In Animal Park’s Summer 2024 penultimate episode, the dedicated keepers of Longleat Safari Park face a myriad of tasks from monitoring mood and behaviour to tending to health and facilitating romance, their work is never done.
Kate Humble begins her day by crafting a unique toy for the colobus monkeys, a troop of seven boys residing on ‘gorilla island’. The toy, created from bottles filled with treats and attached to a broom handle, is designed to challenge the monkeys with varying levels of difficulty in accessing the food through differently sized holes. Will the monkeys be able to solve this puzzle?
Ben Fogle, a Labrador owner, has recently added Indian runner ducks to his personal collection of animals. He joins keeper Abby to learn the ropes of duck care, but soon discovers that these ducks are not in a cooperative mood. Despite Ben’s efforts to master their distinctive call, his herding abilities fall short. However, with practice, he’s assured that the ducks will learn recall, providing a natural solution to keep slugs away from his vegetable patch.
Meanwhile, the keepers rally together to support Ghost, an ageing lion who has recently started losing weight. Megan tests the reactions of a kookaburra, and Hamza assists in the delicate task of introducing a pair of porcupines to each other, each possessing an impressive 30,000 quills. It’s all in a day’s work at Animal Park!
Animal Park: Summer 2024 Episode 9 airs on BBC One on Thursday 22 August 2024 at 9:30 am.
