Episodes
Animal Park: Episode 2 (S19EP2 BBC One Wed 10 August 2022)
The world’s largest rodent, a capybara, is expected to arrive soon, and the keepers are anxiously anticipating it. After a month of required quarantine, he is finally allowed to leave his lovely new home and enter his very large enclosure. But there is some risk involved. Because they only want the capybara to explore his enclosure and not the rest of the Longleat estate, the keepers must make sure that every inch of the fence line is safe. Our cameras catch him being released, but he quickly vanishes from view as the keepers’ fears come true. Do they have a fugitive?
Yesterday we showed the incredible story of the birth of Europe’s first southern koala joey, and today we continue to follow its journey. It’s now six months old, and keepers are nervously doing everything they can to ensure its survival. We find out why baby koalas eat their mum’s poo, and when they take their first steps to independence. But there’s one big question – is this joey a boy or a girl? To answer this involves its first vet visit – and its first separation from its mum. Will the keepers be able to safely lift it from Violet without causing either too much stress?
Elsewhere in the park, Ben and Kate have been following the journey of Willow the aardvark since she was born at Christmas in 2020. Her mum couldn’t feed her, so she was hand-reared for five months, and since then she has grown to be bigger than the rest of her family. Ben helps with one of her regular check-ups, crucial to ensure her continued health.
The team are constantly trying to imitate their animals’ natural environment and creating fresh ways to keep the animals engaged. Megan McCubbin helps the keepers stimulate the meerkats’ senses with a variety of smells. Will they prefer lavender, eucalyptus or fruit tea? Or the box they arrived in? Hamza Yassin uses his powerful macro lens to help keepers identify whether any of the newly hatched lorikeet eggs have hatched.
Airdate: Wed 10 August 2022 at 09:15 on BBC One
Season 19 Episode 2
Series exploring life behind the scenes at Longleat Estate and Safari Park.