Plot Synopsis

Using a range of filming techniques, including a micro-rig to capture animal behavior close up, THE SECRET LIFE OF THE ZOO is a one-hour docuseries that captures the remarkable behavior of animals at Chester Zoo and their relationships with their keepers. Chester Zoo is Britain's most popular zoo, hosting 1.4 million visitors every year, but few visitors ever see the world from these perspectives. Cameras take viewers right inside their world, following some of the Zoo's 15,000 inhabitants as they experience rites of passage, romance, changing families, parenting, conflict, and life and death struggles. Plus, Chester's 88 keepers reveal their close relationships with animals they have cared for over many years. Many of the animals in the Zoo are threatened with extinction. The series chronicles how some of the rarest animals in the world, from Eastern black rhino to Sumatran tigers, are helped to breed. And the problem also reveals how babirusa give birth, sloths form pair bonds, Asiatic lions mate, and orang-utans protect their territory.
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On Thursday, December 13, 2018 at 9pm ET/PT, Animal Planet premiered "Christmas at Chester Zoo," a one-hour holiday special of THE SECRET LIFE OF THE ZOO. Christmas is approaching, and the keepers are hoping to include the animals in the festivities -- but not everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit.