ABC Listen. Hello there friends, it's Ruby here and you're listening to a special episode of News Time.
Hello Ruby. Hey there Ruby.
On News Time today, we are counting down five stories that all feature amazing animals.
We're going to hear about an itty bitty critter getting a big boost from a biccy, we'll a cheeky bird that's broken the law...twice.
And we'll bob along to the beat with a marine mammal in our Wow of the Week.
What do you reckon?
Are you ready to get wild?
CHEW! CHEW! CHEW! CHEW!
CHEW! BAAH! OOH! BAAHH!
OOH! OOH! AHH! OOH!
OOH! OOH! OOH! OOH!
OOH! OOH! OOH! Story number five.
If you've ever been in hospital or you've visited someone in hospital, you might have seen some scruffy four -legged friends wandering around.
I'm talking about therapy dogs.
Treating like people could like cheering them up, because you can just pat them, and then it's like you feel like they know what you're feeling.
Spot on! In Canberra Hospital's intensive care unit, Harry the cocker spaniel is a resident therapy dog.
That means he spends an hour at a time with each patient, often sitting on their bed and getting a nice big scratch. I would feel very happy and I feel like I would just want to stay all night and I wouldn't want it to stay with me until I left. Pin it and play fetch and run around with it.
Yep, some patients can get some outside time to throw a ball, but lots can't get out of their beds.
That's why it's great that Harry can come to them.
Researchers at Canberra Hospital have found that therapy dogs help reduce worry and pain in patients and they give them and their families a sense of hope.
In fact, lots of people get talking about the pets they're missing back home.
Um, I think that they pat and then they like feel safe and so they both enjoy it.
Not every canine can be a therapy dog.
Harry and his fellow therapy dogs went through six months of training and testing before they were unleashed on the hospital floor.
From all reports, Harry loves spending time with others and his best trick of all, is bringing smiles to people's faces.
You're a good dog, you're a good dog, you're a good dog.
Oh, I'm petting it.
story number 4 in the Kosciusko National Park there's a tiny critter it's got a little pink nose a little mousy tail and it's only about as heavy as an egg a flying fox It's a baby possum when I was in cradle mountain I saw a mollipop coming a baby possum on its It's a pygmy possum.
I saw it on the TV.
You know your stuff!
This is the mountain pygmy possum.
A rather cute but quite endangered species.
It's been hit hard in recent years by droughts and bushfires.
Five years ago, it was estimated there were only about 700 of these cute little possums left in the national park.
But now, scientists say the population has grown and it's at about 950.
Awesome! Good job scientists.
It's the only animal that can dig through snow and dig through the dirt.
Yes, indeed. They are the only small animal that hibernates under the snow in Australia so they are very special.
They also depend on the bogong moth.
That is awesome because the moths are so annoying and possums are so cute.
While bougong moths aren't your usual moth that flutters around bright lights at night, these moths are the main food source of the pygmy possum.
You might remember hearing on News Time about a local school who made bougong bickies with macadamia nuts and meal worm and oil.
Bees helped the possums eat and find nutrients when the number of bougong moths decreased.
Now, the hard work of those biscuit -makers can be seen in the increase in mountain pygmy possums. So they can save the endangered species of a pygmy possum to save all the tiny little lives.
Good teamwork, everyone!
Study number three.
Everyone knows how important it is to look after our teeth.
We've got to brush them twice a day and visit the dentist every so often too.
But what about our animal friends?
They need dental care too.
And that's the job of animal dentists or veterinary dentists.
They operate on animals big and small.
You can imagine that some animals would be a little bit trickier than others to care for.
Probably a mouse because it's got tiny teeth.
Maybe a great white shark because it could eat you and then nobody can do its teeth.
Yikes! You might be right about that.
Recently an animal dentist named David got a phone call from Melbourne Zoo.
They needed him to come and operate on their cat.
A very big cat. It was a Sumatran Tiger.
David had lots of experience caring for the teeth of cats and dogs.
But a tiger? That was a brand new challenge.
Do they really want animals to sleep?
Like with special medicine?
Or was they just awake?
Lucky for David, Houtan the Tiger was given an anaesthetic.
That put him to sleep for two hours.
and that gave David and his team plenty of time to fix his very big teeth.
I think he felt, like, sorry, maybe because I don't think animals should be getting dentist appointments.
Um, what's wrong with its teeth?
Well, Houtan the tiger had cracked teeth from chomping on bones at the zoo, and three teeth needed treatment.
Fortunately, Houtan had very good care, Because in the wild, an injury like that could be fatal.
What do you think Houtan said when he woke up after the operation?
He said nothing because he's a tiger.
I think he said, like, in his mind, because he can't speak human language or English, he said, that wasn't actually that bad because I thought I would be awake.
They would wake up and say...
Well, Houtan is a tiger of few words.
And soon, he was back to his habitat to enjoy the sunshine.
Sumatran Tigers need good care.
They are critically endangered.
There are fewer than 400 of them left in the wild.
400 is a lot but not that much if you're counting an entire species.
Congratulations, dentist David.
On one jaw -some effort.
Story number two. OK, let's jump on a plane now and fly to Switzerland, where a very curious creature has shown up on a road speed camera.
If you're speeding, the police comes to you.
Speed cameras sit next to main roads and take photos of things going past that are moving faster than the speed limit.
Speeding is illegal, so you can get a fine if you're caught.
Recently in Switzerland, something was caught on camera travelling 52kmh in a 30kmh zone.
Like a tiger or a cheetah.
Maybe they escaped from a zoo or maybe somebody was trying to hunt them so they had to run away.
Maybe it was a runaway truck.
A bird. Yes, you've got it.
It was a bird, but it wasn't just any bird. This lawbreaker was a duck.
It flew past the speed camera 22 kilometres an hour faster than the speed limit.
That's, like, crazy, cos I didn't know birds, especially ducks, I can fly that fast. I think the duck got like $3 ,000 fine.
Yeah, that sounds about right.
Local police say this duck hasn't been given any bills to pay, but they did say it's not the first time this duck has been caught on camera.
In fact, it was busted flying at the same speed on the same date seven years ago.
Locals are curious now.
what exactly could this feathered felon be up to?
Put it in... the Olympics!
Maybe it's practising at night.
And then it's gonna break the world record!
Maybe it was trying out for a movie.
Now, there's an idea.
Coming soon to a cinema near you, The Fast and the Riduculous!
Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw!
OK, friends, we have officially waddled our way to...
The story made me go wild because no other sea lion can do that.
Sea lions are incredible creatures.
They can hold their breath under water for about 16 minutes.
They swallow food whole instead of chewing and they also have with toenails on their hind flippers.
And that's not all.
One Californian sea lion named Ronan has been trained to do something amazing.
I think he might be able to go...
Oink -oink -oink -oink -oink -oink.
..and understand humans.
Oink -oink! Babies get screwed so fast that they're, like, fooled as fast as a cheetah.
Not quite. Ronan has been trained to bob her head in time to music.
Then I was a tramp and then they were like up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up and just keep on chasing after it.
When she was young, Ronan was trained to nod to the groove of a ticking metronome.
That's a machine that keeps time.
Recently researchers have been testing her to see if she can bop her head in time with a snare drum which is played at different speeds.
Then they asked 10 humans to move their arms to the same speeds and guess what, Ronan was better at keeping the beat every single time?
I think she should maybe turn into a musician.
Like maybe you could make up the C band, that um, all of the C creatures like you know that are really good and talented.
You'd just play a beat and then she's like bash bash bash bash bash bash and then you'd move the drum kit around so she'd play music.
You might be onto something because now scientists believe they might be able to other animals to keep a beat too.
For now, though, Ronan holds the title of the animal kingdom's grooviest headbanger.
And just like that Ronan's stopped counting and so have I.
We are at the end of our amazing animal countdown.
Thank you. Thanks, Ruby.
You are so very welcome.
I'll see you next time.
Bye, Ruby. Bye. See you later.
or as they say in Switzerland, the home of speedy ducks.
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