- [Jorge] On this episode of Crossing South, we visit a small zoo in Ensenada where you can interact with some amazing animals and it's coming to you now.

(upbeat music) So South of Ensenada, there is a new zoo which is really making an effort to do things right for the animals.

- You know, as the world becomes more aware of how important human efforts are, deliberate human efforts, in conservationism to help animals propagate, save the ones that are endangered and simply keep alive the ones that are basically beyond rescue.

More and more efforts are coming to fruition everywhere around the world.

And Baja's no different.

There's a place called Pai Pai Eco Tourist Park that opened up not so long ago.

But what they've done, what they're doing, gives you a lot of hope that new generations have a chance now to get more involved in the conservation of animals.

- [Jorge] Stay with us folks.

It's Crossing South.

Okay.

So we're going to start now with Yuri here.

Their wellbeing is part of your mission here.

- [Yuri] Exactly.

- Oh, very nice.

- Basically the point about this park is to take care about all animals and we love animals in here, you know?

- [Jorge] Okay.

And it's also like an adventure park because I see a lot of activities here.

- Yeah.

We have zip line, zip bike, we have climbing wall, we got bungees.

We got different interactions with farm animals, with primates, monkeys.

Well, that's very fun here.

- Okay.

Is this like a kids park or adults?

- For all family.

For all family.

- [Jorge] Yeah.

- [Yuri] That's why we got different activities in here, it's for all family.

- [Jorge] Okay, gotcha.

(soft music) Welcome to Jurassic park.

Well, I'm seeing here a floaty guy.

- [Yuri] Yeah.

That's Pamphilo.

- [Jorge] Pamphilo.

- [Yuri] Pamphilo is a crocodile, Mexican crocodile.

Basically in Mexico we have three species and this is one of them.

- It's a swamp Cayman.

- [Yuri] Exactly.

- And what part of Mexico would it be from?

- North side of Mexico.

- [Jorge] On the north?

- [Yuri] Yeah.

- [Jorge] Like from where?

- [Yuri] Tamaulipas.

- [Jorge] Oh really?

Over here in the park, we got three crocodiles.

- So now we're moving into the outside, the exterior part of the park.

We're moving now to the wild area.

And our sherpa for this section is standing right next to me.

It's Jocelyn.

How you doing Jocelyn?

- Good.

Nice to meet you.

- Likewise.

- Actually, we have something that we just... Like our philosophy right here, we call in Spanish is "Amor para conservar", that is like, I just love to conserve.

- [Jorge] Love for conservation, right?

- [Jocelyn] Yes.

We're gonna show you what we have here, what we have in the world.

And then you just know them and you gonna take care of them because you don't love what you don't know.

- I need to know them to love them for sure.

- Of course.

And right here is Tigerland.

You can see it right there in the back.

Actually, we have right now Atasha.

- [Jorge] Oh, look at that.

That is beautiful.

- If you see, oh maybe she's real thin, but actually not.

Actually the belly you see under her, you know that little belly, that is because she's really a little bit fat.

- [Jorge] She looks lean, but it's not, she's hefty.

They eat a lot.

It looks pretty chill.

You know, it looks pretty like a nice little stroll out.

Looks like a happy cat.

- I don't know if you know, but they the love water.

- [Jorge] Oh really?

- [Jocelyn] Yes.

People think that cats don't like water, but actually the tigers love the water.

- [Jorge] Oh really?

- [Jocelyn] We have different tigers.

So the orange, the gold tiger, the white tiger and the snow tiger.

- [Jorge] Oh wow.

- [Jocelyn] The golden tabby is one of the tigers that is almost not anymore of them.

- Okay, they're almost extinct.

- Around 30 tigers.

- [Jorge] 30?

- [Jocelyn] Around that.

- They're not in the wild anymore.

- They're not in the wild anymore.

- Wow.

It's the biggest feline in the world.

Three.

- [Jocelyn] Yes.

- 300 kilograms.

That's like 600 pounds.

- Yes.

- Look at this.

Oh my goodness.

That's how huge they are?

How can you fight that off?

You can't, you're done.

Your done.

Your lease, your time on this earth has come to an end.

Look at that.

- [Jorge] We now move in to the indoor exhibit.

Where their climate settings are deliberately made with comfort in mind.

It's just not what you may think.

- Right here, if you feel it, the temperature is different as outside's.

- It's warmer.

- And a little bit warmer right here.

Because what you're gonna see right here is they need of this kind of weather.

- So you think of what their climate is and their natural habitat, - Yeah.

In each room is catered for that.

- Yes.

- Okay.

So on this section, Jocey passed the baton over to... - Carolina.

- Carolina, Carolina.

Nice to be to Carolina.

- Nice to meet you.

- [Carolina] Here we have five different species of monkeys.

- Okay.

So what are these ones over here, up here?

- The black faced capuchin monkeys.

- Okay, black face capuchin monkey.

Okay.

Where are those guys from?

- [Carolina] South America.

Paraguay to Panama, Nicaragua a little bit.

- So these guys are my current favorite.

And you know what?

You guys are doing a good job because I mean, I'm looking at the enclosure, it looks very clean and even the monkeys look very clean.

Like, you're not brushing them or anything, right?

- [Carolina] No.

- [Jorge] They keep themselves clean or what?

- [Jocelyn] Themselves.

The food we give them, the supplementation is what keeps them that beautiful actually.

- [Jorge] They look beautiful.

They sure do.

I like the environment, you know, it's just small, but it looks very comfortable.

They look very, they don't look stressed.

I mean, if I didn't know any better, that little guy was smiling at me.

- We take care a lot for the wellness of each animal actually.

We can also provide some enrichment for making the day better for them.

They can do like small puzzles or they can... - Small puzzles?

- Yeah small puzzles yeah.

- [Jorge] It may be my favorite little primate up to now.

- [Carolina] You haven't seen all of them.

- [Jorge] Yeah.

I love those mustard gloves that they have.

What's monkey is this?

This one's a more classic one.

This is like, well known in media.

This is Marcel from Friends.

- Exactly.

- So what type of monkey is that?

What's the name?

- It's a white faced capuchin monkey.

- White faced capuchin monkey, okay.

- [Carolina] With the monkeys, all of them like to play a lot.

They jump, they run, they chase each other.

- [Jorge] So you have to keep them active, right?

- [Carolina] Yeah.

- [Jorge] Those guys are pretty intense.

Look at what they're doing right now.

It's like rough and tumble stuff and they love it, right?

They love that little, have a look at that.

They are so agile.

Wow.

And look at how they use that tale.

What is this one?

- The Marmoset or Tamarin monkeys.

- Marmoset Tamarin monkey.

Wow.

- They're the smallest monkeys in America.

- [Jorge] These are beautiful too.

- But these ones, they're really, really endangered.

- Really?

- Yeah.

There's just a few of them.

And actually, the place where they live is really, really small.

- [Jorge] Where are they from?

- [Carolina] They are from Brazil.

- [Jorge] Brazil.

- [Carolina] But it's a really specific region in Brazil.

And because they are so beautiful and the sizes, a lot of people want to take them, - [Jorge] As pets.

- As pets, exactly.

And it's not the purpose of this kind of animals.

- [Jorge] They're meant to live in the wild.

- [Carolina] Yeah, exactly.

- [Jorge] How do they survive with so many predators, a monkey this small?

- Monkeys usually make big groups when they're smaller, the bigger the group is.

So they can protect themselves.

- [Jorge] Like it's so small.

Look at that little face, it's just so small.

- [Carolina] These animals have to be protected.

- [Jorge] Yeah.

- [Carolina] Unfortunately we, as humans have take a lot of the space they used to live.

- Infringe on their terrain, their environment, right?

- Most of the animals are in danger because they don't have where to live by now.

- Do you get to interact with these animals?

- Yes.

- You must be so happy.

That's why you don't wanna leave here, right?

(Carolina laughing) - [Carolina] I'm happy.

Really, really happy to work here.

- Right.

Now, this is the Lemur.

And I know this guy because of Madagascar.

- [Carolina] Exactly.

- [Jorge] I've seen the cartoons.

King Julien.

- [Carolina] Everybody knows King Julien.

- So what can you tell me about the lemurs?

- [Carolina] They're really active.

They like to jump a lot.

Usually, they're really calm when they are just resting.

They like to sun bathe a lot.

- [Jorge] Okay, they like sunbathing.

They like the sun.

- [Carolina] Yeah, they like the sun.

Actually, these are also called son of (indistinct) because when they sunbathe, they take a position like in yoga.

- [Jorge] Okay.

- [Carolina] Like a yoga position.

Yeah.

- Something that I really notice about your animals, they're so clean.

- [Carolina] They clean themselves.

- [Jorge] They're so cool, man.

Look at them.

The lemurs.

- [Carolina] They can jump really, really high actually.

- No, look at that.

How it stands upright almost.

Just hanging around here bro.

And the other one is like, "hey, I've been through that phase, I don't need to prove anything to anyone.

I'm relaxed.

I'm chill."

The young one wants to like, "You sure boss?

You sure boss?

Sure you don't wanna jump with me?"

Oh wow.

Is that a leopard or a jaguar?

- A jaguar.

- [Jorge] It's a baby jaguar.

- [Carolina] Ichelle is the name for this little baby.

She's one and a half months old.

- [Jorge] Oh my goodness.

And how old does she need to be to be able to rip your face off?

- Oh, well.

From little babies, they are ready to protect themselves.

- [Jorge] Already ready, even if she's a baby.

She's stalking us.

Those paw look just fat.

Those are fat paws right there.

Chunky.

Man.

And jaguars have like a big skull, right?

- Yeah.

- It's like a big head.

He's coming at me like, "let me out here, man.

Let me playing with you."

Look at how beautiful she is.

And what about parents?

Where the parents are?

Is she an orphan or... - [Carolina] No, actually she is part of the reproduction program for the conservation of these species.

- [Jorge] Okay.

- [Carolina] The parents are here in our park also.

- [Jorge] Oh, they're here.

- [Carolina] You know, jaguars are the biggest lions here in America.

- [Jorge] Right, right.

Because we don't have native like tigers here or lions.

Is the jaguar larger than a mountain lion or puma?

- [Carolina] Yes.

They're heavy.

- They're stalky but they're heavier and they're stronger.

- Yes, exactly.

- Okay, now what's this animal right here?

- It's a lion.

- It's a lion?

- [Carolina] Yeah.

A lion cub.

- [Jorge] 'Cause it's got some spots.

So what is that?

- [Carolina] Yeah.

The babies are born with spots.

- [Jorge] Oh really?

- [Carolina] Yeah.

It's a kind of camouflage.

- [Jorge] Oh, okay.

Because they can protect themselves as well, yeah.

- It helps when the mothers leave them alone.

You know, the lioness are the hunters in the pack.

- So they gotta them alone for a little bit.

- Exactly.

- [Jorge] So you know what?

I'm gonna have to go watch Lion King again, to make sure that Simba got some spots on them, right.

I just did not notice the first time.

Is that a Leopard?

And that's just a white tiger?

- [Carolina] Yeah, white mangrove tiger.

- [Jorge] That is so hilarious.

Big guy being a little bit of a bully there.

- They like to play a lot together actually.

- He like, "No, I'm not gonna let you sleep.

I want you to play with me. "

No!

Leave me alone, I don't wanna play right now.

I just wanna sleep!

When an animal plays, what I see is that it's relaxed enough, it's not stressed.

- Yes.

- [Jorge] So if they're playing, they're relaxed, right?

- They're relaxed.

On this side, we can see... - Oh, you have a tiger and a jaguar.

A black jaguar.

- [Carolina] Yeah.

But that way, they lay over there.

It tell us that they are comfortable.

- Is that what it is?

- Yeah.

- 'Cause they're not protecting themselves.

- Exactly.

- Look at, them, look at them, look at those eyes.

Look at that iridescent globe.

The Poly when the pre-Hispanic, the Aztecs and who else, when they saw that Jade green glow, that's probably, you know why they make all their Jade products and the iconography of the animals, right?

I mean, they probably saw mysticism in these animals.

Like those eyes, I just saw right now, there was this green glow within the eyeball.

So cool.

The jaguar and a tiger with a fake elephant.

- For you, I have a surprise today.

- Okay.

- We're gonna have a real close experience with a monkey.

- What?

- Are you ready?

- I am ready.

Like a TSA?

- Yes.

- I am ready.

I have wanted this.

- Okay.

So you can choose one.

- This right here.

(Jorge laughing) Immediately.

- Yeah.

Good choice.

- Okay.

I'm gonna give you this bowl.

This is for to feed the monkeys.

And you're going to hold the tub with one hand or both, but the fingers will be under the lines.

- So it don't bite my fingers off.

- Yeah.

Here, you will need to talk a little bit low because the male is jealous with other males.

- The males will get jealous thinking that I'm trying to steal their girlfriends, which I am.

No I was just kidding.

Okay.

If I get them out my back, show them my back so they can jump on and keep my fingers below this rim so they don't bite my fingers off basically.

Okay.

I'm ready.

- Ready?

- Yes.

I've been reading my whole life for this.

- Little guys.

(monkey chirping) This is so cool.

As soon as they saw me, they accepted me.

This is the coolest this thing ever.

You like that little buddy?

Is that cool?

Is that cool?

Yeah.

You're wingman.

Yeah, I'm your wingman.

- [Mariana] You know the songs that he's making is because you're talking.

He's like saying, "shut up."

(monkey chirping) - I'm sorry, I didn't mean to speak too much.

He's telling me, "shut up."

He's like, "you shut your mouth."

- [Jorge] There was one male monkey and all the females are part of his harem.

That male monkey stayed on my shoulder the whole time.

And he would scare away the females that try to get close.

What a jealous little guy.

- Look what I have for you, girl.

You gotta come over here.

You gotta come over here.

There you go.

Successfully enticed.

I got the ladies now.

- [Jorge] Our host explained to me that that little guy viewed me as a threat to his harem.

So he wanted to keep a close watch on me.

Hey, I was happy to oblige by this little guy's rules.

He's the alpha dog in this little world.

(soft instrumental music) - What an amazing experience.

Oh my goodness, so cool.

The monkeys on the adjacent cage are like, "what about us, man?

We wanna play too."

What a wonderful experience.

I will never forget that.

You probably have a kid who does this and he's gonna wanna be a conservationist for maybe the rest of his life, right?

- [Carolina] It's what we try to do here actually.

We try to put that little seed on the heads and make it grow.

So we can have better people for this world.

Are you ready for another surprise?

- [Jorge] Yes.

Yes.

- [Carolina] This time, you're not picking because I want you to meet our little, little, littlest baby, Ichelle.

- Oh!

It's what I wanted.

They're gonna let me meet Ichelle.

Ichelle came to us once and she's coming to us again.

She's coming to the entrance to greet me.

Look at that.

How are you doing Ichelle?

- [Carolina] We're gonna sit down.

- Are you okay little girl?

Are you with me right now?

- [Carolina] Be careful with claws.

- I know she has claws.

- Ichelle, don't bite my face off okay?

The fur is like a delight.

- [Carolina] A lot of the felines when they grow up, they lose that softness.

- [Jorge] Oh really?

It becomes like coarse, right?

- [Carolina] Yeah.

But for the jaguars, it's soft.

- [Jorge] Throughout their lives?

It's always soft?

- [Carolina] Yeah, almost it's softer than others.

And the fur is also really beautiful, the patterns.

Unfortunately, it's one of the reason people hunt jaguars.

(Jorge laughing) - [Jorge] Let's go to the camera.

- Look at those paws.

Like I want to get to know everyone.

I want to get to know everyone that came in here.

Another prey, another prey.

(Jorge laughing) He's gonna rip my shirt off too, if I let it.

It's not like I have a jaguar biting my foot right now.

I mean, everything's cool and chill.

- [Jorge] Ichelle was very inquisitive as most toddlers are.

- These shoes will have been sacrificed for Crossing South.

I'm tempted to leave my shoes for the entertainment of Ichelle here who really seems to like them.

(Jorge grunting) - [Jorge] Our time with Ichelle was memorable to say the least.

- So every area, you know, you have live animals, you gotta take care of them.

They need medical attention, right?

They need to make sure that they're healthy.

And the lead vet for the area we're gonna go into right now, the farm area is standing right next to me.

Hi, how you doing?

- Hi.

I'm doing fine.

- What's your name?

- And my name is Lily or Lilia.

And I'm the lead from veterinarian from the farm.

And we are gonna see some animals that are more family friendly.

- Reticulated snake.

It is huge.

I've never seen that snake before.

It's got silver, like really shiny silver color and black and gold.

Where's that from though?

- [Lilia] They are mainly from the Asian countries, mainly from China and also India.

These two are one of the longest snakes that we can find in the world.

They can actually get to measure 10 meters.

Here we have Maria Luisa and Laura.

They are the newest mothers that we have right now.

Their babies are there.

- [Jorge] Oh, look at those little guys.

- [Lilia] They are only eight and four days old.

- The nurturing in you, you know, comes out.

You know, you see a delicate animal like this, that can't help itself, you just wanna take care of it.

I can see how rewarding these activities are.

Welcome to the earth little one, welcome to the earth.

- [Jorge] I wanted to try my skills against one of these agile creatures.

- No.

- [Lilia] Okay.

So this one right here is Marilyn.

He's 16 years old.

- [Jorge] Wow.

Marilyn.

- [Lilia] And he is an African Tortoise.

Actually, they are known as African spurred turtles.

- [Jorge] Okay.

- Their spurs are these little spikes that we can see right here.

Well, they are mainly for protection for bites, and also they use them to dig on the dirt.

- [Jorge] Okay.

- [Lilia] Because as we know they're of the family of the reptiles, so that means that they are commonly known as cold blooded.

Actually, the right term is that they are ectotherms.

They do this when it's like really, really hot for them or even really cold because they can get ill really easily at low temperatures.

They are gonna start burying themselves so they can keep warm inside.

They hold the third place of the biggest tortoise in the world.

They can get to measure 85 centimeters in length and they can get to weigh a hundred kilograms.

- It's going around like a circuit.

Does he do a daily walk or what?

- Not exactly.

So when the day is cold, but we cannot take them outside 'cause they're gonna get ill. - [Jorge] He's like, "don't mind me, I'm just out here for my daily walk."

- [Lilia] He came from the Sahara desert.

So they cannot find very easily water and they eat green plants because this has a lot of liquid.

So that's the way that they can stay hydrated.

- [Jorge] We're going around the circuit with him.

It feels so at home.

- He is walking a lot because they're used to walk miles and miles to find food.

- [Jorge] I don't wanna get close to that llama because Lily here is saying that it can detect if you're a man and it'll spit or bite you.

So if I get close to him, he's gonna wanna bite and spit me?

No, no, peace and love.

Peace and love.

Peace and love.

(Lilia chuckling) - His name is Kuzco because of the Emperor's New Groove.

So he really is an emperor.

He doesn't like to be touched at all.

Actually, as you can see, he's sort of brushed because he only lets you sometimes.

And he only lets me brush his hair.

- You're kidding.

- But through the fence.

He doesn't let me go inside.

- If you go in, he'll attack you.

- He wanna attack me?

Not exactly, he tries to bite my feet.

- Wow.

Okay.

But men, he can't stand men.

- [Lilia] No, he can't stand men, yeah.

- [Jorge] So people cannot ride these.

Llamas are not for riding.

- [Lilia] No, they cannot ride them.

No.

- [Jorge] That's the baby and she's still feeding, right?

- [Lilia] Yeah.

And she's six months old.

The reason that we can see that she's very big right now it's because the pregnancy of a llama lasts 350 days.

Yeah, it's really long so they can develop a lot in the womb.

This one is Jamie.

He is a European common deer.

He's an albino.

- An albino deer.

- Yeah.

This is a condition, really rare.

- [Jorge] Is there any consequence in the wild for the deer when it's born albino?

Easier to hunt probably, right?

- Easier to hunt, yeah.

And also sometimes the herd don't accept this.

- [Jorge] Don't accept them?

- [Lilia] Yeah.

- [Jorge] Whoa.

Oh, look at that raccoon.

- Yeah.

Here we have three raccoons.

- Rocky raccoon.

- They are eight months old and they are called, "Butch, Bunny and Clyde."

They're not in English as trash pandas but we've got a nickname for them in Spanish that is Ositos lavadores, in English could be translated something like, "washing bears."

This is because they wash everything that they eat.

- They do?

- Yeah, they do.

That's why we have like that water over there because they like to wash everything.

- No way.

- [Lilia] A lot of people think that it's to keep the food clean.

When they get their hands wet, they can feel a lot much better.

They actually don't have a very neat vision with food.

- [Jorge] They're feeling the texture of it.

- Yeah.

Their face mask is really important for them because in daylight, if they need to be awake by some reason they're not gonna see because of the sunlight.

- Hey, I know about that.

I used to play football and for playing football we had like... - Yeah, the black eyeliner or something like that.

- That's like biomimetics when science copies from nature.

- Yes, exactly like that.

- Yeah I remember that.

It's game time.

It's game time.

Right?

Okay.

Okay.

(soft instrumental music) That's the Mexican breed of the pre-Hispanic, the Aztecs.

And look at it, it's all skin.

There's no fur.

This is the Mexican dog.

Wow.

And it's a very valuable dog, right?

It's an expensive dog.

- A really valuable dog, yes.

Actually, he's really important in our culture as you said.

- This is the mascot of the Tijuana soccer team.

- [Both] The Xolos.

- [Jorge] It's a Xolo, as in a Xoloitzcuintle, right?

- Yeah.

- [Jorge] Mexican hairless dog.

We didn't talk about Bambi.

- She's only three years old.

- Three years old.

- She's really used to our company.

When she's fully grown, she's gonna lose all of her white spots.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- Wow.

Deer, they're so elusive.

So it's really hard to really get to see them, you know, up close.

You just spot them when you're driving on the road.

Look at this.

No, no, no.

It's up here.

It's up here.

Look at that.

Look at that Bambi.

Why do you like paper so much huh?

Why do you wanna eat it?

- [Lilia] It's because they have a component that is called, "cellulose."

That's a component that we can find in a lot of plants.

- [Jorge] So is there a particular plant that she would like more than others?

- [Lilia] Well they like to eat a lot of grass and also, they like to eat berries.

- Oh, Sandy.

- Thank you so much for visiting us and I hope I see you soon.

- [Jorge] I hope so too, Lily.

This has been a day well spent.

But it wasn't over yet.

They regularly bring some of their animals out to the grassy area, to the delight of guests.

We just happened to coincide with some of their adorable baby raccoons.

We laughed, we relished, we opened up.

I gave my welcoming arm to them and for my troubles, I get repaid with this.

- It pooped my shirt.

(Jorge laughing) My shirt is gone!

And I don't think I brought another one.

- [Jorge] I can think of no better compliment from nature.

They are very much interested in the wellbeing of animals.

Even volunteering an ambulance to help transport fury friends who need urgent medical attention from rural surroundings into the city of Ensenada.

So after spending a day at the Pai Pai Eco Park and making friends with squirrel, monkeys, raccoons, and jaguars, we leave this place full of experiences till the next time we get to Cross South.

(upbeat lively music) - [Narrator] Like to know more about the places you've just seen?

Maps, videos, podcasts, and more at CrossingSouth.com.

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