Baby Hedgehogs Rescued from Flooded Nest Love Nature
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 In the heart of the bustling capital city of Malawi,
00:06 Lilongwe Wildlife Center welcomes any wild animal
00:09 in need of help.
00:10 The center has more than 200 animals in its care,
00:19 but its doors are always open.
00:22 Vet nurse, Auza, has just collected
00:28 three more tiny orphans that have been
00:30 dropped off at reception.
00:56 All new intakes are checked into the center
00:58 by head of animal care, Tori.
01:00 Oh, they're just baby babies.
01:03 - Yeah, so one of them looks weak.
01:06 When she was giving them to me, she was very weak.
01:09 She was not moving that fast.
01:11 - Hi guys, you're just cold.
01:13 These are African pygmy hedgehogs.
01:17 - For a boy, and another boy, and a girl.
01:22 We get a lot of hedgehogs about this age
01:25 that come through after the rains.
01:26 They get washed out of the nests,
01:28 and they're just a little bit too young
01:30 to make it on their own.
01:32 But when they get washed out, the parents kind of disappear
01:35 'cause obviously everything's very scary and confusing.
01:37 And then we get them here.
01:39 So we just hang on to them.
01:40 At this age, depending on what they weigh,
01:42 we'll probably give them milk for maybe another week or two.
01:45 And then they can join our hedgehog crèche.
01:49 So cute.
01:55 - Vet Charlotte will make sure there are no signs of injury.
01:59 - I know they're small,
02:00 but they seem to be in fairly good body condition.
02:03 - All right, sweet pea, 78 grams.
02:07 - Tracking their body weight is the best way
02:10 to monitor their progress.
02:12 - You've got to stay on though.
02:15 70 grams.
02:17 - It's like getting disputed in my top.
02:26 You little troublemaker.
02:27 - The team decide to call this one Harry.
02:30 At 70 grams, he's smaller than his siblings,
02:33 and that's a cause for concern.
02:36 They're going to have to keep an eye on him.
02:38 - A few things that we're looking out for.
02:40 One is to make sure there's no visible wounds
02:42 or injuries to them.
02:44 Trying to check that they're active
02:46 and well hydrated as well.
02:48 And also one of the big things will be how they feed
02:53 because that's going to be very important
02:55 for getting these guys up to a good weight
02:58 where we can release them.
02:59 - Charlotte needs to make sure everyone will be able
03:04 to tell them apart.
03:06 - I am actually looking for some nail varnish,
03:10 not for myself, but to mark with these guys who's who.
03:15 So it seems like a bit of a beauty treatment,
03:18 but it's actually really important.
03:19 So we can make sure that one isn't gaining
03:22 or losing weight.
03:23 - Let's start with Harry.
03:25 Lovely colour.
03:27 - Tori is making up some special milk.
03:32 - Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant.
03:34 So we have to kind of play chef
03:36 and make the best supplement that we can.
03:40 So we use soy milk, a mixture of cat food,
03:43 and some oils to try and get it up to the same fats
03:47 as a hedgehog milk.
03:50 - Houses in charge of keeping the new arrivals warm.
03:53 - They like hiding in a small box.
03:57 And I cut some grass for them.
04:01 So that they feel like they're in the wild.
04:05 This is my favourite part of my job.
04:09 I like new intakes.
04:11 I like feeding the animals.
04:13 I love them.
04:14 (laughs)
04:16 - But Harry, the smallest hedgehog, doesn't want to feed.
04:25 - They don't understand what is happening.
04:27 So we just keep on trying and see
04:30 if they are going to take it.
04:31 - Harry can't afford to lose any more weight.
04:35 He's already much weaker than his siblings.
04:38 - I'll give them time to get used to a different environment
04:44 I'll not give up.
04:45 - For now, Auza is going to have to be a surrogate mum.
04:50 The other animals at the centre still need attention.
05:00 And three who demand a lot of it
05:02 are Harry the hedgehog and his siblings.
05:05 Today, it's animal care assistant Ella's turn to babysit.
05:11 - You guys have to stay in.
05:12 Ow, my finger is not a mealworm, you can't bite it.
05:16 - Ella is keeping a particularly close eye on Harry's weight.
05:22 - Harry is the smallest one out of the three of them.
05:24 And he was struggling last week when he first came in.
05:27 He wasn't putting on any weight.
05:28 He wasn't really drinking his milk.
05:31 So we'll see how he's doing today.
05:34 Okay, so he weighs 72, which is the same as yesterday.
05:40 So he's not doing amazing.
05:43 You can tell the size difference.
05:46 He's really tiny compared to the other two.
05:48 - Charlotte decides it's time to give him a helping hand.
05:55 - Right, Harry, good boy.
05:57 He's just not eating quite as well as we'd like him to.
06:02 His siblings have put on a good 30 grams each since arrival,
06:06 whereas he's only put on two.
06:08 He is the smallest of them.
06:11 The runt, so to speak.
06:12 So it might just take him that little bit longer.
06:15 But what I don't want is if he's not eating as well,
06:17 him to get dehydrated.
06:19 Would you like to try?
06:21 - Vet student, Roman,
06:23 is going to help with a miniature procedure.
06:26 - I'm just gonna give him a tiny little pick-me-up,
06:27 a little bit of fluids, a little bit of vitamins,
06:30 and hopefully we'll start to see his weight go up
06:32 and him become the same size as the others.
06:37 Very nice, good.
06:38 Good boy, Harry.
06:39 That looks great.
06:40 Good boy, I know it's strange.
06:43 It's strange.
06:44 Beautiful.
06:46 Well done, great job.
06:48 Good boy.
06:49 Should we put you back with your friends?
06:51 Despite his size, Harry should soon be well enough
06:54 to go back to the wild with his siblings.
06:57 The first step is to move them out of their box
07:02 and into an outdoor enclosure
07:04 alongside the other orphans at the center.
07:07 (gentle music)
07:09 - Putting these animals back in the world,
07:12 it's really cool,
07:14 but I always have mixed feelings
07:16 'cause I get attached to them
07:18 and sometimes it's sad to see them go,
07:20 but I'm also happy to see them going back in the world.
07:23 - Part of my job is watching the journey
07:30 that animals make when they come to us.
07:32 So they come in sick and orphaned and injured
07:35 and just really frightened,
07:36 and we get to watch them over the course
07:38 of a few weeks or months just kind of flourish
07:40 into happy, healthy individuals.
07:42 And it's just really great to know
07:44 that we were able to make a difference
07:45 and that we were that change in that animal's life.
07:48 (gentle music)
07:50 (crickets chirping)
07:53 (gentle music)
07:56 (gentle music)
07:59 Get closer to nature right here on YouTube.