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Larry King Live

Jack Hanna Lets the Fur Fly

Aired January 11, 2001 - 9:00 p.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, the fur's going to fly! Jack Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo for the hour, with some amazing animals! Next on LARRY KING LIVE.

We don't know how many times Jack's been on this program since this program started over 15 years ago, but best guess, it has to be over 25.

Jack Hanna is director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo. He's probably the best-known zoologist in the world. He's the host of "Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures'' in syndication all over the United States and Canada. And he comes here tonight with his animals.

And I understand, Jack, some weird ones tonight, right? Like in the past we haven't had weird ones!

JACK HANNA, DIRECTOR EMERITUS, COLUMBUS ZOO: Yeah, we've got a lot on tonight I've never had on before.

KING: Animals never seen before!

HANNA: Never by the human eye.

KING: And I noticed -- this is not Larry the lemur, though.

HANNA: No, it's Larry...

KING: Larry the lemur!

HANNA: It's a -- it's a...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNA: ... a ruffed black-and-white lemur, and...

KING: What is this? What is a lemur?

HANNA: A lemur's an animal that's a prosimian. It's not a monkey. It's not an ape. It's an animal that's been around for many, many thousands of years, from Madagascar and...

No, no. Just don't drink that. That's a little water there.

They have a... KING: Why can't he drink water?

HANNA: Well, it's -- I just don't want him to drink water because he'll pee all over everything.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNA: Look at the...

KING: Another first.

HANNA: Look at the little hands here, though. The hands are almost like our hands. The tail is used for a signal to locate its mate. And the lemur also has scent glands right underneath his front legs here that allows him...

(UNINTELLIGIBLE) he wants to drink water, let him pee over on your side.

They also have scent glands under here, where they can locate the males and the females. They're an animal that's very endangered, Larry, from the island of Madagascar, because they've destroyed that island, you know, as far as the wood, the forest and that type of thing.

KING: So they're endangered?

HANNA: Yeah, very, very endangered. And this...

KING: The one named Larry, he's in Columbus Zoo?

HANNA: Yeah, he's in the Columbus Zoo, and he's breeding right now, so we didn't want to bring him out here right now.

KING: Good thinking.

HANNA: This is from Moorpark College, by the way, which is a teaching zoo up here in northern California. But aren't they a magnificent creature?

KING: Whoa!

HANNA: They use the fur a lot for coats and that type of thing. But that's how they are. They locate -- they run around on the ground a lot, but they are in trees, as well.

KING: Moving like...

HANNA: A beautiful black-and-white lemur.

KING: He's an unusual animal.

HANNA: There are 30 species of lemur left. There used to be about 60, and now they're almost -- all of them are endangered, and a lot of them have already gone into extinction in the last 10 years.

KING: There he goes!

HANNA: Thank you very much for bringing this.

KING: The lemur. And give my regards to his cousin, Larry.

Next we have, I understand, a hornbill.

HANNA: Oh! Yeah, this is Joe Cravallo (ph).

KING: This is -- this guy is weird.

HANNA: We've never had one of these on Larry. Joe's a...

KING: What is -- wait a minute. He's got two beaks.

HANNA: See? It's called a rhino hornbill...

JOE CRAVALLO: Rhinoceros hornbill.

HANNA: Rhinoceros hornbill, from Sumatra, from Asia. And here, take some grapes.

KING: No, no, no.

HANNA: No...

KING: I take some grapes?

HANNA: Yeah. And throw them -- he's got very good eyesight.

CRAVALLO: Toss him one. Get half-way close.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNA: Look at Larry. He's watching you. Let's get all the grapes. There we go.

CRAVALLO: There we go, yeah.

KING: OK, here we go. One at a time?

HANNA: Yeah, like this.

KING: Oh! Good boy!

HANNA: Very good!

CLINTON: Very good.

HANNA: Now, look at the -- it's called a rhino hornbill, Larry, because of that -- the big thing on the top of his horn. It's a very light beak there. These animals eat insects, little mammals, whatever they can come across. And Joe Cravallo has a tremendous bird show. It's all around the -- all around the world with Seaworld and other parks throughout the country. But this is an animal you very rarely see, from Sumatra, an endangered animal. KING: Another endangered animal.

HANNA: A very, very endangered animal.

KING: Why?

HANNA: You don't even see these in zoological parks hardly. Just because of loss of habitat.

KING: I never saw anything like this.

HANNA: Loss of habitat...

KING: Now, his eyesight...

HANNA: Is excellent.

KING: Excellent? It's unbelievable.

HANNA: Yeah. Just go ahead and keep feeding him all those grapes. We got about 15 minutes here before you feed them all to him.

KING: No, I can't give him...

(CROSSTALK)

KING: You know, I got -- I got an arctic fox right behind me.

HANNA: Oh, that's right!

(LAUGHTER)

HANNA: But look how he can just keep -- it's a soft fruity (ph), like a toucan, which we know in South America. This is the same type of -- type of bird, that type of family, but...

KING: Now, this wouldn't be a pet, would it.

HANNA: No, you'd -- very good question. Tonight, all these animals we have on here, 99.9 percent of them do not make good pets. Number one, they're endangered. You have to have federal permits. Number two, they could injure you very easily.

Thank you, Joe, for making that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) on the rhino hornbill.

KING: Thank you.

CRAVALLO: Thank you.

KING: And I'll take some grapes. I like grapes.

CRAVALLO: I'll get rid of those.

KING: Good grapes.

HANNA: And before this next animal comes out, Larry, if I could -- we just got back from Israel...

KING: Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that.

HANNA: I think I told you about that. And the reason I brought that up was seeing the rhino hornbill. People don't realize -- they say, "What animals are in Israel?'' Fascinating wildlife in Israel.

KING: Really?

HANNA: You know, we did the animals of the Bible when we did the show. A lot of the birds that migrate in from Africa, that go up into Europe, come right across Israel, and that's their stopping point. That's the first point they can really get out of the air after thousands of miles...

KING: Didn't know that.

HANNA: ... to rest there.

KING: You told me it was your favorite place you visit.

HANNA: I've been all over the world, and who would ever have thought that Israel would have been the place that I love the most, not just the people there, but the animals, the desert, those types of animals. And of course...

KING: You like Jerusalem?

HANNA: Oh, Jerusalem! Favorite city in the world.

KING: And there's a lot of unusual animals in Israel?

HANNA: A lot of unusual animals. And I can tell you about those (UNINTELLIGIBLE) have some that are similar to that.

This is an arctic fox, Larry, from Seaworld.

KING: So are you saying there are Jewish unusual animals?

HANNA: Oh, yeah.

KING: And Palestinian unusual animals.

HANNA: Exactly.

KING: OK.

HANNA: Both -- both just as good.

KING: OK. Why do we have ice here?

HANNA: All right, because that's where the fox lives, in ice. Now, the arctic fox -- we'll bring him up here a little bit.

KING: He's comfortable in ice.

HANNA: Exactly. This animal -- look at -- look at the white on top of the snow there. This is from Seaworld of San Diego.

KING: Whoa, does he feel good! This...

HANNA: Of course...

KING: Do they use this for coats?

HANNA: Yeah. Yeah.

KING: They -- they kill these and makes coats out of them.

HANNA: Exactly. They're trying to stop a lot of that, obviously. The Arctic fox's population depends on really what the -- what the winters are like. The animal -- you can see the camouflage of the animal, excellent camouflage. When we see these in the wild, it's very difficult for us to film.

KING: How you going to pick them up?

HANNA: You can't pick them up.

KING: So he couldn't live in the tropics.

HANNA: No. No, this animal's got to be in cool weather. Obviously, a lot of them are born in zoological parks, and they can adapt to the environment. But you can see here how he loves -- how he -- how he digs in the snow. They'll eat, like, rodents, rats. They'll even eat bark, insects, whatever they can come across because their environment is very, very tough. It's a tough place to live...

KING: Boy, that's...

HANNA: ... for these animals in...

KING: So you got to have ice around him all the time.

HANNA: All the time, to stay cool. We've never had one of these on, as well.

KING: No. Never saw this. The arctic fox.

HANNA: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) clean that up here.

KING: And you have one more...

HANNA: And you wouldn't think that Seaworld...

KING: ... in this segment.

HANNA: Seaworld's got a tremendous arctic exhibit. If you've never been to San Diego, they got a tremendous arctic exhibit with polar bears and other animals.

KING: Is that the best zoo?

HANNA: They're all -- you know, judging a good zoo is like judging a girl. You know, what's -- you know, there's all kinds...

KING: I like the grapes. Judging a good zoo...

HANNA: Like judging a -- you know, it's all your taste.

KING: Well, we know that the Bronx Zoo is a great zoo and...

HANNA: Oh, yeah, the Bronx Zoo, all of them.

Look at this, Larry. We've never had...

KING: Whoa!

HANNA: Isn't this -- this is a California sea lion. Now, the interesting thing about sea lions is, they have little ear flaps there, where a seal doesn't. The sea lion -- the sea lion...

KING: Sounds like my uncle.

HANNA: The sea lion, Larry, can dive up to 1,000 feet. Can you imagine that, going that deep down to find octopus, fish. And what we're doing right now is a sea lion is -- is going by commands, obviously. At Moorpark, it's a teaching zoo, so they teach all the youngsters, the young people that go there...

KING: A little fish on his nose -- whoa!

HANNA: Look how quick they are. These animals, with those flippers -- and he can move his hind end, unlike a seal. It can go very, very fast in the water.

KING: He could hurt you.

HANNA: Yeah. And see -- well, yeah. You don't...

KING: I mean, if he whacked you, he could hurt you.

HANNA: Right. They have excellent eyesight in the water. Those whiskers -- you see there? Those are used to locate fish, as well as other animals they're hunting for...

KING: So the whiskers

HANNA: ... in the water.

KING: ... find fish?

HANNA: Find fish, right.

KING: Are they mostly in northern California?

HANNA: Right, the California sea lion.

KING: San Francisco?

HANNA: Right. All -- you know, on the docks up there. You've seen them all...

KING: Yeah, when you see them on the rocks.

HANNA: Exactly. A lot of these animals, Larry, are hut a lot with fishing line. You'll see a lot of these animals that'll be tangled up with their flippers. I saw one sea lion that lost his flipper from -- from a lot of the fishing cord around.

KING: When he does that noise, is he speaking? What is he...

HANNA: Yeah, he's speaking to her. Look at the -- look at the balance. Isn't that amazing? Look at that. That is unbelievable.

KING: Could play for the Clippers.

HANNA: Yeah.

KING: Wow. That's great.

HANNA: But this is just -- this is just...

KING: That's something. Boy, you got new ones here tonight, boy!

HANNA: Oh, yeah. We've never -- we never had -- I also want to thank Moorpark because that takes a lot of work, what she's doing there, bringing that animal...

KING: We'll be right -- thank you. We'll be thanking everybody later. We'll let you know who helped in all this.

Jack Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, host of "Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures.''

When we come back, a yellow-naped Amazon, a prehensile-tail porcupine, a Northern American porcupine, and a millipede. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Jack Hanna, one of the great zoologists, the host of "Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures.'' My daughter, Kaya (ph), even went with him to Africa and Alaska, just trusting to go...

HANNA: With me.

KING: ... to Africa, yeah. OK, what is this?

HANNA: Well, this right here, if you can turn -- this right here is what Kaya saw, actually, when we were in Africa, the olive baboon.

Look around there.

KING: The olive baboon.

HANNA: Right. Now, baboons, Larry, are obviously a primate. And when we see these in Africa, we see these in groups of anywhere from 30 to 100. As a matter of fact, the baboon will actually hunt a lion if they have to hunt, a leopard or a lion that...

KING: He would hunt a lion?

HANNA: Well, no, no. Not him himself, 50 to 100 of them would.

KING: Oh.

HANNA: We had -- we had one of these three years ago take our underwear out of our tents, and all our toothbrushes and everything. They'd take them up in the trees. So they -- you have to be very careful when you're in Africa in your tents to watch out, you know, where you put everything. Again, the baboon is not an endangered creature right now. There are quite a few of these left...

KING: Is he in the gorilla family?

HANNA: No. Not...

KING: No?

HANNA: No, he's -- not the great ape family.

KING: He's a baboon.

HANNA: He's a baboon.

KING: How old is he?

HANNA: This one's about -- this one's been at Moorpark for about 15 years. And they're an animal, obviously, that learn from observation. This young man here is going to be a trainer some day in the very near future.

KING: Got him going pretty good.

HANNA: Right. You notice the tail? And what they do, Larry, they groom each other. In other words, that is -- when you see these animals, especially grooming, that's to -- to show their -- not only their -- their love for each other, but also the males with the females. It's just...

KING: They show off.

HANNA: Exactly. Now, the females -- notice the bottom there. The females, when they come in heat or in cycle, the rears will swell up really big and red, and that way the males will locate the females and breed. But they're an animal that you don't want to mess with, obviously, in the wild. We film them from distances where we don't disturb...

KING: Because?

HANNA: ... the troop. Because when they hunt, they -- they go along the ground. They'll eat grubworms, eggs, little birds, whatever they can find.

KING: All right. Let's move along. We got a lot of them tonight. Thank you.

HANNA: Thank you, Rosie. Excellent job.

KING: Now we have a yellow-naped Amazon.

HANNA: Yeah, a yellow-naped Amazon. And Joe's with the Amazons here. These animals, Larry -- and people will say, do we have -- do we want to have a pet parrot? You always want to get a parrot from a reputable breeder. This takes a lot of work, what Joe's getting ready to do here.

CRAVALLO: Yeah, hopefully, they'll talk for us. I haven't had a chance to rehearse.

Hi!

PARROT: How are you?

CRAVALLO: I'm fine. How are you?

PARROT: Hello, eh?

CRAVALLO: Hello, eh? Just back from Canada. They had a little show on them. Yeah.

Now, can you tell them your name?

PARROT: Lolita!

CRAVALLO: What's your name?

PARROT: Lolita!

KING: Lorenzo? That's Larry!

CRAVALLO: Lolita!

KING: Wait a minute. Are you a ventriloquist?

CRAVALLO: No.

KING: That's talking.

CRAVALLO: They're talking, yeah.

(CROSSTALK)

CRAVALLO: It's two yellow-napes here. They're native to the Amazon. This is Lolita and Sweetpea.

Hey, Lolita. Are you...

PARROT: Ha, ha, ha, ha! CRAVALLO: Are you pretty?

PARROT: (wolf whistle)

CRAVALLO: Real pretty?

PARROT: (wolf whistle)

CRAVALLO: Yeah!

HANNA: Larry, the amount of work that Joe puts into this are thousands of hours.

KING: Boy.

HANNA: To have a bird -- the bird's brain isn't that big, but they can -- they can pick up what you're doing very -- like...

KING: They mimic.

HANNA: Exactly. I had one at home that sounded like a vacuum.

Does one of them sing?

CRAVALLO: Well, Lolita will sing sometimes. I don't know if we can get her to do it, but she...

PARROT: Hi!

CRAVALLO: Hi!

PARROT: How are you?

CRAVALLO: I'm good.

(LAUGHTER)

CRAVALLO: She loves to sing "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning.''

PARROT: (singing) Oh, what...

CRAVALLO: (singing) Oh...

PARROT: (singing) Oh!

CRAVALLO: We have to warm up first.

PARROT: (singing) Oh!

KING: Sounds like Judy.

CRAVALLO: (singing) Oh!

PARROT: (singing) Oh!

HANNA: I've never heard two of them sing. Usually, Joe just has one, but I guess he's working both of them.

KING: Oh, this is really great. So they got to have -- they have voiceboxes.

CRAVALLO: They do have...

KING: Larynxes.

CRAVALLO: Larynxes, that's right. Now, I have to sing along with her...

KING: OK, go.

CRAVALLO: ... to get her going.

OK. Can you sing "Oh, What a Beautiful''...

1ST PARROT (singing): Oh, what a...

2ND PARROT (singing): ... morning!

CRAVALLO (singing): Oh, what a beautiful...

1ST PARROT (singing): ... day!

CRAVALLO (singing): I've got this beautiful...

PARROTS (singing): ... feeling...

CRAVALLO (singing): ... everything's...

1ST PARROT (singing): ... going my way!

CRAVALLO: Yeah!

HANNA: Hey, that's not bad, is it?

KING: Hey...

HANNA: Thank you, Joe.

KING: Any second on "Star Search.''

(LAUGHTER)

KING: OK, thank you, Joe. That was great.

CRAVALLO: Bye-bye.

KING: Bye, guys.

CRAVALLO: Bye!

PARROT: Bye!

KING: Good-bye. A prehensile-tailed porcupine. I'm not going to touch this.

HANNA: No. No. This is the North American porcupine, Larry, from Moorpark College. And this is the prehensile here. I'm going to let you stand right here.

KING: Oh, we got them both together.

HANNA: Right.

KING: They smell a little.

HANNA: Yeah. Now you've got, also, Larry...

KING: They smell a lot!

HANNA: A lot. You're right. That's one of their defense mechanisms. That...

KING: It works.

HANNA: They do not throw their quills, like a lot of people think, but you don't want to touch the porcupine because on the end of that quill is a barb. You can't even see it with the naked eye. It's like a fishhook. And this is one from South America, this one right here. It's a prehensile tail. You see the tail? It lives in the trees. The North American porcupine lives on the ground. She's wearing gloves right now, obviously. These animals have all been raised in a zoological park. And the neat thing is, they eat a lot of bark. As a matter of fact, a porcupine family could fell 300 trees a year, if they had to. They eat a lot of bark and leaves and that type of thing.

KING: How long do they live?

HANNA: These live in zoological parks for 15 to 20 years.

KING: Now, those are all mechanisms for them, right?

HANNA: Exactly.

KING: Those -- they have a purpose.

HANNA: Right. So if an animal touches these, for example, that porcupine's quill will release right in that animal. It will cause infection. It's not poisonous, but it will cause infection. Especially the North American porcupine, with cougars in the wild. You also have the African porcupine, which is huge. The African porcupine is huge, like this big.

KING: So they'd cause an infection in another animal.

HANNA: Yeah, for example, the cougar can turn them over. He can eat the underbelly, which is real soft, where there's no quills. But when he does that, he gets the quills in his mouth, and that causes infection. A lot of times the animals will die, especially dogs who try to attack a porcupine. They don't want to hurt you. They'll rattle their quills first to warn you to stay away. Then if you continue, then the porcupine will back up backwards, and you'll obviously get a quill.

KING: They are related.

HANNA: Exactly. They're all the porcupine family.

KING: I got it.

HANNA: That's -- look here, Larry. Look at her thumb. Look at this. Look at that. You see what -- see what I'm talking about?

KING: Whoa!

HANNA: Now, try and pull that out, Larry, and it's very difficult even to get out of her. If you put that in your -- don't -- don't stick yourself. You can take that home to your kids. But I mean, you know, for later on in life, not give it to them now. They're babies, but...

KING: It is sharp. Whoa!

HANNA: Yeah, don't do that! It's...

KING: You mean I need an antibiotic? I do this show and...

HANNA: Well, no, what'll happen...

KING: Whoa!

HANNA: No, I'm just telling you, it's got a barb on it. You won't be able to pull it out.

KING: Oh, I see.

HANNA: And then we'll have a problem.

KING: That'll be a load of laughs.

HANNA: Right.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: OK.

HANNA: Thank you very much.

KING: Thank you guys.

HANNA: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) two porcupines.

KING: One more in this segment, a milli -- is it millipedes?

HANNA: Oh, no, the loris. This is a loris. This is -- we just... KING: I have it written "millipedes.''

HANNA: Yeah, yeah. Right. That's my fault. I just threw this in.

KING: Oh, OK. This is an ad lib. What is this?

HANNA: This is (UNINTELLIGIBLE)? This is a loris, and this is an animal that actually...

KING: Oh! Look at that face.

HANNA: It's a nocturnal animal. Isn't that different-looking?

KING: Oh!

HANNA: And it's -- obviously, you can see from the eyes there. Now, the loris -- some -- some of them are called the slow loris because they do move very, very slow.

KING: Spell it.

HANNA: L-O-R-I-S. And there a very -- they're a neat creature. They're not endangered, but you don't -- very rarely see these because they're -- they come out at nighttime. They're nocturnal. They also -- people there collect the eyeballs, and they do that for a -- it's a ritual. So obviously, we're trying to get them to not collect so many eyeballs.

KING: They collect their eyeballs?

HANNA: Yeah. It's part of a...

KING: To do what with?

HANNA: ... of a custom. Of a custom. They don't eat them, they just collect them.

KING: Let me get a break. We'll be right back with Jack Hanna of the Columbus Zoo, and lots more to go. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: And now it's time for the Batman nemesis, the penguin. We're here with Jack Hanna. We have two of them on board, one by me, one by Jack.

HANNA: Now, these, Larry, are from Seaworld, again, of San Diego. Now, Seaworld -- all the Seaworlds raise more penguins than anybody in the entire world. Penguins, obviously, people think, are from Antarctica. There are 17 species of penguin, but only five live in the Antarctic. There are none at the North Pole. These are from South America. And the penguins have more feathers per square inch than any bird in the world. Look how thick -- you can touch him. See how thick it is?

KING: Thick ain't the word.

HANNA: They're a phenomenal animal. They also can climb very well, the ones that I've seen, in...

KING: I see the ones in Central Park Zoo, where they dive. They -- they're on icy mountains, and they dive into the ice water.

HANNA: Exactly. These would live in, obviously, warmer weather. I've seen them in the Galapagos Islands. I've seen them in Africa. Penguins are found throughout the world, and they're mostly warm- weather penguins, but only five, again, live in the Antarctic.

KING: And why do we like them so much?

HANNA: You know -- why do we like, like, the killer whales at Seaworld? You know, we love the killer whales.

KING: They're lovable.

HANNA: We love the panda. We love the penguin.

KING: The pandas can kill you. They're tough animals, I'm told.

HANNA: The pandas?

KING: The panda is a rough animal.

HANNA: Well, no one ever attacked me. Of course...

KING: Well, not you, Jack.

HANNA: Right. Right.

KING: OK.

HANNA: But anyway -- scared me there for a minute. But these -- these penguins are a unique animal. The female lays the egg, and she goes out to sea, and the male has to sit there for 40 days. He loses about -- who knows, about 50 percent of his body weight sitting there for 40 days without eating.

KING: The male hatches the egg?

HANNA: Yeah, the male, while the female goes out and takes off. So again, we come to rescue -- the penguin can go very fast in the water. Again, they're black and white for camouflage, Larry. When we're filming them underwater, it's very difficult to see them underneath, and vice versa from the light. So...

KING: Wow, that's great.

HANNA: Thank you for bringing those up from Seaworld.

KING: I don't want to fall behind. Thank you, guys. All right, now we have a what? Celebes macaw?

HANNA: No, no. Celebes macaque.

KING: Whoa!

HANNA: Come here. Come here and see me. He's got a great...

KING: What is this?

HANNA: You got any more of your grapes left?

KING: They took the grapes. Where are the grapes?

HANNA: Come here! Come here! Oh, here we go. Come here. Come here, buddy. Come here. See Larry. Go over and see Larry.

KING: No, no. See Jack.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNA: These are from the Celebes Island, Larry. And they used to think they were -- they were a...

You want to get up here? Come here. Come on.

They used to think that they were a -- an ape because they don't have a tail, but they're really in the monkey family.

Come here!

What's his name?

UNIDENTIFIED HANDLER: Pete.

HANNA: Pete. Come here, buddy.

KING: And not an ape.

HANNA: Right. And this is from Dave and Nita Jackson (ph), who's (UNINTELLIGIBLE) And they take this a lot to lot of educational programs. We do not encourage anyone to have a monkey or -- obviously, as a pet. Monkeys carry diseases. They're destructive. And this one's strictly used for educational purposes.

This notch on his head here is used to locate its mate. Sometimes when he gets alarmed, he'll go like this. He'll go -- see there? Whoops.

Now, don't start doing that!

(LAUGHTER)

HANNA: He just gets excited.

KING: I see.

HANNA: Yeah. But they also locate their mates by their -- by their rumps swelling, as well. Again, this animal is not endangered. They're threatened in a lot of parts of the Celebes Islands. And they'll eat eggs, birds, and that type of thing.

Go ahead. You can -- go ahead. Talk to him. Just...

KING: How you doing, Pete? What's happening, baby?

HANNA: He likes you. He -- he likes you.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNA: He doesn't like you that much!

Let's go over here and see somebody else. Thank you so much. No, let's go over here.

KING: My first-ever encounter with a -- never mind.

HANNA: Oh, yeah. I'm sorry.

KING: Oh, here he is!

HANNA: This is Joe back with...

KING: There he is, my eagle owl!

HANNA: Yeah, the largest...

KING: I call my young son, Canon (ph), the owl.

HANNA: Oh, really?

KING: Because he stares like this, and he turns around. If you call him, he turns around.

HANNA: They're a magnificent creature, though, aren't they, the owl?

KING: The owl is the best.

HANNA: You asked -- you asked about the black and white -- why people like penguins or pandas. You know, a lot of people are so (UNINTELLIGIBLE) collect owls. It's the same thing. I think it's their -- how regal they are. Look at the eyes there. The owl is an animal, they call it the "bird of silent flight.'' They owl can hunt in a room. If we -- if we had this room totally dark and put a mouse in here, they wouldn't have to see it. They could hunt with echolocation. People don't realize that. They can actually hunt with echolocation.

This bird -- you might think it weighs 10 or 15 pounds. Probably weighs three pounds because their bones are mainly hollow. Joe's one of the few people that has a Eurasian eagle owl, the largest owl in the world. Their eyesight is incredible. They can see probably 100 yards. If they could read a newspaper, they could read it at 100 yards.

KING: They fly? HANNA: Oh, yeah. They fly. And those talons there? That's why he's wearing a glove. Those big talons you see on the feet -- I'll move back a minute -- could go right through your arm in a split second. That's why he has to wear a glove. That's how they grab their prey, and then of course, they -- they eat their prey. But aren't they regal? Look at that -- look at the eyes there. They're just a magnificent creature.

KING: Very regal. They are.

HANNA: Thank you, Joe, for bringing that. That's a lot of work.

KING: They have a great name, too.

HANNA: Yeah.

KING: You wouldn't call that any other thing but an owl.

HANNA: Exactly.

KING: I agree with that.

KING: A bearded dragon?

HANNA: A bearded dragon. Let me get him real quick, before we bring this next one on. Here's my bearded dragon.

KING: OK, because I'm running out of time.

HANNA: Oh! Ow!

KING: Oh!

HANNA: Oh! That's OK.

KING: OK.

HANNA: Before we bring this next one out here...

KING: Now, replacing Jack Hanna...

(LAUGHTER)

HANNA: Now, this right here...

KING: Did that bite you?

HANNA: No, it just nipped me a little bit. It was...

KING: What is this?

HANNA: This is a serval cat from east Africa. Now, the serval...

KING: He don't look happy, Jack. HANNA: No, no. He's fine. The serval -- the serval's noted, Larry, for always hissing. The serval cat is one that we use for a lot of educational programs now. A lot of people hadn't seen these, Larry, until the last 10 years, we're started using them in zoos. Moorpark uses this animal to show what an endangered cat looks like. Now, the serval is very, very endangered. It takes about 15 of these to make one coat. People were hunting them for their coats. This lives in the plains of east Africa. This animal's not a tree climber. It mainly lives on the ground. It can also catch a bird in free flight. That's how...

KING: People kill them and...

HANNA: Yeah, kill them for coats. The animal can catch a bird, Larry, in free flight. That's how fast they are, just like lightning. Also, the Egyptians used to domesticate this animal. If you look at a cave painting wall or you watch "National Geographic'' or Discovery, you'll see that on the walls, these animals were printed. So we know that the Egyptians had these animals as pets.

The hind legs -- if you notice, the animal also sits like this. The legs are not balanced, like most cats.

KING: Yeah. Oh! Ah!

HANNA: Oh, that -- that's to get it to leap. But aren't they a great creature?

KING: What a good-looking creature.

HANNA: Again, it's called...

KING: That's their height?

HANNA: ... a serval -- a serval from east Africa. And this is from Moorpark.

KING: All right. We got to get a break, and we'll come right back with more of Jack Hanna. Lots more to come. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Look at this little rascal!

HANNA: Larry, this is a squirrel monkey, and the squirrel monkey's an animal, I'm sorry to say, that many years ago -- the pet industry doesn't do it now, but a lot of these were sold as pets, and they were very difficult to care for. The squirrel monkey lives in troops in Central and South America. We just got back from Panama and Costa Rica, doing some great shows down there, and we saw a lot of these animals in the treetops. They have a -- look at that beautiful prehensile tail. But to see 50 to 100 of these in the treetops is really incredible to see the squirrel monkey. Again, they -- people used these as pets, but it didn't last long because once the animal matures, then you've got problems.

Look how they -- they love to eat the vegetation, fruits and that type of thing, little insects again. It's what this animal lives on.

KING: How many miles do you log a year?

HANNA: Me? Oh, tens of thousands.

KING: Not bad.

HANNA: But I want to thank Moorpark again for bringing a squirrel monkey. Again...

KING: What was that?

HANNA: ... never have a primate as a pet.

KING: Never have a primate as a pet.

HANNA: Right. No, it's just a bad thing.

KING: OK, what are we bringing in now?

HANNA: Hold on just -- well, Joe, wait just a second here. We're going to wait and bring this animal out. This is a real treat, Larry. And we're going to take our time, all right? We're not going to hurry this animal.

KING: No, i wouldn't, either.

HANNA: We're going to take our time here.

KING: Let's not hurry this animal. OK, that's a good idea. We will not hurry this animal.

HANNA: That's a boy.

KING: OK, Jack. I would imagine this is...

HANNA: Well, this is...

KING: I'm going to guess it's a tiger.

HANNA: Right. This is a Bengal tiger, and they're a beautiful animal, Larry. The Jacksons do a great job with this zoodioo (ph). He's raised this for nine years. You can see what happens when people might get a little pet tiger or lion that they think is real cute.

You might want to move your clock.

KING: I think I will. You raise it for 9, 10 years, and then it eats you.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNA: No! Larry, the tiger, though -- the tiger, Larry, is a creature that I must say, to me is one of the most magnificent creatures, animals in the world. This animal right now, Larry -- there are less than 5,000 left in India. And they think within 15 years, the tiger will be totally extinct in the wild in India, which'll be a tragedy.

KING: What does he weigh?

HANNA: This one weighs about 300 to 400 pounds. Again, the tiger's an animal that can hunt a 2,000-pound buffalo. They mainly hunt at nighttime. We've seen these on elephant back in Asia.

KING: Now, why are you putting your hand right by his mouth?

HANNA: That's a boy!

KING: He looks like he ain't quite fed.

HANNA: Dave, are we going to put him down on the floor now?

UNIDENTIFIED HANDLER: Sure.

HANNA: OK, thank you.

The tiger, Larry -- the strength of the tiger is absolutely...

KING: He can go anywhere he wants.

HANNA: ... unbelievable. The tiger...

KING: Whoa!

HANNA: ... is also an animal, Larry, that will kill and eat putrefied meat. They actually bury the meat and will come back a week or two later to get the rest of it. Most -- like, lions and leopards and other animals won't bury their meat. But isn't that a magnificent animal?

KING: That is spectacular. We've never had anything like that.

HANNA: No. No. And it represents endangered species, I think, all over the world. It really does. And I want to thank the Jacksons because the tiger, Larry, unless things are straightened out, they try to stop hunting -- it's a meat-eater, obviously. So the tiger's habitat is threatened there. So if a tiger doesn't have the right room to hunt, then they're going to kill the tiger. A lot of -- still -- a lot of the body parts are still used for aphrodisiacs and that type of thing, which we're trying to stop, as well.

KING: Really?

HANNA: Yeah.

KING: You are?

HANNA: The Siberian tiger, the Bengal tiger. I want to thank Dave for bringing that beautiful creature.

KING: That animal you heard in the background will be with us shortly. He is a macaw, right?

HANNA: Right.

KING: He crows like a rooster, he meows. He also barks.

Lots more coming with Jack Hanna, the host of "Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures.''

This is LARRY KING LIVE. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: OK. We are back on LARRY KING LIVE with Jack.

RIO, MACAW BIRD: Hah, hah, hah.

KING: Hah, hah, hah -- with Jack Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo.

RIO: Hah, hah, hah, hah.

KING: Hah, hah, hah -- of the -- this guys is upstaging me. He's bucking for the show.

HANNA: I know.

KING: The host of Jack Hanimal -- "Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures." He is just back from Israel. He travels everywhere. His television show is one of the best. It's in syndication. Have loads of people

(CROSSTALK)

KING: It's nice to have you, young Sammy Jeter (ph), here with us today. He is the grandson of my friend, Sid Young (ph). And he is having a ball.

OK, what is this?

HANNA: This is Rio.

KING: Rio.

(singing): Rio ria.

HANNA: This is a macaw parrot, Larry. It's also from South America -- Central South America. And these used to blacken the skies, there were so many. Today...

KING: Is he mocking me?

HANNA: Never.

KING: Yes, I think he is.

HANNA: What's Rio do, Joe (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, well, he talks a little bit. He says his name.

Tell him your name.

RIO: Rio.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Also he also does an impersonation of a dog.

(BARKING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, that's pretty good.

Now, has got one better.

RIO: Hah, hah, hah, hah.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: That is the mock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the mock, yes. How about a dog with flees? Bark.

(BARKING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With flees.

(BARKING)

HANNA: Larry, time it takes Joe to do this, it's amazing. It takes a lot of hours -- a lot of hours.

KING: Now, these are pets, right?

HANNA: Well, they're pets from the standpoint -- again, Joe has raised all these birds. He has over a thousand birds in his place up in San Francisco. Beautiful place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's also a singer.

HANNA: What is he signing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the words you never knew.

HANNA: Oh.

KING: Did anybody teach parrots to, like, say dirty words?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, I had one. You got to be careful of that. You have got to be careful, really, around the house.

(CROSSTALK) KING: Yes? Good thinking.

HANNA: He also does a rooster. Can you do a rooster?

(LAUGHTER)

HANNA: That is great. That is great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

KING: We're running behind, but we're getting as many on as we can. Well, look at this strange one. Another lemur.

HANNA: Moorpark.

(CROSSTALK) KING: Moorpark is a teaching college.

HANNA: Right. A teaching zoo, right.

KING: In California.

HANNA: Exactly.

This is the red ruffed lemur, again a very...

KING: The red ruffed lemur.

HANNA: ... endangered animal. See what I'm talking about, the lemurs? Lemurs, Larry, go from this big to the red ruffed, to the black and white, down to little teeny lemurs. So they are many, many different sizes and species. Again, the tail is used as a marking for its mate.

KING: Beautiful color.

HANNA: Gorgeous colors. These animals were hunted for their coats. That is mainly...

KING: People wore Lemur coats?

HANNA: Yes, in that part of the world. This has mainly been -- also, they eat the lemur. This has mainly been stopped, Larry. And now the animal is very protected, because they're very, very endangered. Again, this animal could be extinct in the next 15 years at the present rate that they're -- we are losing them.

Thank you very much.

And the hands are just a unique...

KING: What do you say to those people who say, "Why should we care"?

HANNA: Well, if we don't care about the lemur, and we don't care about the animals on Earth -- what I have seen is -- I travel the world. When we don't care about our resources -- water and trees or the animals -- then we start losing human life. And then, of course, it's all gone. So we have to...

KING: You mean, someone doesn't care about us?

HANNA: Exactly.

KING: Next.

HANNA: Let me see what you here. Oh, this is the -- Larry, this is a very rare cat here that the Jacksons (ph) have. This is a fishing cat from Asia. I have never had fishing cat on. They're one of most endangered cats in the world. There's only 70 of these, Larry, in this country -- and I think about 175 throughout the world that we have. It's called...

KING: Asian fishing cat.

HANNA: An Asian fishing cat. And the animal, basically, they call it that because it will swim underwater. They have actually seen this animal swim underwater and grab ducks underneath. That is unusual for a cat.

KING: That is unfair, too.

HANNA: Well, yes. But that's...

KING: I mean, you are a duck. You are swimming along.

HANNA: Right. But that is why it's called an Asian fishing cat. It's hunted mainly for its coat. You can see that coat there. It looks like the clouded leopard or the snow leopard coat. This cat would mainly eat birds, small mammals, that type of thing. But you'll never see on this show or any other show an Asian fishing cat, because 70 in this country, 175 the world in zoological parks. That's how endangered is.

KING: I thank you for what you have done here tonight because you have brought us some extraordinary animals tonight.

HANNA: Well, I just want people to appreciate these animals, to see them here on your show.

KING: You love animals, don't you, Jack?

HANNA: Yes. I've had animals all my life. I was raised on a farm in Tennessee. And it's just always been a part of my family's life.

KING: Ah, here comes my boys, the cranes.

HANNA: Now, this, Larry again...

KING: These are what?

HANNA: These are the African crowned crane. And Joe raises not only parrots and birds, but also birds of prey. The African crowned crane, Larry, is also the national bird of Uganda. If you go to Uganda, you will see this bird on all their emblems. Look how magnificent -- look at how beautiful the bird is, Larry. Look at that head. Look at the head.

KING: Great head.

HANNA: To see these animals in the wild, Larry, is absolutely beautiful.

(CROSSTALK)

KING: Ah, flamingo.

HANNA: Yes, the flamingo just kind walked in here. He has been raised with these African crowned cranes. The flamingo...

KING: Is that the skinniest leg in the world, the flamingo?

HANNA: Yes. Now, Larry, look at the knee of the flamingo. You see that? That is not -- that is an ankle. That's not a knee. OK? That is how far up his legs go. The flamingo gets its color, by the way, Larry -- the pink color from the food it eats. People -- it's not born, like a bluebird or a blackbird or a yellow bird, this, it gets its...

KING: Do they eat salmon or...

HANNA: No, they eat a special -- they have a filtering system on their beaks there. When we're in Africa, we see the flamingo in tens of thousands in these stagnant lakes. It stinks so bad from the micronisms in the lakes. But that's how they eat. You see that beak there on the flamingo? That's how it eats. These animals here eat seeds.

KING: Used to the Flamingos at the Hialeah race track. There's thousands of them.

HANNA: Well, the African crowned crane is considered one of the most magnificent birds in the world. And, of course, the flamingo, when you see those flying, Larry, in Africa, by the thousands in the sky, the sky is just pink. And so is the water. It's beautiful.

Thank you, Joe.

KING: They can fly in formation.

HANNA: Yes. And they do. Exactly. Right, the flamingos do.

KING: OK.

HANNA: Almost like Canadian geese.

KING: Goodbye crane. Stalk off. They're like the cock of the walk, huh? I mean, they're like the -- it's they own the territory.

HANNA: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

KING: What's next?

HANNA: Let me see what we have here. Oh, this is an animal here that was bitten -- one of my worst bites was by this on the "Letterman" show about 10 years ago.

KING: Good to know.

HANNA: But I'm not handling this. This is a beaver. Where is the beaver at? Oh, here, bring your beaver up here. This is...

KING: A beaver.

HANNA: Look at this. This is a North American beaver, Larry. And this is -- and this animal I just think is beautiful. I -- the little baby beaver is one of the cutest animals in the world. Look at the big -- the webbed feet they have, just like a duck. The big tail, that is for swimming. Obviously, the beaver -- and the beaver -- I said earlier the porcupine. I was wrong. The beaver are the ones, a family can fell -- chew down 300 trees in a year.

KING: I love the way they look when they eat something. Look at that.

HANNA: It's all, Larry -- it's all bark, is what it is. It's all bark. Obviously, people have the beaver. They still hunt the beaver. It's legal. They use the beaver as coats. Our pioneers are people. Lewis and Clark, they first came across, these are the animals that kept them alive, the beaver.

KING: Beaver coats are popular?

HANNA: Yes, they are.

KING: Still popular?

HANNA: Yes, they are. Sorry to say for the beaver, because I love beavers. Have you seen a cuter face than that? Isn't that beautiful?

KING: That is an adorable face.

HANNA: And look at the tail again. They flapped the tail for a warning for their youngsters. They build the big beaver dams. That's in order so they can swim and build their homes under the water. They go under the water, and they come up out, and their little dens are above the water. But they have to go under the water to get to their homes. That's for protection for all the little beavers. Aren't they something?

KING: And they also have their own television show called "Leave it to Humans."

HANNA: That's right.

KING: A little joke there, folks.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNA: Thank you so much.

KING: We'll be right -- I thought that was funny -- we'll be right back with Jack Hanna. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Tomorrow night on LARRY KING LIVE, we'll have Bob Jones of Bob Jones University, and we'll talk with Whoopi Goldberg and Brooke Shields. A retrospective on our interviews with President Clinton on Saturday, and on Monday night, an exclusive interview with Elizabeth Taylor.

We're back with Jack Hanna, the host of "Jack Hanna's Animal Adventures." We love to spend time with Jack and tonight's been one of the greatest with these unusual animals. You told me with this not to put my hand in his mouth.

HANNA: Right.

KING: Did you actually think I would?

HANNA: No, but some people...

KING: That's a preposterous suggestion. I had no idea of doing that.

HANNA: But some see a sloth there and they think they're just -- they won't bite. This is two-toed sloth.

KING: Oh, I knew that right away or else I would have put my hand my hand right in the mouth. but I sad, oh, two-toed sloth; forget it.

HANNA: We just again got back from Costa Rica and Panama and my daughter, Julie, we spent several days at a sloth rehab center where these animals -- actually, Larry, you can see that they're very vulnerable if they come out of tree. They come out -- once a week they come out...

KING: They live upside down.

HANNA: Exactly, they have their babies upside down. They come down on the ground once a week to go to bathroom because if they went to the bathroom in the treetops the predators would kill them, like the harpy eagle and jaguars. They are a very prehistoric animal. They're -- these animals eat vegetation only; only leaves and bark and that type of thing. You notice the two toes right here. David Jackson has this animal, again, for education, From Zoo to You. And it's just a creature that people are fascinated with.

KING: Zoo to You is an organization that brings animals to kids.

HANNA: Exactly.

KING: If he's prehistoric like...

HANNA: Right.

KING: I mean, he's ancient...

HANNA: Right.

KING: Maybe we're upside down.

HANNA: Well, I never thought about that.

KING: I mean, maybe he's looking at the world -- maybe when he talks to his friends saying they're all upside down.

HANNA: It could be. I never thought of it that way.

KING: It's a weird way to live.

HANNA: You're right, it is a weird way to live. That's a very good point. Think about looking at everything upside down. You mate upside down. You breathe upside down. You eat upside down. Everything's upside down. You know, it's a crazy way to go.

KING: Next.

HANNA: Oh, this is an animal here -- you remember the organ grinder monkeys they use...

KING: Yes, they stood in fronts of the store.

HANNA: This is a capuchin monkey from Central and South America.

KING: Classic organ grinding monkey.

HANNA: Over here. Come over here a little bit. Can you bring it over here a little? Right. Now, obviously the organ grinder monkeys have stopped. The capuchin monkey now, though, Larry, is an animal that people cannot get as pets anymore. They're threatened in a great many places in Central and South America. They run in troupes. They are an animal, though, that a lot of the people that are in wheelchairs or people who need lights turned on, refrigerators opened...

KING: They do that.

HANNA: These animals have certain special permits. Some of the animals are very, very intelligent where they turn on a light. They can go get the person a drink of Coke or a milk. They can help get their laundry. They're a very, very -- plus, they're not as big. What's -- go ahead.

KING: He wants to open that nut. Not you, me.

HANNA: I can open it for him. If you give it to me, I'll open it for you.

KING: No, I don't trust you.

HANNA: I'm just trying to help him.

KING: He don't know that.

HANNA: Does he want me to help him or not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, she wants to open it.

HANNA: Can he open it, then? I'm not going to take your nut. Come here. Come over here and do it. Crack your nuts over here.

KING: He has no faith you in at all.

HANNA: I can crack the nut. Well, obviously...

KING: He doesn't...

HANNA: You see, Larry, how long is he going to do that for?

KING: That looks like a dealer in Vegas. OK.

HANNA: OK, well, he won't crack his nut. So, anyway, that's what they do, though, Larry. Sometimes they'll -- they're very -- they can figure that stuff. You know, they can take a little stick and put it down in a hole to get ants.

KING: He got it.

HANNA: So there. He cracked the shell of the to where he could get into it.

KING: He got -- you did it, baby.

HANNA: Thank you so much for bring the capuchin monkey. Again, not an animal to have as a pet. They carry disease and they are very destructive.

KING: Now, what is this?

HANNA: This animal coming on now is one of your favorites, I know.

KING: Oh, don't do this.

HANNA: Hold the head, if you would. This is from David Jackson as well. Bring him over here on Larry. You can bring him all the way around. This is the python, Larry, and we've had this on just once before, but I want you to see how he grew. I don't think in -- he weighs about 120 pounds, and again, this animal. Larry...

KING: And he killed two producers.

HANNA: No, he has about 220 teeth shaped like fish hooks. So we can brig his head over here. You'll see the big head. They can dislodge their jaws. I've been bitten by an anaconda that was almost 19 feet long and almost lost this finger right here. These snakes aren't after you, Larry. People think of, you know, the anaconda movies and the pythons -- a snake is a nice animal. They're not here to -- they want to avoid you.

KING: They do.

HANNA: They want to avoid you just as much as you want to avoid them. This animal here is capable, when they're full grown, the African python, of taking down a full grown antelope.

KING: This not full grown.

HANNA: No, no, no. They can get to be 25 to 30 feet, weigh over 350 pounds. You can imagine how big that is.

KING: What is life like for him, though?

HANNA: If you and I are still alive, I'll bring him on here in a few more years. I mean, like 10 more years he'll be like 30 feet long and you can see how...

KING: He feels great.

HANNA: But see, he's cold-blooded. Feel that. Do you feel that? That's the same temperature...

KING: Now, does he feel that when we touch him? Do you think?

HANNA: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. And now see this -- see, this is a Jacob's organ there. See how his tongue coming out?

KING: Yes.

HANNA: He smells the heat. See there? That's how they hunt.

KING: Now, why would you put your arm right by him like that?

HANNA: I don't know. I just wanted to show his tongue.

KING: But what if he just...

HANNA: Well, that's the key to it -- you've got to wait. You can't jerk arm away because those teeth are like fish hooks. So, if this thing bites you, you sit there for 15 minutes. He has to relax his jaw muscles and then you move your arm. That's it.

KING: You sit -- wait a minute. He bites you.

HANNA: Yes.

KING: You sit -- you don't run to see the...

HANNA: No.

KING: You sit with him holding you... HANNA: You have to because if you take away and pull your arm out you're going to lose part of your arm. So, it's a hard to do. I've been bitten. It's a real hard thing to do. So, if you're ever hiking in the jungle -- I don't know how much you hike in the jungle...

KING: Me and the boys, last weekend.

HANNA: But if you do hike in the jungle, just remember that if you get bitten by one. Don't jerk away your hand.

KING: OK, I'll remember that. Make note of that, will you, guys. OK. We'll be -- make a note. Next time we're in the jungle, we don't -- well, OK. We'll be back with more on this edition of LARRY KING LIVE. Don't go away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: Animals and birds help in many ways. We're going show you now, a what?

HANNA: A recycling parrot.

KING: A recycling parrot? OK, we have our recycling tin. I'll show you how this works. I saw this earlier; right? I put the can down. He picks up the can. He walks around. Goes over to recycling bin. He dumps it in.

HANNA: That's not bad; is it?

KING: He'll do it again.

HANNA: You see, Larry, you think of birds that just talk, but Joe's birds actually can see the behaviors that they'll do. These behaviors teach you what these animals also can do in the wild, Larry. Look at this. Can you imagine if all the parrots in the world were to recycle, we wouldn't have any problems. Everybody could fly around and clean up highways. That bird's beak, Larry, the macaw parrot's beak, is able to crack a big Brazilian nut in two. It could take your hand and pop it in two in a split second. A broomstick, the same way. That's why they take a great deal of work, the macaw parrots, to raise. They can live to be over 100 years old, Larry. And the macaw parrot -- there's some lady in Texas, her birds speaks four languages and over 100 words.

KING: A 100 years. They look, also, intelligent.

HANNA: Oh, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But he's gentle enough to give Larry a kiss.

KING: No, no, no, no.

HANNA: Yes, let's do it. He won't hurt you.

KING: He's going to kiss me? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

HANNA: You hold seed with your lips and he'll take it.

KING: No.

HANNA: No, no, Larry, do it. Do it. Just do it, Trust me. You've trusted me this long, many years. He won't hurt your nose. Let him see it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go.

HANNA: That was good. Wasn't that gentle?

KING: Good for a heart patient. I never -- OK.

(CROSSTALK)

HANNA: This right here, this is the Jeffreys tamron (ph), right? This is a unique animal. One of the smallest little monkeys in the world.

KING: What is this?

HANNA: A Jeffrey's tamron. Now, watch this.

KING: Named after a guy named Jeffrey?

HANNA: Yes, and the tamron is one of the -- it is the smallest monkey. Not this one, but the Jeffrey -- you've heard of the golden lion tamron they have at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.; one of the most endangered primates in the world...

KING: I think that I've...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNA: Great zoo. They just got the pandas. But this animal here, they raise a golden lion tamron at that zoo as well as other zoos, but this is the Jeffreys tamron. Again, you know, you think of it almost like lemur, but look at that -- look at the headdress. It's almost like the headdress...

KING: Know who he looks like? Don Rickles. He looks like Don Rickles.

HANNA: They run in large groups. he's eating little meal worms right now. That's what they eat: insects. A lot of animals are also pollinators, Larry. They'll actually eat fruits the seeds -- they'll move from area to area and pollinate certain plants. So, that's why animals are important as well as pollination, just like bees or other animals.

But this another animal we've never had on. Little prehensile tail, there, and you can feel how light they are. I don't know if Larry can pick him up or not; he wants to eat these little meal worms right now. But that's the Jeffreys Tamron from Moorpark -- thank you so much -- and found also in Brazil and South America.

This animal right here -- and I'll let you hold this animal. This is a kinkajou (ph); and the kinkajou is an animal found in Central and South America. Again, an animal we saw a lot of in Costa Rica when we filmed our animal adventure shows. This animal was also sold as a pet many years ago, but they become very nasty -- they bite.

They're called a honey bear or kinkajou; honey bear because of the beautiful honey color an it. They're an animal that likes to get into beehives. They have a long tongue where they eat a lot of nectar from fruits. And, again, a prehensile, long tail, where they spend all their life in trees. This animal will be totally defenseless on the ground, Larry. They cannot go on the ground and defend themselves. They'd have to live in trees to get away from their prey -- see the prehensile tail, there? That helps them hold onto the tree limbs and that type of thing. Again...

KING: Now, they became bad as a pet because they what?

HANNA: Well, because they grow older. Like a lot of exotic animals, you know, Gunther Gebel Williams always used to say...

KING: The great lion tamer.

HANNA: Exactly -- tiger; you can usually train a wild animal, never tame a wild animal. And people need to remember that. Wild animals are like loaded guns: they can go off at any time. The profession people, they work with them day in and day out, whether it's at Columbus Zoo or...

KING: So any animal here could, at any moment, do something weird?

HANNA: Right; the parrots are an animal; if you raise them in your own situation, you could do that.

KING: All right, I have a feeling that -- we're going to take a break. And when we come back, the next one possibly could do something weird.

I'm just looking at him, and this one could possibly do something weird, so don't go away. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: And now, the vaunted gator.

HANNA: The gator is an animal, Larry, that's been around for millions of years. It's a very prehistoric animal; one of the most prehistoric animals we have on this continent. Now they're -- I saw you touch him there, that's pretty good. But they're very fast -- for example.

KING: You mean, don't touch it?

HANNA: Right. What happens with a big gator -- people, like, go up to a golf course and see a gator, they think he's sleeping. What they do is they move their tail and their head the same way. For example, this is a gator here; his head will come this way and his tail will go -- he slaps you toward his mouth with his tail, and it's a split second.

Gators can outrun a man on land, that's how fast they are. This animal, obviously, when he's approaching he hunts with vibration, not smell or anything else

KING: What does he eat.

HANNA: He eats, like, inner tubes, cans -- I mean, they'll fill themselves up with anything -- you know, ducks -- they'll eat -- we found everything in their stomachs when we've found...

KING: But will he eat your arm, too?

HANNA: Oh, yes, yes.

But what they do is, Larry, they can't chew. They grab their prey and take their prey down and drown their prey. Then they tear it apart and swallow it whole. They can't chew.

KING: So without water, here, what would he do with prey, here?

HANNA: Well, he would just get the prey and take it into the water. If they're hungry enough, they'll find water.

But the alligator, again, is an animal that has -- the tail helps it swim, the feet here -- looks like a duck's foot. See the foot here? Looks like a duck's webbed foot. They're very, very fast in the water; again, hunting with vibration. I'd never swim in a pond, or when we're in South America or wherever, like Louisiana, don't go swimming at night because they do hunt with vibration.

The alligator, by the way, was on the endangered species list in the '70s; it now has come back tremendously. There are millions of them...

KING: No more alligator shoes?

HANNA: No, they now are hunting the alligator commercially now and it's all...

KING: The difference between an alligator and a crocodile?

HANNA: The crocodile, a more aggressive animal; both their jaws move -- the alligator, only one jaw and their snout is much narrower.

KING: Can you tell the difference when you look at the two of them?

HANNA: I ask the crocodile hunter, he helps me with that.

KING: We've got just a couple minutes left -- whoa. That is something.

HANNA: This is a tenrec, here, Larry.

KING: A what?

HANNA: A tenrec.

KING: A tenrec.

HANNA: Yes, a tenrec. And they're from Madagascar. We talked about the lemurs; these are little tenrecs. They're a very unique animal; and also this is the Madagascar cockroach. Now the cockroach, Larry, is also found in Madagascar. These cockroaches are also from Madagascar, just like this animal.

And this animal here is -- look at that thing, Larry, look at that one.

KING: Are those little feet?

HANNA: Yes; look at that, isn't that amazing?

Now that's cyanide; don't touch that liquid there on your desk.

KING: What did you say?

HANNA: It's cyanide; it's a type of cyanide they give off.

KING: That's cyanide?

HANNA: Yes, as a means of defense.

KING: Works.

HANNA: Means of defense -- just wipe my shirt, there.

Look at those legs.

KING: All those legs are walking, look at that.

HANNA: Isn't that fascinating? Can you imagine how he coordinates that? Look at that.

Now this animal, Larry, lives in the rain forest, and it actually eats, like, vegetation, dead vegetation. So they're very, very important to the rain forest, this animal is. Look how he moves; he moves very slow, and all those legs -- and it's not a centipede, it's a millipede. Centipedes, they can sting you; the millipede can't hurt you. But there's a bunch of unique different types of insects.

KING: Before you leave us, Jack, you got one more to show us, because I want to thank people.

HANNA: That's all right, go ahead.

KING: I want to thank Zoo To You (ph) for all their help tonight; the Moorpark teaching college, Joe Cravallo back their; Friends of a Feather; and the Sea World of San Diego for their cooperation and all the help you bring here -- the trucks and the animals; and I know what it takes to put this together.

HANNA: Well it's a lot of work.

KING: And we really appreciate it; you've made so many appearances on this show, but you've given us a better understanding of animals, an appreciation of animals, and a love for animals.

HANNA: Well thank you; and I want to thank J.R. Johnson (ph), our producer, for allowing me go around the country and do all these shows.

KING: Where's your next adventure?

HANNA: Our next adventure may be back to Israel or Aus (ph) Belize. And then we're going into Africa in April and May on one of our family trips. Hopefully Kaia (ph) can go with us. We're going to be in Botswana and that part of Africa.

KING: She'll probably go.

HANNA: Oh, she'll have a ball. She's a great person to go with me.

KING: Yes, she's a good girl and she loves animals.

HANNA: Yes, she sure does.

KING: Thank you very much, Jack; always good seeing you.

HANNA: Thank you. We didn't -- we went unscathed.

KING: It ain't over yet.

Check out my Web site, send me an e-mail, I want to hear from you -- so do the animals. Contact us at www.cnn.com/larryking.

We thank all of our guests. We remind you tomorrow night Bob Jones will be here, so will Whoopi Goldberg and Brooke Shields. A retrospective on our life and times with President Clinton on Saturday. And next Monday night, exclusive interview with Elizabeth Taylor.

Stay tuned for my main man Bill Hemmer; he'll anchor "CNN TONIGHT."

For all the animals and all of us here at LARRY KING LIVE -- and Jack Hanna, thanks for joining us -- and good night.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

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