Returning: Wild Life at the Zoo

Observational series Wild Life at the Zoo, behind-the-scenes lives of animals at Taronga Zoo in Sydney and Dubbo, returns to ABC1 next week.

Filmed for over a year and with access to keepers and vets, series two promises “some of the most dramatic events in the zoo’s history.”

From the ‘Bold and the Beautiful’ sex lives of meerkats, to the courting rituals of white rhinos charging at each other at 35 kilometres an hour, to the antics of Monroe, the Fjordland Crested Penguin as he meets the public for the first time, Wild Life at the Zoo captures some of the most extraordinary events in the lives of some of the most fascinating animals on the planet.

In episode one, a young and vibrant sun bear is on her way to meet her intended mate, a lonely psychologically damaged male sun bear that was rescued from a restaurant trader in Cambodia. ‘Mr Hobbs’ as he has affectionately been named, was sold by poachers to a restaurant that often makes paw stew and was rescued by a business man. Things don’t go as well as planned at first, leading to an injury to one of the bears. On the other side of the zoo, two of the rarest animals in the world – rhinos – are brought together to mate for the first time. If the two don’t get along, this could be dangerous to both the rhinos and the staff involved. Will this first date result in a perfect match?

8pm Friday June 7 ABC1.