Catch up TV

Summer 2023: Episode 5

In this episode, the keepers use a piece of kit with the animals that they have never used before. \n\nThe keepers and Hamza are putting to the test some new research that claims to help identify the personality of a tiger – could they be introvert or extrovert? To do that, Hamza is using a very exciting new piece of kit for Animal Park – a camera ball. The device will allow Hamza and the keepers to get never-seen-before footage of inside the tigers’ mouths, and by filming the way they play with the ball, should be able to identify their personality traits. The keepers suggest giving the ball separately to mother and daughter tigers. We first see mother react to the ball. She smells it, displaying an incredible response that shows she is wary of it. She then grasps the ball and shows how she would hold it as if she had hunted prey. Second up is her daughter, who pounces on the ball in a much more energetic way than her mum. She also shows some incredible natural instincts that fascinate Hamza. But has any of this information helped the keepers identify their personality types? Later in the programme, Ben finds out more about the tigers’ reaction to the camera ball. \n\nElsewhere, two of the keepers are being trained in one of the most dangerous and skilful jobs in the park. They are learning how to drive a tractor for ‘feed-up’, a twice-weekly drive around the park’s carnivores, where over 800 pounds of meat is dropped from the trailing wagon. During the feed-up, the tractor is prey to lethal lions and ravenous wolves, and they will attack if they spot the smallest weakness. But can the keepers pass their exam in time to drive Kate? She witnesses how the wolves work in a relay, how they bond, and how they appear to love running. But the big question – was it any of the feed-up student drivers at the wheel?\n\nOn the other side of the park, former zookeeper Megan McCubbin is discovering what food can be harvested from the estate’s grounds. Will the guinea pigs like local willow? What will the tortoises think of dandelion leaves? And can the sloth be persuaded to eat some hazel that was grown locally?

Source: BBC 2