zoo days (16/18)

This week sees the conclusion of the observational documentary series following the daily drama of life at Britain’s biggest zoo. Chester Zoo is home to 7,000 animals from 400 species, and is visited by more than a million people each year. With so many animals, ranging from ants to elephants, something is born in the zoo almost every day. Vets at Chester’s state-of-the-art animal hospital do not think twice about treating a 22 foot-long reticulated python with pneumonia, or helping an Asiatic lion prepare for the birth of her cubs.

The stories featured in the series range from that of the flamingo who patiently sits on her precious egg until the nest is almost washed away by the summer floods, to the potentially dangerous introduction of a male elephant to a female who is unwilling to accept his amorous advances.

Zoo Days also gets up close and personal with the keepers –who sometimes admit to knowing more about the animals in their care than members of their own family! The series is narrated by actress Jane Horrocks.

In today’s programme, all eyes are on a new and important arrival at the zoo –a tiny lion cub called Tejas who spells hope for the future of an endangered species. Elsewhere, the chimpanzees line up to take their medicine.

In Tuesday’s show, Tejas proves to be a demanding house guest for head keeper Alan Woodward, while the other zookeepers are kept busy with a flurry of activity on Lemur Island.

In the series finale on Wednesday,love is in the air at Chester Zoo as rhinos Emma and Mugadi snuggle up under the watchful eye of Head Keeper Chas Mackenzie.