REVIEW: Inside The Zoo, Series 1 Episode Five

 REVIEW: Inside The Zoo, Series 1 Episode Five

As I have mentioned in my previous reviews on other television shows, meerkats are my absolute favourite animals. I love the way they stand on their hind legs, peeking over and surveying their surrounding environment as though trying to keep an eye on everything that is going on around them. And, of course, it helps that the Compare The Meerkat adverts exist too, which are my personal favourite television ads.

So it was great to see the meerkats at Edinburgh Zoo featured in this episode. We get plenty of meerkat content here, which allows for some very nice shots of the meerkats peeping around their enclosure. I can only imagine it must take them absolutely hours to weigh them though. One of the key facts stated here is that the keepers cannot tell the meerkats apart so easily, as they look too similar and possess less distinguishable features as some of the other animals at the zoo. Weighing them on the scales and ensuring each meerkat isn't putting on the pounds or losing too much weight, then, must be an absolute chore.

As must be the poor keeper who has the duty of emptying the meerkat's ball pit at the end of a meerkat play session. From what was shown in this episode, it looked as though there were absolutely hundreds of balls in that pit! It's quite amusing to think that meerkats enjoy such childish play though. It's like they are toddlers at heart.

Also seen in this episode are a flock of flamingos, who the keepers are hoping will lay eggs during birthing season. It's really clever to see just what the keepers do to try and provide a stimulant for the flamingos to give birth, such as placing mirrors around their enclosure so it appears as though they have a bigger flock (in order to enforce a greater sense of safety) and fake eggs in the hope that it will put the thought in their heads to try for some flamingo chicks. These are the sort of conservation efforts that you don't tend to think about when you visit the zoo, and so it's amazing to see just how much thought goes into trying to preserve these species.

It's incredible also just how much of a bond these keepers have with the animals, and nowhere is this more evident than when we meet the koala with the eye infection. The keeper is able to simply apply this cream to stop the koala from scratching too much at her eye, and it's lovely to see just how much the koala trusts her. She just lets the keeper apply the cream around her eye without any form of protest, and really demonstrates how close these keepers get to the occupants of the zoo. It's almost like they are family to them.

That family feeling comes into play when the keepers find they have to put down a poor tar lamb, whose suffering is causing too much pain and anguish for her life to continue. You really feel the grief and upset that these keepers feel for having to lose this animal at such a young age, and you get a sense that this must be the absolute worst part of their job. To them it's not just the loss of an animal, it's like a family bereavement, and it's a clear display of just how much these zoo keepers become attached to the animals within their care.

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What are your thoughts on Inside The Zoo's fifth episode? Let me know in the comments.