely
with these animals

to build that trust,

to say even though there's
something happening

somewhere else; it's okay.

Sarah: I'm grabbing the tail.

(growling)

jenni: Hey, hey, hey!

Stay focused, stay focused.

Meat.

Heather: Jenni,
you good for a poke?

Jenni: Hey, he's looking
back at you.

He's looking your way.

Heather: Ok.

Jenni: Reilly.

(growling)

(growling)

sarah: Grabbing his tail.

Jenni: We're trying to get
a blood draw from reilly,

but there are days when
reilly does not cooperate.

He's looking your way.

Reilly!

(growling)

you're so tough.

I take a few deep breaths.

Reilly, reilly,
look at me, look at me.

Good boy.

Get into a zen space if I can.

Shhhh.

Back up a little bit, sir.

Perfect!

Heather: Grabbing again.

Jenni: Ok.

Sarah: Good boy, buddy.

Jenni: Good.

Heather: Alright, quick poke.

Jenni: Good, reilly.

Heather: Alright,
we got a blood flow.

Jenni: Excellent.

Heather: Jenni, I am out,

I'm just going to hold off
the vessel for a second.

Jenni: Excellent,
good, good, good.

Love it.

Heather: Good job, handsome.

Jenni: Good job!

Sarah: Good boy!

You did so good!

You gonna go out?

Heather: It's always encouraging

when we actually get
the samples that we need

through participation
with the animals

and not have to do
anesthesia on them.

We're going to pass off
the blood results

to our veterinarians
so that they can review it

and see how his kidneys
are functioning.

Sarah: So brave.

Jenni: Goodbye.

Have a good day.

I've worked with reilly
since he was about years old.

You worked hard
for us today, buddy.

I wouldn't say
that he cares much for me,

he is a wild animal
and I'm just the meat provider,

but I love him and adore him

even if it's
a one-sided relationship.

I'm really hoping for the best.

♪ ♪

(chirping)

♪ ♪

man: I see an ostrich
blocking the road.

If pearl does come close to us,
you want to lean in,

you don't want her to peck you.

Lane: Hello, pearl,
what you doing?

I got some treats for ya.

I try to make pearl feel
like I'm another ostrich.

Interesting creatures.

They can run
up to miles per hour or so,

so there's a lot of power
in them drumsticks.

See that big nail on her foot.

They've been known to kick
and disembowel people,

so they can be quite dangerous.

When I first started
working here,

I was told pearl--ow!--
Does not like guys,

she does not like people
with long hair,

so it wasn't looking too good,

but for whatever reason
pearl just took a liking to me

and, uh, never had a problem
with her so far.

Ow!

One reason's because
I bribe her all the time.

Last grape.

Good girl.

There she goes!

♪ ♪

(chirping)

♪ ♪

emma: Today we're gonna be doing
exams on our two sand cats.

We're gonna do ultrasounds

and take a look at their
reproductive health.

Kim: Here?

We're hoping that we might
get some answers today.

Just to make sure that there's
nothing physically wrong

that would keep her
from having kittens.

Unfortunately,
if these guys don't breed,

for the sake of the population,

we're gonna have to send cosmo
somewhere else.

We don't want that to happen,
but it's reality.

Emma: I'm ready to inject
when you're ready to squeeze.

Najma, she's pretty stressed
and a little nervous

because coming to the vet
is never fun.

Kim: Anytime an animal
goes under anesthesia,

there's always
some risk involved,

so it's a little nerve-racking,
we're a little nervous.

Emma: We're gonna place a tube
in her throat

so that we can make sure
she gets good oxygen

while she's under anesthesia.

She is doing well so far,
got a good heart rate,

and she's breathing well.

She's very fluffy,
getting hair everywhere.

So next we're going to do
an abdominal ultrasound

and hopefully identify
her reproductive tract.

♪ ♪

so we're looking
for najma's uterus.

Where is this...Alright.

I think I found it, but I just
want to see it even crisper.

♪ ♪

great! We found it and
it's an appropriate size

for a cat that is not
pregnant right now.

Kim: That's a huge relief.

Good news, but also leaves us
with more questions,

like why is she not
getting pregnant.

Emma: So, najma looks all good,

she's all done with
her anesthesia and her exam,

and we're gonna wake her up.

Maybe cosmo is the reason why
they're not getting pregnant.

We're doing his exam next.

♪ ♪

right now I'm looking
at his liver,

I'll take a look at his
intestines and stomach;

everything looks good so far.

I'm looking at his testicles
to make sure that he's healthy.

♪ ♪

I haven't been able
to find them.

Emma: I'm looking
at cosmo's testicles

to make sure that he's healthy.

♪ ♪

I don't see anything
abnormal with cosmo,

so looks really good.

He should be able to reproduce.

Kim: And that's a huge relief.

(laughs)

oh.

(whispering)
love you, we're sorry.

Emma: Cosmo's gonna go back
to be with najma

and hopefully they will make
some beautiful kittens for us.

Kim: There's no
anatomical issues,

so gonna have to try
some other things

to spark some interest
between 'em.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

stephanie: So today we're gonna
be checking on mo,

it's been a few days
since his procedure.

And he's been taking his meds
really well,

and he's been training
really well, too.

So, jb's gonna come down,
look mo over,

make sure everything's
looking good.

Jb: So I've been talking
to stephanie every day

just getting updates on mo,

and I'm hoping to see that he
is still doing really well,

he's bright, he's alert.

Today see if we can
get him up to the mesh

and open his mouth,
that would be great.

I want to make sure that cap
is still in place

and just see how everything
looks up in there.

Stephanie: Sounds good.
Jb: Okay, let's do this.

Stephanie: Alrighty.

Jb: Gorillas are fantastic.

They are the calmer, cooler
cousins of the chimp.

Stephanie: Hey, mo,
you want to come on over?

Jb: He's like, yeah,
I'm coming over.

Stephanie: Hey, bud.
How's it going?

Jb: What you doing, bud?
Stephanie: You wanna sit down?

Jb: Good boy.

Stephanie: Good job, hey, you.

Jb: Have him look up
just a little bit.

Stephanie: Mo, just
look up, just a pinch.

Alright, hey, bud,
you got to open up.

Alright. Hold, hold, hold.

Jb: Oh, that looks really good.

Stephanie: Good!

Good job, mo.

Jb: Mo looks great.

Stephanie was able to get me
a really good look at the tooth,

the cap is still in place.

There's no lesions inside
of the mouth, he looks awesome.

The swelling's gone down, too,
in that nostril.

Stephanie: Yeah, it looks
almost even again.

Jb: Yeah.

It's that relationship with
the keepers and the animals

that makes my job
as easy as it is.

Stephanie: Good job, bud.

Jb: The keepers
are down here every day

building these relationships
and building that trust.

Oftentimes when I come down,

I'm doing something
that's not so fun.

So, when I have the opportunity
to do something,

like doing a feed,

and get them to come up
and train with me a little bit,

it's kinda building
that little bit of trust.

Stephanie: Alright, your turn.

Jb: Ok, let's buy some love.

Stephanie: Yeah, absolutely.

Jb: Good boy.
Can I have your hand?

Good boy.

Stephanie: That manicure
looks good, mo.

Jb: Good job, bud.

Stephanie: Good job, buddy.

Jb: So at this point you're
gonna basically be

watching him
the rest of the week.

If everything looks good
at the end of this Friday,

off the list, back to life.

Stephanie: Perfect.

Jb: He just gave me
the stink-eye.

(laughs)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

child: Whoa!

♪ ♪

kathy: Hi, guys. This is one
of our animal caregivers

right here, and he is getting
out a special friend.

Looky here.

Do you see anything blue?

Child: Yes, it's tongue.

Kathy: Blue tongue skink!

Child: Why is his tongue blue?

Kathy: That's their
defense mechanism.

He startles potential predators
with a blue tongue.

Cool trick, right?

The north carolina zoo has
so many different cool animals.

I just love introducing kids
to our animal ambassadors.

The child, the animal,

they're in the same space,
and they can connect.

Two fingers just
on the tail, ok.

Just a real thrill to see
children make that connection

and be able to touch an animal,
I mean, that's pretty cool.

Would you like to have a snack?

Awesome.

♪ ♪

kim: Najma!

Come on, cosmo!

Child: They're so cute!

Kim: Since cosmo and najma's
hospital exams show

that there's really no reason
that they shouldn't be breeding,

we're thinking we need to focus
on the behavioral aspects.

So, I have some
stranger male feces

that are from a breeding male
from another zoo.

What we're hoping is
that if we make cosmo think

that there's another male
in his territory,

that maybe it will spark
some healthy competition,

make him up his game
a little bit.

This idea came from our curator
jenn, who works with the lions.

They weren't having
any luck breeding,

and they introduced
a stranger male feces

and it worked for them,

so fingers crossed,
it will work for the sand cats.

So, I'm just looking for spots

where I know they're gonna
smell this under the sand

and dig it up and hopefully
have some response to it.

It is so important
that cosmo breeds

for the sake of the population.

Are you ready?

Unfortunately, if cosmo
doesn't breed here,

we may have to send him
somewhere else,

and we don't want that to happen
'cause obviously we love cosmo,

but for the sake
of the population,

it might have to happen.

You're going to go out there
and you're going to see

that there's been another
like studly sand cat

in your territory, and it's
going to make you like...

You are a sexy beast.
Let's do this!

♪ ♪

kim: I've buried
the stranger male feces

out here on the habitat
in a few different places.

Come on, cosmo.

I hope there's
a little jealousy,

like cosmo feels like he needs
to amp up his game a little bit,

kinda like get
those juices flowing.

Cosmo looks really cautious,

he's slowly checking
everything out,

so things are smelling
pretty different right now.

♪ ♪

I think cosmo's
figured out where it is.

♪ ♪

he just urinated

right over where
the stranger male feces are.

It's a territorial thing.

But I'll take it,
that's a good sign.

Najma seems to be
crouching down and wiggling

like she's getting ready to,
to pounce on him, that's good.

That's all part
of the breeding process.

♪ ♪

kind of hoping
for a little bit more,

but it's not something that's
gonna happen right away.

♪ ♪

jenn: Think it's working at all?

Kim: I've seen him marking a lot
and peeing on everything,

so hopefully that's a good sign.

Ah, he seems to be interested,
but there's no breeding.

Jenn: Agh!

Kim: Yeah, we need some kittens.

Jenn: Maybe we should play
some barry white music.

(laughing)

we'll have to see what happens
over the next little bit.

If the stranger male feces
doesn't work,

we're going to have to
move out cosmo.

Kim: That stinks. I love cosmo.

I don't want to see him go,

but I think more importantly
we need to breed them.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

man: I do want
to thank you guys so much

for coming to the zoo today.

♪ ♪

jb: Just tell the team I'll
take care of it in the morning,

I've got to take off
for the day.

So, this zoo has
over , animals

and hundreds of staff
to keep it running smoothly,

so we've got to trust
one another.

That's keepers trusting vets
to do the right things

and take care of their animals,

but that's also us vets
trusting the keepers

to make sure that we stay safe.

(roaring)

jenni: Reilly!

Meat!

Ooh, and down the hill it goes.

You gonna get one, reilly?

That's right there.
That one's for you.

You really are a lazy old man,
aren't you?

Heather: That's not nice to say!

(laughs)

jenni: So, what's up?

Heather: I'm here to tell you

his blood work
looks pretty good.

He seems to be hanging in there.

Jenni: Excellent!

You hear that, reilly?

You're gonna be the oldest lion
in america soon!

Heather: It's very relieving
to tell jenni

that there's no bad news.

Doing good for an old man.

Jenni: Yeah.

I love reilly to death.

I respect him, I fear him
just a little bit,

but for me, I think he's
the greatest thing in the world.

The animals here
are part of my family

and they're my friends
and they're my co-workers.

They're not just animals
I take care of.

He's so handsome.

Heather: He is handsome.

Here at the zoo,

working with some of our larger,
more dangerous animals,

the veterinary staff
relies heavily on the keepers.

They have our back
during procedures.

Jenni: Reilly.
Reilly, look at me.

Heather: The first time
I drew blood from reilly

was terrifying.

(growling)

oh, I was tense.

(laughs)

I was very, very tense
and nervous.

Jenni: Switching meat g*ns,
you guys just stay back.

Heather: But again, it goes back
to trusting those keepers;

they're indispensable
for our job.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

stephanie: It is really,
really nice to know

that mosuba is not
in any pain anymore.

His swelling has gone down,
his abscesses are healing,

he's eating really well.

So, we've got everything
that we were hoping to see.

This is pretty much

what mosuba spends a good
portion of his day doing

is just chilling out.

He's still keeping an eye
on everybody,

making sure everybody's
getting along.

Keepers talk about something
called the trust bank.

You're constantly adding to that
bank with positive experiences,

whether that's great treats

or good little training sessions
with them.

Giving mosuba
a voluntary injection,

that's a big withdrawal.

So I needed to make sure

that I had enough in the bank
to withdraw that,

and that's one of those things

that we continually work at
every single day.

Isn't that right, dembe?

You guys need your mo around.

I've been fortunate
that I've been able

to form a great relationship
with mosuba.

He is such a phenomenal
silverback,

he's just a gentle giant.

He's back where
he's supposed to be.

♪ ♪