The Crocodile Hunter Diaries - It's A Girl (1998/2002)
Season 1 (2001-2002)
Plot: Steve and the Australia Zoo staff have the dangerous task of draining Acco's pond to concrete the edge. Acco is the biggest crocodile at Australia Zoo, and he keeps a close eye on everyone working in his territory. Once the task has finally been completed, Steve discovers there is a problem with the water temperature and has to go back in once more. The staff celebrates Terri's birthday with all the zoo fanfare, and Steve's romantic gesture surprises everyone. After weeks of complaining, Darren pulls a huge splinter from his foot, which he thought was broken, and Steve races to the hospital just in time to witness the birth of his baby daughter, Bindi.
Plot: Steve and the Australia Zoo staff have the dangerous task of draining Acco's pond to concrete the edge. Acco is the biggest crocodile at Australia Zoo, and he keeps a close eye on everyone working in his territory. Once the task has finally been completed, Steve discovers there is a problem with the water temperature and has to go back in once more. The staff celebrates Terri's birthday with all the zoo fanfare, and Steve's romantic gesture surprises everyone. After weeks of complaining, Darren pulls a huge splinter from his foot, which he thought was broken, and Steve races to the hospital just in time to witness the birth of his baby daughter, Bindi.
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TVTranscript
00:00In this episode of Croc Diaries,
00:02incredible danger as we repair a pond for two cranky crocodiles.
00:07A new water rat entertains us with some underwater antics.
00:12And Darren really puts his foot in it.
00:16Oh, you got it?
00:17Join me at my home for the fun, the danger and the real-life drama
00:22behind the scenes at Australia Zoo.
00:24This is Akko, the biggest saltwater crocodile at Australia Zoo and his beautiful girl Connie
00:54starring in an action-packed croc demo.
00:58Our daily crocodile demos teach zoo visitors to love and respect these amazing, powerful
01:04dinosaurs.
01:08Akko just loves chasing me out of his territory.
01:11It gives him a chance to show off to his girl.
01:13No danger on land and when I can see, it's in the water, that's stalking, camouflage
01:20and strife.
01:21That is the art of the crocodile.
01:22Isn't he a beauty?
01:26What a little ribber.
01:35Akko is by far the biggest crocodile we've got.
01:38He's over 16 feet in length and over a tonne in weight.
01:43Now when you get a big animal like that crawling up the bank, he's gonna cause erosion.
01:48The only way to fix it is with some really clever concrete.
01:51However, that makes for the most dangerous job in the world.
01:56They're ambush predators.
01:57He'll be sitting under the water, just waiting to ambush anyone that gets close enough.
02:02He'll strike, hit, and considering his head weighs the same as my entire body, if he hits
02:09you, you're going to pop on impact.
02:12Real dangerous.
02:14Brian's working in some of the gooiest, stickiest mud on the planet, while Akko just waits for
02:20someone to make a wrong move.
02:23Time is always on the side of the crocodile.
02:25We've pumped out a lot of water to do the job, and Brian's digging a trench to prepare
02:30for the concrete.
02:31Better be careful.
02:32Brian is starting to move a little bit.
02:34Australia Zoo staff are all around the edge, watching the crocs every move, and warning
02:40when danger threatens.
02:43We can only let the staff experienced with crocs inside the fence, and Brian is one of
02:48our best.
02:49He's curator of crocodiles, and knows just how far he can go working this close to crocodiles.
02:56That's Connie's nest, and that means double trouble.
02:59Female crocs will defend their nest with their lives, and with all this activity, she could
03:04attack just as hard as Akko.
03:09Rick's positioning the pump to keep the water level below the trench that Brian's digging
03:13in the mud, while Akko and Connie get even more edgy with another intruder in their territory.
03:19Erosion is always a problem with bigger crocodiles.
03:22Every time they go in and out of the water, they wear down the muddy banks with their
03:26massive weight and strong claws, and eventually will have too much of the bank worn away into
03:31the water.
03:32So we have to act now before it gets out of hand.
03:38And this is just what we didn't want.
03:40Akko is going back into the water, where it's going to be harder to see exactly where he's
03:45hiding.
03:46Danger, danger, danger.
03:48In the water, the crocodile is the king, an ambush predator which just waits to explode
03:54into action.
03:55We're on a timetable, the concrete's coming, and we've got to be ready to pour it.
04:00With Akko in his favourite ambush position, we've got no choice but to tie a rope around
04:05Brian for safety, just in case we've got to drag him out of the boggy mud.
04:16He just materialises right on the edge of a strike range, moving so slowly you can hardly
04:22believe your eyes when you see just how close he's managed to sneak up.
04:27He's forced to move to another part of the bank so Brian can keep digging, but the croc
04:32moves too.
04:34It's amazing how slowly he can sink beneath the water without a ripple and get another
04:39strike position.
04:45Clever Akko.
04:47He's disappeared, so we have to attract him to another part of the pond.
04:51While Brian keeps digging at the end of the safety rope, no one knows whether those bubbles
04:55are from Akko or just a bit of gas released from the muddy bottom of the pond.
05:01We have to take turns with only the most experienced people working at the edge.
05:06We have to minimise the number of people anywhere near strike range, and while Steve takes his
05:10turn on the shovel, we try anything to keep Akko and his girl confused and distracted
05:16so they're not sure where to strike.
05:18We use sticks to stir up the edge away from the action, shovelfuls of dirt dropped a few
05:23feet away from the real digging area, and pebbles tossed to different parts of the pond.
05:28While they're submerged, they can't see us, and stirring up the water will help keep the
05:32crocodiles confused, or at least we hope so.
05:37It's a race against the clock now, but we can't rush too fast.
05:40Too much activity, and someone's going to wear it.
05:43Brian is up to his knees, and there's no way he'd be able to get out fast enough if the
05:48croc attacked.
05:49Thank goodness we've got that safety rope around his waist.
05:53That was the easy part.
05:55The trucks arrive, and we're going to have to work really fast to pop this concrete in.
05:59Unfortunately, it's not just a matter of pouring the concrete and let it sit there.
06:05We have to smooth it off.
06:06We have to mimic what happens in the wild, nice, smooth mud banks, which means I've got
06:12to get down in there, up to me armpits in mud, with an ambush predator sitting in the
06:17water, and trowel it off until it's nice and smooth.
06:21Luckily, he's being really good, and when he exposes his back like that, that is a territorial
06:27threat.
06:28He's saying to me, this is how big I am.
06:30You can see my back.
06:32If you guys come too close, I'm going to strike.
06:35And the blokes are working feverishly.
06:43We're getting closer and closer.
06:45It's hard to tell where the mud starts and the wet concrete begins.
06:49Uh-oh, he's pulled under.
06:52Time to move out.
06:58So while he's under the water, his girl's just staring, making sure that his big bloke
07:03is defending her and their territory.
07:09She's beautiful, that Connie, and he loves her.
07:12Akko will defend her with his life.
07:15If we went anywhere near her, he would strike and remove you from the area.
07:20Now comes the oxide.
07:21We've got to mix an oxide in with the cement, so as we get a nice texture, just like mud.
07:27He's eyeing us off.
07:30He's not too worried.
07:31Whenever he's up and we can see him, it gives us the opportunity to go back down near the
07:35water's edge.
07:36But as soon as he goes under, we have to move back up onto the high ground.
07:42And now I'm bogged, totally stuck in the mud, very vulnerable.
07:47But I'm in no danger.
07:48Akko's on the other side of the pond, and we started pumping water in because we've
07:53just about finished all of the concreting on the bottom part of the pond.
07:57It's a matter of contouring and carving grips, like handholds, on a climbing wall, so the
08:04crocodiles can still get their toes into those handholds and get out of the water.
08:15It's just the same as moulding an earth mud bank that you'd see in any river system.
08:22Everyone in the Australia Zoo team is going ballistic.
08:28Working around the hardest-hitting predator in the world requires a good game plan, particularly
08:39when it's Akko, our big old 16-footer.
08:41So we're thinking we should do the job in winter when it's cool.
08:45They're cold-blooded animals, they slow right down.
08:48But we hit a big problem when we filled his pond back up with critically cold water.
08:57Imagine if we tried to do this job in summer, the crocs would have hit us so hard and fast
09:02we wouldn't have been able to move.
09:04And it's boots off.
09:05If you can imagine, if you had your boots on in that mud, they'd trap you like two buckets
09:09tied to your feet, and you'd never get away.
09:12Winter's the only time that we could have done this job because it's cold.
09:16Reptiles, cold-blooded animals, rely on the air temperature or the water temperature for
09:21their own body temperature.
09:23Now that the concreting's done, the contours look great, we've got to fill it back up as
09:27fast as we can.
09:29Big problem is, the water that we're pumping is too cool, and it's coming out at 19 degrees
09:35Celsius where the other water is up over 20.
09:38We've got a problem.
09:39The first morning that I started digging up, digging out, he came out in that front mud
09:45flat and he was in sun, but he only had about an hour of sun, and that was it.
09:50Well, I think you need to locate him, and he's probably still back up off of that same
09:55peninsula, and if he is, I'd only clean this half.
09:58I wouldn't touch that other end.
10:00I'd let him get out.
10:02We'd like to do more work on cleaning up his pond.
10:04It's the perfect opportunity.
10:06But if he sees us, he'll stay in the water, and we need him to come out and get sun so
10:12he can heat up.
10:13The water we're pumping in's just too cold.
10:15There's his head there now, Trevor.
10:21And of course, if the water's too cold, that's going to cause him stress, a lactic acid build-up,
10:27which is no good for a croc at all.
10:29It's time for Fred to drop the thermometer in and check the temperature.
10:33We ought to take the water temperature every morning.
10:44Oh, no.
10:46Unfortunately, it's still too cold.
10:48But big old Akko, he's still looking pretty alert.
10:52Oh, how's this?
10:54He's turning towards his favourite patch of sun.
11:04Anything else?
11:05I've just got a couple of things.
11:06Heat lamps, OK?
11:07We're in the middle of winter, and it's the most important thing at the moment.
11:11A mystery happened the other day, and some heat lamps weren't turned on, and I could
11:15have cried when I came in.
11:17It's, like, irreparable damage.
11:19This is the wildest thing I've ever seen.
11:23Someone's gone into the green lizard room, which is all heat, because we have endangered
11:29species, banded iguanas, among other things in there.
11:33And there's this power point, there's this, sorry, double adapter that runs the two bandits.
11:38Someone's gone in there, grabbed hold, and if you try it, you'll know exactly what I'm
11:44talking about, grabbed hold of the double adapter and pulled.
11:48It's hard to get out.
11:49Hard to get out.
11:50Like, it is, like, a weak person couldn't get it out, and then left it there, so the
11:56banded iguanas had no heat, and it nearly killed them.
12:01We've got to know who did that.
12:03We really need to know who did that, and why they did that.
12:06It is a very serious thing they've done.
12:10But we are the last to leave.
12:11But we are the last to leave.
12:13I don't understand how something could remain unplugged.
12:16Everybody, I mean, particularly Harry and Richard, need to check all the reptiles, and
12:22we need to be aware of the hot, cold, rain, wind factor with these animals,
12:26and check them before we go.
12:28Embrace them, embrace them, and everything else.
12:34One of the cutest rehab animals we've ever gotten into Australia Zoo
12:38was an injured greater glider.
12:41Now, it was touch and go for a while, but with the zoo staff's tender, loving care,
12:45she would soon be able to be released back into the bush.
12:51There's a good girl.
12:53I'm going to put you inside the bag.
12:57There you go.
12:59Weight gain is a critical indicator of improving health.
13:05Just over 1.3, which means she's put on some weight, and it might even be 1.35.
13:10You're a good girl.
13:15There's a little head.
13:19She's eating well, and that's a great sign.
13:21So is her ability to climb.
13:23It means her broken leg is healing well.
13:26But she's getting too used to people, which is always a danger when rehabbing animals.
13:30We all love her.
13:31She's so soft and gentle.
13:33But she's becoming humanized, and we have to make sure she gets back into the bush
13:38before it goes too far and she can't survive on her own.
13:42The other problem is that she might be too trusting and start coming up to people in
13:45the wild.
13:46And that can be really dangerous as well.
13:50You should see how much jump's coming up here.
13:53You're supposed to climb on the other shoulder.
13:55There you go.
13:59My leg is locked out today.
14:01Something she likes almost as much as climbing is her box.
14:05We built it to mimic the hollow trees she finds out in the bush.
14:13Brian, Toby and Dave have been called to an animal rescue.
14:16It's a python they've met and rescued once before.
14:26Naughty Chester's found himself a hen house.
14:35The hens are gone, and Chester looks suspiciously satisfied.
14:40Chester thinks he's in heaven, but he's got to be moved.
14:43Aha, a snake hook.
14:46Get him on, mate.
14:50Oh, he's full.
14:50Oh, he's eating something.
14:52Yeah, he's full, all right.
14:52Got a truck in there.
14:53We're going to have to be a bit gentle with him, because otherwise he's going to regurgitate.
14:58Oh, yeah, look at that.
14:59Look at the bulge in him.
15:01Oh.
15:04Big feet.
15:06Just nice and gentle.
15:08Chester's been caught around people's houses before,
15:11so this time we'll have to move him further away.
15:15One in the bag, ready to go.
15:17Hello, you're getting choked back.
15:19No.
15:22We really appreciate that the owners of the hen house called us to rescue Chester
15:26instead of trying to kill him, even though he ate their poultry.
15:31Before we release him into a more remote part of the countryside,
15:34we have to take this very large and well-fed python back to Australia Zoo.
15:46Wow.
15:50We'll keep Chester in quarantine for a few days until he digests his ill-gotten gains.
15:55Pythons are vulnerable to attack when they're digesting.
15:58Then we'll find a place where hopefully he won't become a repeat offender for the third time.
16:13It's Terry's birthday, and by crikey, she's pregnant.
16:17Boyfriend.
16:27Everybody's absolutely stunned by Steve's romantic gesture.
16:31Yeah, to put the baby in.
16:34Happy birthday to you.
16:37Yay, hooray, hooray, hooray, hooray, hooray, hooray.
16:41I'm not a horse's head, I'm as big as the whole horse.
16:45Ready, ready, ready.
17:00I got the best flowers, I'm jealous.
17:05I kind of got the best husband too.
17:08And who am I to disagree with that?
17:15Darren's dealing with an Australian native turtle with a painful problem.
17:19It's got a bit of a sore bottom.
17:23I think it's very swollen.
17:25Off to the vet with you little fella, and we'll see what the outcome is.
17:32We don't know what caused the problem,
17:34and we don't want to treat it without professional advice from Danny the vet.
17:38What he's done is what we call a paranthromosis.
17:40He's prolapsed the tip of the penis.
17:44Okay, so leave him with us.
17:46Okay.
17:47We'll have to do that under micro-anesthetics,
17:50and we'll inject locally into the base of the tail,
17:52so that none of it's felt, and then we'll give it a clean-up.
17:56Good.
17:57Okay?
17:58No worries.
18:02Here at Australia Zoo, we get really excited about new arrivals,
18:06and this next little guy is a feisty Aussie with an unsavoury name.
18:10He's a baby turtle.
18:11He's a baby Aussie with an unsavoury name.
18:14He's a water rat, indigenous to Australia, and a real character.
18:18Check out how he makes himself right at home.
18:22At least we both got trousers on.
18:23It's a very careful release, because it might be gorgeous, but he bites.
18:29Oh, he's beautiful.
18:30Is he?
18:31Yeah.
18:31Oh, wow.
18:32He's really pretty.
18:34First thing we do is test whether he's happy to be here
18:36by offering his favourite food, Australian yabbies,
18:40and freshwater crayfish.
18:44Right on the money, he goes for it straight away,
18:47and look at him chomp into it.
18:49This boy thinks Australia Zoo is just perfect.
18:52He's making himself completely at home,
18:54hunting more fresh yabbies,
18:56swimming underwater with amazing speed and agility,
18:59exploring every inch of his new habitat,
19:02and even digging himself a nice, comfy burrow in the soft sand under a log,
19:07just like he'd do in the wild.
19:10Otter rats are very important for Australia's ecosystem.
19:13Like otters in other parts of the world,
19:16they help keep the wildlife in balance around river systems.
19:20What we actually found...
19:21Our turtle's back from the vet, and he's already much better now.
19:25It's only a matter of time,
19:26and we'll be able to release him back out into his enclosure.
19:29...hanging out with his big, flat, torn rectum.
19:31Oh, was it?
19:32It can't do any good.
19:33OK.
19:34Got a turtle.
19:35We've got to stop that from re-prolapsing,
19:37but still allowing enough sort of hold to pass waste.
19:41And treatment-wise is...
19:43Are you going to hold on to that?
19:44Are you going to actually demonstrate?
19:46OK, I'll do it.
19:46He's saying, it hurts!
19:49Yeah, he must like Kelsey doing it better than you.
19:56Yow, that's got to feel uncomfortable.
19:59OK.
20:02While Darren was helping concrete Akko's pond,
20:05he felt a sharp pain in his foot.
20:07I jammed my foot down on the recliners, and it snapped up.
20:13Oh, yeah, don't push on it, eh?
20:20Maybe better.
20:21Oh, you got it?
20:22First Jodie, then Rick have a go at pulling out whatever's inside.
20:33Don't relax me.
20:34Come on, you can do it.
20:35You can do it.
20:37A little splint of your foot.
20:38I reckon that.
20:39OK, that's enough, Rick.
20:40I'll pull it out myself.
20:43Mate, I'm almost...
20:44You've just got to grab the end, and it'll pull straight out.
20:48Oh, get it?
20:48Yeah, shill.
20:50Finally, Steve thought he could manage,
20:52but whatever's in there is staying put.
20:55It's really cool.
20:56It's not hurting me.
20:58I can feel it.
20:59Take a look.
20:59Holy dooly.
21:01She's thinking something else.
21:03All right, thanks.
21:07It's going to pull your skin up, but it's not budging.
21:10Doctor job.
21:17Darren had an incredibly sore foot.
21:20We all had a go at diagnosing it,
21:23and we reckon that he must have had a splinter in the sole of his foot.
21:27Anyway, we convinced him to go to the doctor,
21:29and he returned with a very nasty surprise.
21:37There's one there.
21:41That's the main one.
21:43And...
21:51I'm always accident-prone.
21:52I'm always getting, you know, the abdominals needle.
21:57It always seems to be in the wound.
22:01Oh, gotcha.
22:04Have a go at the size of that.
22:07Thank you very, very much.
22:09Darren's gained a nice trophy, but that wasn't the end of it.
22:13Yeah, that was like, well, if he gets it out.
22:16Still to come in Croc Diaries,
22:19an orphan baby kangaroo arrives on our doorstep.
22:24Darren's foot trouble gets more serious.
22:28Our bouncing, beautiful baby bindi is born.
22:37A huge, poisonous thorn pulled out of Darren's foot
22:41has the whole staff telling their very own tales of wounds and injuries.
22:45It's going to be all right.
22:46Three of you, too.
22:47All right?
22:48Let's try this.
22:52He's not a well boy.
22:54Really, ever since he came into this enclosure when we swapped him,
22:57what was that, about a month ago?
22:5820-something of December, that's when his weight started going.
23:02Right, yeah.
23:03And he's just got a lot of pain.
23:05Right, yeah.
23:06And he's just progressively lost a fair bit of weight.
23:09And it's stunning to me, not through the week,
23:12it's like each day, he's losing weight continuously.
23:15Six, seven kilos.
23:17Six and a half, really.
23:20700 grams.
23:21Oh, yeah.
23:22We're in deep trouble if he's got seven kilos.
23:26So how long has he been doing this for?
23:28Just since yesterday afternoon.
23:30Rapid weight loss in a koala is really serious.
23:33Blinky has been looking generally unwell,
23:36and Danny, the vet, can't put his finger on anything definite.
23:40Don't bite him.
23:41He won't bite him.
23:43Not unless we ask him to.
23:44Yeah.
23:45Danny's going to run a series of tests,
23:47but in the meantime, a dose of antibiotics will help him
23:50if there's any serious infection.
23:51Now, do you want someone to hold his arm out?
23:53Or...
23:55Might need a hand.
24:01They really hate this.
24:03Oh, he's gone that far.
24:04He's going down a bit, but he'll talk to us soon.
24:08You're doing pretty good.
24:11He's being very, very good.
24:14Good boy.
24:14If you can imagine, he could tear you apart if he got angry.
24:20Someone else who needed medical attention was Darren.
24:23His foot was still giving him problems.
24:25It was hurting so bad,
24:27we thought he must have had a broken bone in it.
24:30Even with the thorn extracted,
24:32the pain was stopping Darren from doing just about anything.
24:35Just, that's it, right there.
24:37Just separate those toes out, and look underneath.
24:41Yeah, that's where it hurts, right there.
24:43It honestly feels like a bone's broken or something.
24:45But I might get an X-ray just to see if there's any sign
24:47of a foreign body or anything like that.
24:50Excruciating.
24:50OK, well, let's get the X-ray done, and I'll see you after that.
24:55And let's hope that clears up the mystery of the excruciating pain.
25:00So, what's going on?
25:01Uh, the lady just rang up.
25:03Her kid's just found a small joey,
25:05so it looks like it's been kicked out of the pouch.
25:07She said it's furless.
25:09Furless?
25:10Yeah.
25:11Furless, and it's been kicked out of the pouch.
25:12Yeah.
25:13Well, if mum's got a fright, she'll do that, I suppose.
25:15Yeah.
25:16But I don't know how big it is.
25:20See the little injury there, his tail?
25:23Just kicked out of the pouch, was it, do you think?
25:25Oh, no, no.
25:26Just sitting around.
25:27Yeah, the dog found him, actually.
25:30But he's just sitting there licking him.
25:31Glad the dog didn't bite him.
25:31No, he just licked him, and the kid's come round knocking.
25:33Oh, he's found a bird.
25:35Excellent. Well, we'll swap him into one of our pillowcases, if you like.
25:38Great.
25:39But this is a little grey kangaroo.
25:40He found it down at Roy's Road.
25:42Dad!
25:44Oh, no, sweetheart.
25:45There you go.
25:46There you go.
25:48That's a real bundling up.
25:50And there he goes.
25:51He keeps it in the pouch.
25:52That's my dog.
25:53Hang him upside down.
25:54We won't actually look after them.
25:56We'll probably give them to a carer
25:58who's experienced in looking after kangaroos,
26:00who can call you and let you know what's going on.
26:02Oh, all right.
26:03OK.
26:07Looking after orphaned and abandoned wildlife is an everyday occurrence here at Australia Zoo,
26:12and caring for little joey kangaroos is a specialised job that's very time-consuming.
26:18But the reward is when they're released back to the wild.
26:23You should be a dad.
26:25Hey, steady up.
26:25I don't know whether to hang it off the back or not.
26:28Chair, or what to do with him.
26:31He's a boy, and he's got fur on his head.
26:33Look at you.
26:34But, um, that's the only thing.
26:36Oh!
26:38Isn't he cute?
26:42Do you want to drain it on me?
26:43I think so.
26:44It's pretty cold, too.
26:46She said she didn't know how long he's been there.
26:49Nah, the dog was licking him.
26:51And the kids come in and said, mum, the dog's found a bird.
26:53Female kangaroos do occasionally reject a baby for a number of reasons, like severe stress.
26:59But the mother kangaroo wasn't around.
27:01It's much more likely that she's been killed.
27:04Hit by a car, perhaps attacked by dogs.
27:07Who knows?
27:08Now it's up to us to raise the little baby.
27:11It's even more of a challenge for us because the joey is furless.
27:15Without that protective fur, he's much more vulnerable to changes in temperature,
27:19and it's going to be tricky to raise him up.
27:24A little blanket.
27:25There's those, uh, wider blankets that do.
27:28Oh, and they're warm from the dryer, too.
27:30Perfect.
27:31We were lucky the dog got all protective when she found the baby,
27:34and just licked it instead of killing it.
27:37The little orphan will be okay in a quiet, warm room for a while,
27:40with a soft bag and a cushion of blankets,
27:43to make sure he feels comfortable, safe and secure.
27:46And before the end of the day,
27:48we'll place him with a human foster parent until he's big enough to be released.
27:54Darren's foot x-rays are back, but we're still none the wiser.
27:58No broken bones, and it's still a mystery why Darren is in so much pain.
28:03There are no bone changes yet, which is good.
28:07Although, as I said, it's sometimes a bit early to detect that up.
28:11I can't see anything.
28:12One thing's for sure, whatever's going on inside of Darren's foot is very hard to detect.
28:17Well, I still can't walk on it now.
28:19I couldn't put a boot on it.
28:20Yeah, if you try to work out how much time you give Dad,
28:24and then you do have to cut it open,
28:26I mean, how long is he actually going to be on his foot?
28:30This is going to be good.
28:31Back at the camel enclosure, Jodie is about to have her first camel ride by day.
28:38This will be good.
28:39She seems a little apprehensive.
28:41In actual fact, how far can they kick forward?
28:43She can get you there, no problems.
28:44But she won't.
28:45She won't?
28:46No.
28:47You'll see how you go when you hop on her.
28:49Yeah, you won't let go of her, will you?
28:51Yeah.
28:52If she starts getting sick, I'll be jumping.
28:55Use your legs and your body to balance yourself.
28:58Yeah.
28:58Like to hold on.
29:00And just use this to balance yourself.
29:03Yeah.
29:04I've never been on a camel.
29:05And even on a horse, I can't balance myself too well.
29:07So I'm going to...
29:12This will be good.
29:14Dajara is a drop-dead gorgeous female camel.
29:18And this is part of her education program to try and make her people-friendly.
29:23I don't know how I'm going to go with it.
29:24You'll be all right.
29:24It's movement.
29:25She's going down.
29:26You can lean back a bit.
29:27Now, if she starts getting a little bit annoyed when I first sit down on her while she's sitting
29:31down...
29:32If she's annoyed, no matter what the story is, you sit on her.
29:36Stay on her.
29:39There we go.
29:40Can I get on?
29:41Yep.
29:43That's it.
29:44Beautiful.
29:47Hop.
29:49Hop, hop.
29:51Come on, Jade.
29:52Yep.
29:52Excellent.
29:54Yee-haw.
29:56Is she good?
29:58Yeah, this is damn fine.
30:01Oh, yeah.
30:02Cruising along.
30:09Okay, you ready for a ride outside?
30:10No.
30:12You're not...
30:12Hey, hey, hey.
30:13Okay, we're now, we're now.
30:15Now, can you hush for me?
30:16Hush.
30:18Hush.
30:27Unreal.
30:29I rode a camel.
30:32Good girl.
30:34Yeah, confidence is good, but overconfidence is bad.
30:39Oh, she's over.
30:42Shut up.
30:49Oh, my God.
30:52Shut up.
30:53You didn't lean forward, mate.
30:56She went up too bloody quick.
30:59She's meant to let me sit on her first.
31:02That was good.
31:03I'm panicking now.
31:05No, I won't.
31:09Okay, let me just give her a pat.
31:10Yeah, good girl.
31:11Good girl.
31:17Rightio, Jodie's ready this time.
31:19And she's up.
31:21No problem at all.
31:22Almost a professional.
31:23It's all a part of getting Dajara used to people.
31:27And she's doing great.
31:28You all right, Jode?
31:29Yeah, a little bit nervous.
31:31Good girl.
31:34Good girl.
31:35It's essential for all the zoo animals to be familiar and comfortable
31:39with their keepers and their surroundings.
31:46Camels are big, powerful animals,
31:48and they need to be handled by as many different people as possible
31:51so they can be safe around the zoo's visitors.
31:54Stop from eating those trees, mate.
31:58Get her off there.
31:59No, that's good.
32:00Good girl.
32:00Good girl.
32:02Hang on to her, Jode.
32:02Come on.
32:03I am.
32:04She's not a baby anymore, Steve.
32:06No, she's not, mate.
32:07She's finally come of age, our girl.
32:10She's come of age, our baby camel.
32:13She's not a baby anymore.
32:15She's not a baby.
32:18She's boisterous, but she's not a baby.
32:30Terry's beautiful boa constrictor, Rosie,
32:33is used in one of our regular veterinary demonstrations.
32:37We actually teach reptile husbandry at many universities in Queensland.
32:42We've become a part of the curriculum.
32:45The reptiles we're showing these students
32:47are some of the most specialized animals to care for,
32:50and it all stems back to husbandry.
32:53Kelsey's teaching them the proper care and hygiene for these animals
32:57to avoid having to deal with veterinary treatments.
33:00That's ultimately the goal of any good vet student.
33:05The common brown snake.
33:07This is the snake that holds the record
33:09for the most fatalities with snakebite in Australia.
33:13Second most venomous snake in the world.
33:15And it's a pair, a male and a female.
33:18And this little female has successfully laid a clutch of eggs
33:22under her favourite log.
33:24Kelsey's got the job of trying to get the eggs out.
33:28The female's a little agitated,
33:30and yet weak from the hard work of laying the eggs.
33:34You can see they're stuck together in a perfect clutch.
33:37The female comes over.
33:39She uses her forked tongue to sense where the eggs were.
33:42Now Kelsey's got to try and get a good look at her abdomen
33:45to make sure that she's laid all her eggs.
33:47And that's easy.
33:48She places the clutch in front of the door.
33:50The female comes over to check them out.
33:53She gets a good look, and the girl looks good.
33:56Job done.
34:04Brian and Toby are giving the koalas a regular health check.
34:08But this time, there's a lot of extra attention
34:10because there's an important time just ahead of us.
34:17Oh, that's so nice.
34:19Koalas are prone to contagious illnesses,
34:22both in the wild and in captivity.
34:24Their cousins in the bush miss out on this sort of attention.
34:27But here at Australia Zoo, they get the very best of it.
34:30It's especially important now
34:32because we're coming up to the koala breeding season,
34:35and these guys will be in the closest contact possible.
34:41It's also the perfect opportunity to assess
34:43which koalas are likely to be the best bet for the breeding program,
34:46which will assure us of some interesting and exasperating times ahead.
34:53At the end of the day,
34:55it's all about the koalas themselves.
34:57And that's about as much activity we're going to see from this fella today.
35:11Finally, the problem with Darren's sore foot was resolved.
35:15The X-ray didn't show too much, and the pain continued.
35:19And it seems that pulling the thorn out was only half the problem.
35:24And here is what the X-ray didn't show up.
35:27Yeah, she came out yesterday.
35:29It's bigger than the one they originally pulled out.
35:31I go to the doctors all the time, and I'm like, oh, it's really sore.
35:34The X-ray didn't help.
35:35Yeah, because apparently it was up alongside the bone.
35:37So every time I pushed down, it would push into me bone.
35:40And what, she squeezed out when you put the boot on?
35:42Yeah, I tried to put my boot on, because my foot's banana-ed like that.
35:45It's just got pressure on the bottom, and I felt something rip, and I'm like...
35:49Geeze, we laughed.
35:50Oh, mate, I don't know what happened.
35:52Man, that was 100% compared to what it did the other day.
35:54It was weeping, and...
35:56That's where it come out.
35:58If you get that thorn and put it up against there, it's not much worse there.
36:04No, it's just in that way.
36:06Yeah, in towards there.
36:08Yeah, it's not much worse there.
36:10Yeah, it's just in that way.
36:12Yeah, it's just in that way.
36:14Yeah, it's just in that way.
36:16Yeah, it's just in that way.
36:18Yeah, it's just in that way.
36:20Yeah, in towards the bone that connects that toe.
36:23Oh, mate.
36:25See, I still can't move those toes.
36:27Richard and Kelsey have discovered a nest of eggs buried in the sand under a log in the Goanna enclosure.
36:33Any idea how many there are?
36:35Um, four so far.
36:37Um, four so far.
36:39I guess there'll be more.
36:41I guess there'll be more.
36:43Goannas are the biggest lizards in the world, and they have eggs to match.
36:49These are about the same size as some crocodile eggs.
36:53We have to remove the eggs to make sure they're not eaten by other goannas in the same enclosure.
36:58In the wild, they'd be hidden away in a remote location where they'd have a good chance of survival.
37:04But in here, we have to be very careful.
37:10Our work at Australia Zoo is a vital part of the worldwide research into reptiles.
37:16We have to record every detail of the clutch of eggs and the details of the nest,
37:21the number of eggs laid, their size, weight, condition, information
37:25that'll help ensure the health and survival of the world's big lizards.
37:30Our reptile research is the best in the world.
37:34Every single species we've ever held, we've bred, which is important to the survival of goannas around the world.
37:46There's nothing more significant in a couple's life than the miracle of birth.
37:52And my own little person was about to come into this world.
37:56Crikey, I lost it, mate.
37:58I lost me head, I forgot me keys, I forgot where I was going.
38:02I was a physical and mental wreck.
38:05When I got the call, Terry had already gone to the hospital and it was up to me to get everything organised.
38:10Stuff for Terry, stuff for the baby.
38:13I don't know, your mind just goes blank.
38:16What the heck is she going to need?
38:28This is one time when Steve was not totally in control.
38:35Who knows what I jammed in those bags.
38:37Doesn't really matter, I'm out of here, gotta go.
38:41The most important thing about becoming a dad for the first time is to be there when it happens.
38:49You've got to make sure you don't miss any part of the greatest event of your entire life.
38:58Looking back at the trip to the hospital was all a bit of a blur.
39:02One thing I will always remember is being there when my wonderful little girl Bindi came into the world
39:09and look up at me for the first time with those big beautiful eyes.
39:21Taking our beautiful little girl Bindi home from the hospital for the very first time was a day I will always remember.
39:27Like every parent, you have a rush of emotions and feelings.
39:31And I knew that from that day onwards, our lives would never be the same again.
39:48She's freezing to death, man.
39:50What is this, Antarctica?
39:52Is this Antarctica?
39:53It's not Antarctica, little Bindi.
39:55Hello?
39:56Yeah.
39:58Woo!
39:59Oh, she's freezing.
40:01I'm freezing.
40:02She's like, wow, it's cold out here.
40:04I'm freezing.
40:05I'm freezing.
40:06I think her nappy has to come off too.
40:08Oh, he smokes.
40:09Do you want me to whip that off?
40:11I can do it.
40:15I've had two girly scabs before, but she can't have her blankie with her.
40:19Oh, she'll freeze.
40:20No, she won't, she'll be completely dead.
40:22Oh.
40:24She's going to freeze.
40:25She's freezing.
40:26Have a look at the size of it, would you?
40:28Good luck.
40:29She's freezing.
40:32She's freezing.
40:33Spoiled.
40:34Now she's down to 25.75, so she's lost a couple hundred grams.
40:38And that's normal.
40:39So she'll lose a little bit of weight, and by day five, she'll start parking out again.
40:43And I'm sure she'll put her mind in her time.
40:47Yeah.
40:51That's how tight I want it.
40:52Okay.
40:54We're at the pretty exciting stage now.
40:56She's going home.
40:57She's just amazing.
40:59Is that a parrot?
41:01It's only a few miles back to Australia Zoo, but we're treating the journey with all the care you could imagine.
41:07The excitement of setting out on her first major expedition back to the zoo.
41:15Smashie, come on, girl.
41:17Come on, Sue, we're up.
41:20There's one.
41:22Quick.
41:28We've practised this heaps of times with empty capsules, but it's different this time.
41:33There's a real live baby in it.
41:36Mine.
41:37Mine.
41:50I can't believe you're putting Sue in the back.
41:56Isn't that amazing?
41:57That's the first time Sue, my dog, has ever had to go into the back of me ute.
42:02I suppose it's for a good reason.
42:05Oh, look at her. She's just sleeping.
42:10I just couldn't wait to bring our bouncing baby Bindi back to Australia Zoo
42:15to meet all her new friends, family and animals that she's going to spend the rest of her life with.
42:22And boy, crikey, wasn't the zoo crew excited about our baby girl and our arrival.
42:29Here they come.
42:30Here they come.
42:34The whole zoo is there to meet us, boy.
42:45Lock it in case someone tries to kidnap it.
42:47The baby.
42:56There she is.
42:57There she is.
42:58Hey, Sue.
43:01There's the crow.
43:04She's a little beauty.
43:09This is Bindi, Sue and these are all your aunts and uncles and we'll be spreading the workload.
43:21It's like all wobbly, eh?
43:24She's a little beauty, eh?
43:26Doesn't she look a little insane, Sue?
43:30She's a little baby.
43:33Don't let her lick it, she'll drown her.
43:35It's a little baby.
43:36Daddy's girl.
43:38She's definitely daddy's girl.
43:39She's daddy's girl.
43:42It's like, welcome to Australia Zoo. Now, let's get to work, young lady.
43:47Terry may have given birth to her, but the job's mine from here on in.
43:54In future episodes of Croc Diaries, a heart-breaking illness for Becky the otter.
44:01Mating frenzy and amazing footage of crocodile rituals.
44:06And Wes the legend is back into the thick of the action.