will work for nuts (6/6)

This week sees the end of the entertaining wildlife series that gives Britain’s animals the chance to flaunt their natural abilities. In tonight’s season finale, the boys persuade a group of squirrels to appear in a range of famous portraits; while a raven performs some street magic to an amazed crowd.

The first challenge of tonight’s Will Work for Nuts sees the intrepid animal experts attempt to take some ‘celebrity portraits’ of squirrels. With the help of some dollops of peanut butter, Matt hopes to persuade these wild animals to poke their heads through holes in a number of prints. Among the portraits featured are Frans Hals’s baroque masterpiece ‘The Laughing Cavalier’, along with slightly less highbrow portraits of Rambo and Neil Armstrong. Though the task is not easy, Matt achieves some impressive results.

Elsewhere, a raven performs some street magic to an amazed crowd of onlookers. Lloyd’s captive raven, Loki, executes the ‘three cup trick’ –an old favourite among street hustlers and magicians. “Ravens are one of the most intelligent birds,” says Lloyd. “They are very good at problem solving.” An innate ability to spot secret caches of food and remember where they are hidden, Lloyd explains, means that ravens are naturals when it comes to this particular trick.

In the last of a series of fox taste tests, the ‘gourmet fox’ is served dessert. The usually hungry animal has already selected a starter, a main course and even some cheese, but it is not impressed with the puddings on offer. “Maybe they are out hunting for natural food,” posits Matt. “It goes to show that foxes aren’t the total scavengers that people often think they are.”

The finale of tonight’s programme sees the team look back over the whole series to decide which animal performance has been the most impressive. Contenders include a peregrine falcon that outflanked a motorbike, the slugs that completed a treacherous assault course, and two football-playing goldfish.