JEN: Alright, Linda, let's go for a walk.
This is Linda, the radiated tortoise.
I've spent many an hour out here walking a tortoise.
Tough job.
Am I in your way?
I don't wanna be in the way.
There's something incredibly relaxing about watching
a tortoise eat.
One bite at a time.
No rush, no stress, right, Linda?
We live a tough life, kid, I'm telling ya.
(theme music plays)
NARRATOR: At Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park,
day dawns for Africa's mightiest meat eaters.
BRICE: Alright, Troy, are you ready to shift one point two lions on show?
Have a great day.
NARRATOR: Three majestic lions.
Rule this savanna.
BRICE: You'll normally see them walk their whole
perimeter and set and mark a lot of different things.
This is how lions communicate, not only with each other, but
with other lion prides in the wild.
After they survey their surroundings, typically,
you'll hear them vocalize too.
(roaring)
There's that beautiful roar.
(roaring)
And that's pretty typical lion behavior, that's how they
announce themselves.
Kinsey's kind of got like a rasp to her vocalization.
(roaring)
Kamari likes to do a quick huff.
(roaring)
And then Dakari is just big, loud and powerful.
(roaring)
Their vocalizing is one of my favorite things in the world.
I've worked with them for two years and hearing that sound
every day just gives me goosebumps.
(roaring)
You'll see a lot of play behavior.
One of their favorite things to do is spar and play with
each other.
Our two sisters, Kinsey and Kamari really love to see who
can sneak up on the other first.
It's always been one of my biggest goals to work with
these beautiful African carnivores and I have fallen
in love with this pride.
Good morning, Kamari, how are you doing today?
You having a good morning?
From this vantage point, they can see the entire east savanna.
Our bontebok, our waterbuck are coming out here.
We have our ostriches, they definitely get really hyped
when the ostrich comes soaring by.
NARRATOR: But at the happiest place on earth,
a hidden network of moats and barriers keeps
predators and prey apart.
BRICE: Right now, we are introducing some of our
baby rhinos to the savanna.
Are you excited to see the baby rhinos come out?
(roaring)
Yeah.
We have Mylo, Ranger and their sister, Logan,
coming out every day.
These guys definitely keep a good watchful eye over the
savanna when all these babies are coming out and exploring
their new surroundings.
NARRATOR: A healthy lion needs more than just eye candy.
BRICE: We get bored looking at the same stuff every single day.
So, why wouldn't they?
They're all entering their teens, which is the geriatric
stage in a big cat's life, so we really need to see how the
range of motion is functioning.
Just like when we get older, arthritis is a big problem.
They did a hoof trim on a giraffe yesterday.
We put some of those shavings on that rock, to replicate
natural scents that lions would smell in the wild.
Like a giraffe just walked through their exhibit.
(laughs)
This is really cool to see her pawing and clawing at that,
just like she would be using those muscles to hunt and
forage in the wild.
Uh, oh.
NARRATOR: Behind the scenes, cast member, Robyn, plans to
keep the lions' minds and bodies in tip top condition.
ROBYN: We came up with a giraffe leg.
NARRATOR: With a full scale version of this mini model.
ROBYN: It's got three main components here.
The big thigh piece, leg piece and then the foot ankle piece.
We'll try to figure out where we could put those points that
the lions could tug on it and take it apart.
I have been to Kenya twice.
It's really helped me to design enrichment.
I have seen lions take down a buffalo.
I have seen them hunting after giraffes.
As soon as they get a hold of their prey, they're gonna
start pulling pieces off.
NARRATOR: The challenge is to make a giraffe leg that
withstands the force of a 400 pound cat.
ROBYN: We are going to utilize a plastic enrichment ball that
is going to allow that natural behavior of pushing with
their noses and then utilizing their paws as well.
This looks a whole lot like this joint here.
They really enjoy fire hose, so I was thinking that this
might be something that they would actually be able to tug on.
And I might be able to make that look like a hoof.
And then this big thigh piece, that looks like this big piece
of really really thick, heavy duty PVC.
If I put it all together, I can definitely make it
kind of look like this.
And then we're gonna use a rod door type spring, it holds
hundreds of pounds of weight, which is exactly what a lion is.
NARRATOR: After five weeks' har work on her enrichment device.
ROBYN: I kind of have all the pieces here that hopefully,
look like one big giraffe leg.
NARRATOR: The full scale build starts to resemble
an actual giraffe leg.
Time to make it super realistic.
OLGA: I like to start a little bit darker.
ROBYN: Okay.
OLGA: And then just start adding layers of color on top of it.
ROBYN: We want it to be something that the lions are
gonna be interested to go after, because it does look
like a giraffe leg.
But when the guests are going by, we don't wanna make it
completely stand out.
We are almost gonna have the leg blend into the rock.
OLGA: What you've done underneath is gonna look
really nice.
ROBYN: Yes.
OLGA: Right? ROBYN: Perfect.
OLGA: I'm just adding a little bit of black, you see?
MAN: Oh, yeah.
ROBYN: Yeah, it completely changes it.
(laughs)
OLGA: Look at how pretty that's looking.
ROBYN: I really like that now.
OLGA: Let this dry really well and then do some more glazes.
ROBYN: Yeah.
OLGA: I think we're good.
ROBYN: Once we are all done here, we are going to hang it up
on those rocks and I really hope those lions engage with it.
NARRATOR: At The Seas with Nemo and friends.
RACHEL: Everybody had a bumpy ride.
NARRATOR: Six green sea turtles arrive from the wild
in bad shape.
DR JEN: Get some debris out there.
What's happening, buddy?
The first thing we can do is take a blood sample, because
I'm gonna need to know the glucose, the potassium, and
the calcium, to know if we need to supplement that in the fluids.
NARRATOR: These six turtles came to Disney, while others
went to different facilities for help.
RACHEL: The turtles came to us as six of many small juvenile
green sea turtles that have washed ashore on the
east coast of Florida.
A lot of times some of these smaller turtles will
get pushed onto shore,
when the storm activity is pretty intense.
Sometimes they're not doing well and they strand,
sometimes they're cold and hypothermic.
DR JEN: Hey, give it back.
RACHEL: Sometimes it's because they're lethargic and emaciated.
DR JEN: You can't keep that.
NARRATOR: The team wants to help the turtles get back to
the wild as soon as possible.
So Dr Jen needs to work out exactly what's wrong with each one.
WOMAN: 248. DR JEN: 2.48.
NARRATOR: They all get a weight check.
DR JEN: Beautiful eyes.
NARRATOR: An exam.
DR JEN: Beautiful oral cavity.
NARRATOR: And a blood draw.
DR JEN: Alright, big man, go easy on me,
'cause I'm tired, alright?
You guys already bled all those, right?
WOMAN: We bled two.
DR JEN: Wow.
It's like a turtle conveyor belt.
What's happening, buddy?
(laughs)
He's looking around, like, where am I?
Well, you're at the most magical place on earth.
RACHEL: I know.
He doesn't know yet, but he will.
DR JEN: I like this guy. RACHEL: I know.
DR JEN: I like his personality already.
(laughs)
Alright, there you go.
RACHEL: Green turtles are a threatened species here in Florida.
We are in the business of saving wildlife and caring for
these animals and trying to reverse their decline.
The reason we're giving these turtles numbers instead of
names is because we are actively trying not to get
attached to them, because they are wild animals and our sole
focus here is to make sure that these turtles are
rehabilitated and released back into the wild.
DR JEN: This is number eight.
This little guy seems lethargic, for sure, usually
healthy sea turtles are gonna be moving around,
they're gonna be moving their flippers, moving their heads.
He's got some barnacles and some debris on the shells.
He'll get lots of TLC.
It looks like he may have had an old wound right here,
or maybe not so old.
Got a little bit of blood coming from there.
He's had a rough go of life so far, poor guy.
This lesion, see how it's kind of soft and pliable.
I don't like it.
Sorry, buddy, I know.
We're just trying to make sure that we take a good look at you.
So right here, it looks like he is developing a little bit
of a shell infection and I can get under here really easily
with my instrument, which is not normal.
I'm worried about him.
RACHEL: Hey, bud.
You can get through this.
NARRATOR: At The Seas, of all the rescued turtles,
number eight's shell infection raises the most concern.
DR JEN: He's gonna get antibiotics, he's gonna get
a lot of vitamins.
But hopefully, he'll be feeling better soon
to go for a swim.
RACHEL: He perked his head up right when you said that.
DR JEN: I think we'll be able to help him.
RACHEL: These guys really are sentinels of the ocean.
They tell us that the ocean's healthy or not, they tell us
so many things about the state of biodiversity in the oceans
and above all, they're just extremely lovable.
We're so excited to do everything we can to
help these guys.
DR JEN: So, this must be 13.
Holy moly.
NIKKI: Yeah.
DR JEN: That's a heavy turtle.
Eyes are good.
Shell doesn't look as bad as the last turtle.
Alright, let's do the heart rate.
(heartbeat)
Nice heart rate.
So even though he looks kind of lethargic, his heart is
beating at a normal rate.
So yes for calcium, yes for glucose, no potassium.
NIKKI: Okay.
DR JEN: Man, all these turtles need glucose, they need to
eat some foods.
NARRATOR: Although number 13's weight is healthy, his time
stranded could mean he's undernourished.
RACHEL: It's always a toss-up when these turtles wash up
on shore what kind of condition they're gonna be in.
Some of them respond right away to treatment,
some of them, it takes a really long time and we're in it
for the long haul.
DR JEN: I'm starting to get pretty worried about this turtle.
We may need to consider taking a CT scan.
It can let us know a little bit more about
what they've been eating.
We really need to get a better look on the inside of this
turtle and figure out what's going on.
NARRATOR: Out on the savanna.
ROBYN: I'm not an engineer, just trying whatever I can do.
TECHNICIAN: Y'all come up with some good ideas there
once in a while.
NARRATOR: Animal Kingdom engineering services help
Robyn install the finished giraffe leg.
ROBYN: We need it in there and we need it in there solid.
TECHNICIAN: This one set almost flush.
ROBYN: The safety concern is always the strength of those cats.
They have a whole ton of strength.
So we need to make sure that they can't break any pieces off.
TECHNICIAN: Can we move this whole thing up a little bit?
ROBYN: We wanna make sure it's detachable.
That's not gonna be a permanent fixture,
but every time we put it out, it's gonna be interesting and
exciting for these guys.
Yeah, that looks good to me.
Just like we need to stay active and stay physically fit,
we need to get on that treadmill every once in a while,
use those weight machines, we need to offer
that same opportunity to these lions.
I am happy with the build, how it looks, now it's up to the
lions to let us know if I did it right or not.
NARRATOR: It's show time.
(growling)
(roaring)
ROBYN: Kinsey looks like she is gonna be the first one to
come over and investigate.
And then there comes Dakari, always very slowly.
I put a lot of work, a lot of hours, a lot of thought into this,
so I am gonna be pretty heartbroken if it doesn't work out.
♪ ♪
(roaring)
That piece of fire hose is working just the way
it was supposed to.
She's able to grab it with her teeth and tug on it.
Kinsey is into that enrichment ball and that is just what we
are looking for.
I'm so excited about it.
I would call the giraffe leg enrichment a huge success.
I think it's gonna be a huge benefit in the long run and
it's thanks to a lot of hard work and a lot of teamwork
to get us here.
(roaring)
VET ASSISTANT: Alright.
NIKKI: Feistiest and the biggest.
(laughs)
Put some extra wrap on him.
NARRATOR: At the Animal Kingdom vet hospital,
rescue turtle 13 straps in for a CT scan.
DR JEN: We need to get a better look inside his body.
He's showing us some signs that could be consistent with
a foreign object in his intestines.
In previous cases of stranded sea turtles, we've found
things like fish hooks and plastic.
VET ASSISTANT: Okay, there we go.
Have you guys got a second?
DR JEN: Yeah.
VET ASSISTANT: This is 752. DR JEN: 752, number 13.
VET ASSISTANT: There's something in there.
DR JEN: Oh, yes, some mineral, hmm.
What has he been eating out there?
We're looking at this bright white color,
which tends to be mineral.
Looks like it's in his GI tract, we can tell what it is.
Could be foreign material, something the turtle ingested
when he was in the wild.
Could be pollution from the oceans.
NARRATOR: There may be as many as 5.25 trillion pieces of
plastic debris in oceans around the world.
All potentially fatal to sea turtles.
COURTNEY: We have moon jellyfish over on this side here.
Sea turtles love to eat these jellyfish, they're one of
their favorite food types and since they don't swim away
from them, they're a great prey item for them.
NARRATOR: To the eyes of a turtle, plastic bags look
just like their favorite snack.
COURTNEY: It's very confusing, especially early in the
morning, late at night, if the lighting's not great.
So that can get lodged in their stomachs, can make them
really sick, they can get entangled and wind up
getting really hurt.
DR JEN: We'll have to keep a close eye and make sure that
he's able to pass that.
We'll have to see how he's defecating.
His lungs look good though.
VET ASSISTANT: Yeah, lungs do look great.
NIKKI: Oh, aye, aye.
VET ASSISTANT: Head facing this way.
NARRATOR: Turtle number eight with the shell infection...
VET ASSISTANT: See how he does with the vibration.
NARRATOR: Is up next for a CT scan.
DR JEN: Oh, wow.
You can really see the fracture that he has on his shell,
pretty much spanning the full length of that left side.
So it's pretty significant damage there, I wonder if
maybe he got hit by a boat when he was in the wild.
What we can see from the outside were just some shell
lesions that went into the dermal bone, but we certainly
could not appreciate that fracture.
He was a very lucky turtle and he's very lucky to be here at
Disney now.
DR RYAN: This turtle can't catch a break.
DR JEN: He's had a rough go of it so far, it seems.
This little guy is looking way worse than
the other turtles right now.
We'll do our best, but there is no guarantee,
especially with how sick turtle number eight is.
NARRATOR: Meet Mylo.
ROBYN: Hi, buddy, how's it going?
NARRATOR: A rambunctious little rhino.
ROBYN: Mylo is wiggling around to see if I have any food.
(laughs)
Very typical baby, he wants to taste test my hands, don't ya?
NARRATOR: Mylo is the first calf of mom, Jao.
ROBYN: Every time I look at Mylo, it just brings so much
joy to my heart.
NARRATOR: The miracle baby no one thought they'd see.
ROBYN: We found out that Jao was not cycling properly.
DR MANDY: Alright, we're going in.
ROBYN: It's gonna be very difficult for her to get
pregnant on her own.
DR MANDY: Nothing significant on Jao's ovary.
ROBYN: So she went through a hormone therapy regimen.
And now we have Mylo.
Mylo is always a handful and he's always got a lot going on.
He's gonna be all over the place.
He gets wild, he gets crazy, he gets very very adventurous.
NARRATOR: Now, he's seven months old and nearly
three feet tall.
It's time Mylo meets his dad, Dugan, out on the savanna.
ROBYN: Dugan has not had a chance to meet Mylo.
We kind of saved this piece for last.
So our big goal with that is gonna be some more socialization.
If Jao and Mylo can get out there, meet Dugan, that's
better dynamics as a herd and very natural for these guys.
NARRATOR: But first, Mylo needs some medical attention.
ROBYN: A few weeks ago, we noticed that Mylo has a crack
right there on his primary horn.
It doesn't go down terribly deep, but it's odd.
DR NATI: We'll just need to watch this as it grows out,
'cause he does have this line that looks like it's a
continuation of the crack.
ROBYN: Uh, huh.
Between him sparring with all of his toys, with his mom,
probably something over time with him just learning to
grow up and be a big boy rhino.
NARRATOR: Mylo receives a visit from Dr Ryan.
DR RYAN: Oh, that's a good spot, huh?
You guys gonna pay me to do this all day?
I'm good.
I don't think that crack goes into the body of the horn.
But with that said, it could break down further,
because of the instability right there at the tip.
Rhinos horns are made of keratin.
This is like the tip of your fingernail.
It's split at the tip, but it doesn't hurt, or really have
much sensation.
So if we remove that tip of the horn, the base is still
stable and hopefully, it'll keep that crack
from getting any worse.
There's no reason that he won't grow a nice normal
looking pointy rhino horn.
ROBYN: Do you want the whole thing off?
DR RYAN: I think I do it from the notch.
ROBYN: Okay, from the notch.
DR RYAN: Yeah. ROBYN: Okay.
DR RYAN: So there's no possibility he can get
something jammed in there.
Poor little guy.
So rough.
ROBYN: What a good patient.
DR RYAN: Is that nice?
ROBYN: We are so excited to release him out on the savanna
with his dad, but we really need to care of this horn first.
NIKKI: Alright, let's see how this goes.
I know you want it, come on.
NARRATOR: At The Seas, turtle number eight gets antibiotics
for his shell wound, mixed into his food.
DR JEN: These sea turtles are extremely fragile, especially
in the immediate post rescue period.
So we're keeping a really close eye on them.
Especially turtle number eight, because of how poor
he's looking.
He's my favorite turtle.
We always root for the underdog.
That's number eight to a T.
What ya say, little man?
He has these infected areas of his shell, probably from when
the boat hit him, but the infection seems to be going
down, so that's good.
His activity level's going up and so all signs are pointing
positive, right, buddy?
You starting to feel better?
Hopefully, soon enough, you'll go back to the ocean, buddy.
(laughs)
He's like, "Stop touching my nose."
NARRATOR: Next, the turtle that may have ingested trash.
DR JEN: Number 13? NIKKI: Yeah.
Good news for him, fecals every day,
massive fecals last night.
DR JEN: Big poops? NIKKI: Uh-huh.
DR JEN: Big poops. NIKKI: Lots of big poops.
DR JEN: That's great, I mean, that's like what we wanna see,
good fecal production, tells us his GI's working well.
NIKKI: This guy is on the road to going home.
DR JEN: Tell me about buoyancy, appetite.
NIKKI: Buoyancy, no issues.
Appetite, when we walk up to the tub, he's ready to eat.
He's very alert.
DR JEN: Perfect, yeah that looks good.
He looks more like a healthy sea turtle should look.
I have a sneaking suspicion that this turtle may be the
first one to be released.
NARRATOR: An ocean return could be right around the corner.
DR JEN: He's peeing on you.
(laughs)
NIKKI: Every day, every day.
WOMAN: Look, cuteness.
NARRATOR: Over 800 babies have been born at Disney's
Animal Kingdom in the past five years.
WOMAN: Hi, sleepy wee one.
I love you.
I love you so much.
NARRATOR: These two dashing Hartmann's Mountain zebras are
the first foals of mom, Heidi.
Now, she expects a third stripy bundle of joy.
MEAGHAN: We put hay for zebra to have something to graze on
when the grass isn't long.
We love to give our expectant moms a little bit of extra TLC.
We sometimes talk to their belly, talk to the foal and
try to get to know it before they're born.
Heidi, come on.
Hartmann's Mountain zebra populations are currently
listed as vulnerable and that's why every baby counts right now.
Heidi's pregnant, she's doing her part.
I have definitely fallen in love with Heidi,
she's always doing something interesting.
She's a great mother.
But she also won't hesitate to put the foals in their place.
When she first got out here, she was pretty timid and
kind of insecure, but she's kind of become the queen.
WOMAN: She'll have to be under anesthesia the whole time...
NARRATOR: Backstage, Heidi arrives for a checkup.
WOMAN: Good girl.
MEAGHAN: Heidi is due in about 12 weeks, so she's entering
her last trimester.
Doing an overall health check.
It's really important to make sure that Heidi is up to date
on her vaccines, that her hooves are in good shape.
DR. BETSY: There we go.
She's down.
Her respiratory rate is 12.
Okay.
We're gonna get a look at her fetus.
I'm gonna be doing an ultrasound check of her
abdomen, making sure that the baby's healthy and that the
pregnancy is going well.
I see a baby.
WOMAN: Wow.
DR. BETSY: We have good fetal movement, so I can see limbs moving.
I can see the heart beating.
The baby's quite large at this point, so I just catch kind of
glimpses at different windows.
MEAGHAN: This is exciting.
It's like a little seahorse in there.
WOMAN: A sea horse, it's a real horse.
MEAGHAN: It's a real horse.
(laughs)
DR. BETSY: Heidi's ultrasound today went really well,
I was really happy with what I was seeing.
I'll get out of your way.
That was beautiful.
She stood nicely.
She's done really well as a mom in the past.
So now we're just gonna keep a close eye on her and wait for
the baby to be born.
NARRATOR: Over at the rhino barn.
KATIE: Mylo.
It's time, bud.
ROBYN: It is super early in the morning, but it's probably
the best time to start working on taking off that tip of
Mylo's horn.
Alright, we're just gonna hope for the best.
White rhinos in particular react really really strongly
to tactile stimulation.
So these guys are a herd group, they're gonna be very
close together and touching each other.
So we're gonna touch Mylo to make sure that he feels safe,
secure and comfortable while we do this procedure.
KATIE: Look at you.
I love you.
What a workout.
ROBYN: Shouldn't hurt him at all, this part is the only
part that has any blood supply to it, the rest of it's just
like the end of your fingernails.
KATIE: He's gonna have a very awkward haircut at the end of this,
but what little boy hasn't had an awkward haircut
once in their life.
Alright, you ready?
ROBYN: Yeah.
NARRATOR: Mylo's horn is made of keratin, the same protein
that makes up human hair and nails.
It's tough stuff.
ROBYN: Wanna switch?
KATIE: Yes.
Doing great, little boy.
I'm sorry, my hair tickled your head.
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
Come here, Mylo.
I'm just gonna give him a couple of seconds.
This is hard work.
ROBYN: This is a huge step for Mylo, it's his first big
medical procedure.
Most of our procedures here at Disney are voluntary,
so if Mylo wants to walk away from us,
he is more than welcome to.
KATIE: Oh, good boy.
There you go.
You know how I can tell he's happy?
He does a tail curl.
ROBYN: Oh, good.
Sign of a happy rhino.
NARRATOR: Change of plans.
One keeper saws.
The other scrubs.
ROBYN: I don't know if I'm more tired from rubbing him or
sawing him.
KATIE: You're really making us work for it today, huh?
Yeah, good boy.
ROBYN: Okay, we got a piece.
KATIE: Yay.
(laughs)
Alright, buddy, we're almost done.
(gasps)
Yay!
ROBYN: Good job.
KATIE: Look at you, bud.
ROBYN: That was pretty good.
KATIE: Yeah. You the man.
ROBYN: The best boy.
Just like our fingernails, that horn's gonna keep growing
out and get back to a nice big size.
That should not affect him whatsoever.
NARRATOR: Horn haircut complete Mylo can charge again.
Time to meet his dad, Dugan, face to face.
KATIE: Oh, my gosh.
Whew.
Robyn and I are going home.
ROBYN: This ground is nice and cold.
KATIE: Oh.
ROBYN: No, seriously, though.
KATIE: Yeah, okay.
(laughs)
This is nice.
KAREN: What is my best game plan here?
NARRATOR: Backstage at The Seas, three turtles
prepare to go home.
RACHEL: Our team has spent the last eight weeks
rehabilitating these turtles.
They're extremely feisty, they're very very active.
Those are telltale signs that we look for to know that
they are releasable.
KEEPER: There you go.
MAN: Great.
NARRATOR: Turtle eight isn't quite ready yet,
but his friends head for the Atlantic Coast,
not far from where they were stranded.
RACHEL: We're doing our best to put them back into the same
location where we found them, to ensure their success.
NARRATOR: Now with the all clear.
KEEPER: Here we go.
NARRATOR: Turtle 13 prepares for his big moment.
LAURA: He's so ready.
KEEPER: We're going.
Finally.
Out to the big ocean.
RACHEL: This turtle is incredibly excited,
we see lots of flapping action going on.
KEEPER: Bye!
Okay, we're going, we're going, we're going.
I'm missing my friends.
Go, go, go, go, go.
Oh.
RACHEL: We're gently setting these turtles in the water,
but these are quick animals, they are just zooming off and
taking off into the ocean.
KEEPER: Oh, a beautiful breath.
One more to go.
It's time.
MAN: Hang on tight, hang on tight.
(laughs)
RACHEL: This is the calmest one today.
She's like, "I'm ready, but I'm not gonna make a big deal about it."
(laughs)
Oh, here we go.
You go seein' that water.
(laughs)
Alright, be good now.
Don't get into trouble, because we love you,
but we don't want you to come back.
(laughs)
♪ ♪
ERICA: I'm very excited today, because it's Grace's third
birthday and we made some really fun enrichment for her
and her family.
When Grace was first born, she wasn't hitting all of her
milestones that we would normally see, so we decided to
start doing some therapy exercises with her.
KEEPER: Do you mind seeing if she can climb all the way up
to that bar?
Yes.
She's showing some delays with her grasp on both her upper
and her lower extremity.
ERICA: We've been doing a lot of work with her the past
couple of years and she's definitely matured and grown.
I'm so proud of her and all the accomplishments that
she's made in just a short period of time.
So, we are doing a rainbow themed party for her and
we decided to make her an ice cake.
One of the test for Grace is gonna be able to pick up those
small fruits and flowers that we put on the cake for her and
see if that physical therapy has really helped her out.
KEEPER (over radio): Erica, they're coming out now.
ERICA: 10-4, copy.
There she is.
Happy Birthday, Grace.
These boys, they're troublemakers.
(laughs)
There's Grace running.
(laughs)
It makes me so happy.
Grace, come on down.
Look at you.
She's getting some of the smaller ice treat.
So she's eating a flower.
You're a little late, everybody else has got your ice.
NARRATOR: Backstage, an overnight arrival.
DR DEIDRE: We have had an exciting morning here at
Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Heidi had her foal.
We're excited and looking forward to seeing what this
foal's gonna do.
Hartmann's Mountain zebra babies are always an exciting
event for us.
They are a species of concern in the wild.
But hours old Trooper is struggling.
The kid is laying down.
His eyes are closed.
Trooper is looking a little off to us.
When he finishes nursing, we're seeing some milk
coming out of his nose.
He's coughing a little bit.
Hey, mum, we're sorry, but he needs to get better.
Shut it, he's not feeling well.
We don't know exactly what's causing it, but it could
contribute to conditions such as pneumonia and could
potentially be life threatening.
We are gonna be transporting Trooper up to work with our partners
at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine,
to do some more advanced diagnostics on him today.
CAITLIN: World's greatest rhinos, here they come.
NARRATOR: Horn freshly shorn,
it's Mylo and mom, Jao's big day.
CAITLIN: It's a big deal for Mylo, because this will be the
first time that he's meeting his dad, Dugan, without any
barriers between them.
We're very excited to see how he interacts with Mylo and if
he behaves appropriately.
Here she is.
It's happening.
Here comes Jao and Mr Mylo.
FEMALE KEEPER: You now have Helen heading down the runway as well.
CAITLIN: 10-4, copy.
I don't know what Mylo's doing, he looks like he's
investigating something.
Oh, here comes Helen.
Oh, he's very spicy this morning, very spicy.
Which just means he's like, overly confident and
is looking for trouble.
(laughs)
It's pretty normal for him and her, she always handles it
really well and is super calm.
We will have to watch for this when Dugan comes out and see
how Dugan reacts to this.
He's very strong, he's very big and sometimes animals like
that don't know their own strength.
His horn is continuing to grow, which we expected.
Mylo's doing really great, honestly.
Alright, Mel, what are we thinking?
Are you ready for the big guy?
MEL: 10-4. Get him out here.
NARRATOR: Finally, Mylo's moment arrives.
CAITLIN: Dugan weighs over 4,000 pounds.
The size difference is pretty substantial, so it's very easy
for maybe Mylo to get pushed a little too hard and for
something to potentially go wrong.
Dugan's coming.
Yeah, coming in hot.
Very excited.
(grunting)
Jao is pushing him back a little bit, letting him know
to be a little thoughtful.
(grunting)
♪ ♪
I don't know why mom would be triggered.
She could just be setting some boundaries with him.
The excitement of Jao getting hyped up like that drew Mylo over.
So this is the first like adult male he's meeting.
Dugan is so great and so calm.
Mylo will learn from Dugan about how to spar.
Jao's standing there, like, "I don't know about this."
She's keeping an eye on things.
Jao's got a mouthful of hay, she just needs to supervise,
but also wants to feed herself.
Multi-tasking, the way every mom does.
The fact that Dugan is allowing Mylo to approach his neck
and get sideways like that is really kind of special.
It's really cool when you see adults playing with kids like
this, they will essentially pull their punches.
He's letting Mylo back him down.
There's no way Mylo physically is actually pushing him back.
I have strong suspicions, once Jao realizes that Dugan will babysit,
she's gonna enjoy the scenario, because she's get to kind of
just eat or nap while Mylo's bothering somebody else.
It's always exceptionally cute when you have this very small
rhino with this very large rhino interacting.
White rhinos are the most social species of rhinos.
So it's really, really important that Mylo learns
how to interact with other males, with bulls.
It's very early, he's very young, but many years from now,
he will start his own family with another herd of
females and hopefully, one day will have lots of babies and
he'll be a great dad, just like Dugan.
Oh, that's cute.
Friendship.
Everything today has gone, honestly, as well as we could
have hoped it would.
And it will allow for Mylo and Dugan to kind of build a
stronger relationship.
And they seem to truly enjoy each other.
Oh, Mylo's laying down, huh.
Nap time.
Oh, that's a real comfortable baby rhino.
NARRATOR: After a week in the hospital, baby zebra, Trooper,
returns to the park.
DR DEIDRE: So Trooper's diagnosis is what they called
dummy foal syndrome.
And what that means is, he just didn't have the
competency to be able to swallow properly, but he is
gonna have a great prognosis long term.
NARRATOR: Now he waits to reunite with mom, Heidi.
DR DEIDRE: Trooper has been at a university surrounded by
humans that have been taking care of him for the last week
and so, we want him to realize that he's a zebra again.
Our major concern today is that they won't recognize each
other again and if that happens, we would have to
manage them separately, which is not an ideal scenario.
Heidi is an experienced mom and she's doing all the right things.
Trooper is starting to nurse, standing under Heidi.
We're just watching to make sure that he is going to
swallow okay.
Heidi and Trooper's introduction couldn't have gone better.
Heidi's maternal instincts kicked in immediately and
they've already started bonding.
We are super excited about what the next few days
are gonna bring.
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.