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Tragedy strikes in Koala Creek as kidney disease claims the life of Wilpena. One of five Southern Australian koalas who made the long journey from Australia to their new home in Longleat, she fell victim to one of the diseases which can prove fatal for these fragile creatures. Could Wilpena’s death enable scientists to take huge strides in their research and find a way to wipe out this killer kidney disease?

But there’s also happier news on the marsupial front when Ben and Kate catch up with wallaby, Newt. The last time they met him, he was a hand-reared tot. But now he’s quite the bruiser and ready to do what an adult male wallaby does…. And there’s news of a surprise and mystery pregnancy.

Elsewhere, Kate catches up with Viscount Weymouth at the park’s eucalyptus plantation. Of the hundreds of types of eucalyptus, the park’s four koalas like to eat just a few varieties. But how can a tree native to baking hot Australia survive in the depths of Wiltshire?

Ben’s on the trail of a little bird with a big personality and a big reputation for dodging capture to get him to a new home, while Jean Johansson gets up close to one of the rarest deer calves in the world, a Pere David, which is virtually extinct in the wild. She discovers how monitor lizard King Tut can rev up from being quiet and sleepy to a fast-paced killing machine when food’s about. And what name will she come up with for one of the Poteroos, tiny 'rat kangaroo' neighbours to the koalas?