Zoboomafoo

- Season 1

(1999)

Creature adventuring in a bat cave has made the Kratts rather stinky, a state that attracts the attention of a baby elephant, Toothbrush. She couldn't help but smell them with that great nose of hers. But an elephant's nose does a lot more than smell, and the gang celebrates what a cool creature feature a nose is, especially for elephants and coatis. Celebration turns to concern when Chris, Martin and Zoboo realise that Toothbrush needs to get back to her herd. A harmonica and bloodhound and elephant footprints lead the way back to Toothbrush's herd. Jackie's hard at ...

The gang talks about seeing and being seen when a pair of black jaguar cubs comes for a visit. Sleek and stealthy, these jaguars have excellent dark spotted coats to camouflage them in the dark forest. Plus, they've got amazing night vision that helps them see in their forest home. Martin and Chris wonder what it's like to see like creatures see, so they build a new Kratt contraption: Eye Spy goggles. The device allows them to see like a jaguar, a butterfly, a hawk, and a frog. It's spring and Jackie and the Animal Helpers are planting an evergreen tree. The tree was ...

Martin and Chris arrive at Animal Junction determined to build a huge dinosaur model. Zoboo is eager to help out, even though he doesn't know what a dinosaur is. However, once Chris and Martin describe what dinosaurs used to look like, Zoboo's sure he just saw one on the way to Animal Junction. Chris and Martin understand what he means when a monitor lizard arrives for a visit. Rome wasn't built in a day, and it seems unlikely that Chris, Martin and Zoboo's collapse-prone dinosaur model will ever actually be completed. But in the end, the Martinandchrisaurus stands ...

A flying squirrel glides into Animal Junction in search of a hole to live in. Chris, Martin and Zoboo are glad to help, but find out that a lot of holes in Animal Junction already have occupants. Who knew that so many creatures lived in holes? But why not? Whether they're in the ground, in rocks or in a tree, holes are perfect homes, safe and warm for foxes, snakes, rabbits, prairie dogs, porcupines, and flying squirrels. Jackie spots a man just about to cut down a dead tree. She stops him and explains that owls, squirrels and racoons live in tree holes, even if the ...

Animal Junction becomes Lemur Central when friends of Zoboo's, two ring-tailed lemurs, come for a visit. Zoboo is stunned to hear that most people don't know what a lemur is. But Martin and Chris have a great idea to set the record straight when they declare an international creature holiday, Lemur Day, a celebration of all things lemur. There's even a special Lemur Day cake. A black and white ruffled lemur, some ring-tailed lemurs, and Zoboo's parents join in the party. Jackie tells the guys about a creature rescue. She saw a water turtle and a land turtle heading ...

A couple of river otters arrive at Animal Junction, and the gang gets in the swim of things. Everybody's swimming in the junction: black jaguars, soft-shelled turtles, African penguins, capybaras, the Kratts and even Zoboo! Since otters love to slide almost as much as they like to swim, the gang builds a slide into the big pond, so the otters can do both. Jackie and her dog Goldie both love swimming in MudPuppy Pond. Swimming is great exercise and it's an easy way to get Goldie to take a bath. Plus, swimming at MudPuppy Pond means swimming with all kinds of amazing ...

Chris, Martin and Zoboo can't get enough of slime after four affectionate St. Bernard puppies lick them. All that licking means that the puppies like them. The St. Bernards are the gang's slimy buddies. More slimy buddies arrive in the form of a giant bullfrog, a Pacman frog, and a Budgetts frog. Frogs need slime to keep them from drying out. Salamanders do, too. Earthworms have slime that helps them slide through tunnels in the ground. Slime is great! Chris, Martin and Zoboo build a slime shower, so they can be slimy, too. Jackie and the Animal Helpers are raking up ...

It's the snowstorm of the century and Martin and Chris race into Animal Junction to find Zoboo waiting for them. The arrival of one cold macaque, a Japanese snow monkey, gets the gang trying to figure out how exactly to warm up their visitor. Jackie and the Animal Helpers are shovelling a path in the deep snow for the animals that have a hard time manoeuvring through it.

A camp-out in Animal Junction gives the gang a chance to discover all of the nocturnal animals around. There are a lot of creatures that sleep during the day and are awake at night. Amazing creatures like binturongs, racoons, owls, ringtails, and dormice are all perfectly suited for living the nightlife. Inspired, Zoboo claims he's going to stay up all night, but he falls asleep in seconds. The Kratts try to sleep but Animal Junction's too noisy, so Martin and Chris take a night hike to see who else is awake. Jackie loves the weekend because sometimes her parents let ...

There are many climbing creatures and they all have different features that help them climb. A tree frog has sticky pads on its feet, and a kinkajou has a prehensile tail that she uses like a fifth arm when climbing through a tree. When a playful band of coatis turns up at Animal Junction, the gang marvels at how sharp claws and a long tail help a coati climb trees with the greatest of ease. Coatis are better climbers than the Kratts because they're built for it. Jackie and the Animal Helpers rescue a climber-in-training, a kitten who is stuck up in a tree. He knew ...

The arrival of Arctic Wolf cubs has got Zoboo feeling really wolf-ish. Zoboo knows that wolves aren't fierce creatures; in fact, he wants to join the wolf pack, so Chris and Martin teach him the wolf basics. After lessons in howling and hunting, Zoboo's all set to leave with the pack, until he finds out that the barren Arctic is a lot different from sunny Madagascar. Zoboo doesn't want to live in a world without mangoes... or the Kratts, so he says goodbye to his pack mates. Jackie rescues a spider that's stranded in a friend's bathtub. She lays a towel over the side ...

When a beaver gnaws his way through Animal Junction, Chris, Martin and Zoboo realise that he's looking for wood so he can build his dam. A creature's home provides shelter from bad weather and protection from predators, so the beaver's dam is important business. So important that Chris and Martin don't mind that the beaver has "borrowed" one of their canoe paddles to use in his dam. Jackie knows how important creature homes are, that's why she and the Animal Helpers are building enclosed nestboxes for Eastern Bluebirds.

The discovery of a litter of eight puppies inside Animal Junction casts Martin, Chris and Zoboo in the role of puppysitters. The Kratts feed and take care of the puppies, and realise that you really have to keep an eye on baby animals, especially after one of the puppies gets lost. Chris and Martin help the mother dog find her lost puppy. While on a bike ride, Jackie and the Animal Helpers return a lost calf that has wandered off from her mum.

Martin and Chris follow lynx tracks that lead through the snow to Animal Junction. A lynx has big feet like snowshoes and they leave big tracks that are easy to follow. Following tracks is a great way to creature adventure. It's winter and Jackie's squirrel-proofing her birdfeeder because squirrels and chipmunks eat so many seeds that there's hardly any left for the birds. Don't worry about the squirrels, birds are messy eaters, so the squirrels still get plenty of seeds from the ground. There are also plenty of creature tracks underneath the birdfeeder. Jackie ...

Monkey business abounds when a white-fronted capuchin monkey who loves to play catch comes to Animal Junction. Chris, Martin and Zoboo examine the differences between lemurs and monkeys, and touch upon one key similarity - neither monkeys nor lemurs make good pets. Dubbed "Fling" because of his throwing abilities, the capuchin turns Animal Junction upside down looking for food. Martin and Chris decide to walk Fling home and they see other troops of monkeys along the way. Jackie and her Animal Helper friend have made a cool terrarium home for a frog they found the day ...

Things get uncomfortable when "the itch" turns up at Animal Junction. The itch drives everyone wild with itchiness, including the lion cubs who can't stop scratching themselves. Martin, Chris and Zoboo catalogue the various things that make creatures itchy, like fleas and poison ivy, and try all the known itch remedies: scratching like mad, mud, dust and water baths. It's no use, they can't shake "the itch. " Not even a new Kratt brothers contraption, the Scratching Machine, can tackle this mighty itch. Sometimes you have an itch, you don't know why and no matter what...

There are all kinds of creature ears but they all do the same thing: ears hear. Chris, Martin and Zoboo discover rabbits, a bloodhound and her litter of five puppies, springhares, and fox kits, all creatures with incredible hearing. Toothbrush, the baby elephant, stops by for a visit. His hearing might not be as good as a bloodhound's, but his ears are still great. Martin and Chris wonder what it's like to hear like these creatures, so they build a new Kratt-contraption, Super Ear Sensors. But there's so much to hear in Animal Junction, the Super Ear Sensors can't ...

When a porcupine comes to Animal Junction, the gang focuses on creature coats and how they feel. A porcupine has spiky quills for protection. A sheep has thick wool for warmth. A lynx has soft fur and furry paws to help her live in the snowy cold. And a quick trip to a petting zoo drives the point home even more. Creatures have all kinds of coats, but every creature has the best coat for wherever he or she lives. Jackie does a turn as a duck-crossing guard. She helps herd ducklings across the road to the safety of MudPuppy Pond. After she scoops the last one across, ...

Chris, Martin and Zoboo focus on running when an emu stops by Animal Junction. An emu is a bird that's too heavy to fly, but her long legs are great for running. Chris and Martin set about running like each creature they encounter: sideways like a crab, on a tree branch like a fisher, up a wall like a gecko, superfast like a cheetah. Jackie and her friend Matt love to take the neighbourhood dogs for a run. Or is it the neighbourhood dogs that take them for a run? Either way, running is great exercise for dogs and humans alike, and it's a lot of fun.

Martin and Chris are exhausted after an around-the-world hike, but there's no time for sleep because Animal Junction's full of babies: lynx and bobcat kittens, a baby ring-tailed lemur. Needless to say, Zoboo, Martin and Chris have got their hands full. Babies can be pretty helpless and need lots of care. Babies are also pretty vocal when they are in need of something, especially these creature babies. Jackie and the Animal Helpers are returning from blueberry picking when they discover a baby bird that has fallen out of his nest. The nest is too high for them to ...

When three capybaras arrive for a visit, Zoboo's amazed to find out that these water creatures are giant rodents. They are not as large as a rhinoceros or an elephant, but compared to any rodent, a capybara comes off looking mighty huge. A moose is the biggest member of the deer family, the indri is the largest lemur, a Siberian tiger is the biggest cat, and Martin is the biggest Kratt. The world is full of giants, great and small. Jackie and the Animal Helpers plant a tree in Jackie's backyard. It's only a tiny sapling now, but it'll grow to be a giant... a giant ...

Pets always need something: they rely on people to take care of them. Taking care of a pet is a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun, too. So the gang has their hands full when the Animal Helpers drop their pets off to be looked after by Zoboo, Chris and Martin. The Junction is crawling with guinea pigs, hamsters, ducklings, cats, dogs, a calf, a hermit crab and ducks. Zoboo thinks that taking care of 12 pets will be a piece of cake, but he quickly realises that it's a lot of responsibility for any little primate. Depending on the animal, pets need attention, the right ...

Zoboo, Chris and Martin care for a young black bear cub that arrives at Animal Junction alone. Baby bears have to learn everything about being a bear: how to climb, hunt, dig and fish. Another black bear, an adult male, arrives and devours all of the snacks he can get to fill his big bear belly. Zoboo, Chris and Martin try to eat as much as the bear, but since they can't even come close, they realise that this bear is preparing for his long winter's nap. The Kratt brothers help the adult bear find a suitable resting spot. Jackie thinks bears are great, but she knows ...

Chris and Martin devise a plan to attract a pair of African crown cranes to Animal Junction. Chris can't wait to get a closer look at these amazing creatures with the feathery crests on the top of their heads. Imagine their surprise when some other creatures with cool lids, goats and sheep, turn up instead. Zoboo and the Kratts discover horns come in handy! They're great for keeping baby sheep and goat kids in line. Elk use their horns to help dig their beds, moose and rams fight with them to determine who's more powerful. The crown cranes finally arrive, so the gang ...

Animal Junction is alive with the sound of creature songs, so the gang is excited when a kookaburra flies in. But excitement turns to disappointment when this great singer refuses to sing. Zoboo decides that he can figure out how to get the bird to sing, and with some help from Martin and Chris, he does. But birds aren't the only great singers in the creature world. What about camels, wolves and elks; they are great singers, one and all. Every creature has a different song to sing. Jackie and the Animal Helpers are busy applying hawk silhouettes to the windows of ...

For the Kratts, playtime is fun time, but for creatures, playtime is practice for all the things they need to know to survive. So when lion cubs, kittens and ducklings come to play, Zoboo, Martin and Chris are ready for them. The gang plays with every creature they meet and explain how this activity is important for the creature to learn. Then some real masters of play arrive, human kids, and exhaust the gang. Kids love to play, too. It's the fun way to learn about growing up. Jackie and the Animal Helpers play Frisbee with a very willing dog. Not only is it good ...

When a cheetah visits Animal Junction, Zoboo, Chris and Martin try to join the cheetah coalition. Who wouldn't want to be the fastest creature in the world? Unless you want to be a creature that takes it slow and easy, like a snail or a slow loris. Fast or slow, creatures move at the speed that's best for them. Jackie's planting a garden of flowers for the hummingbirds that live around her house. Hummingbirds are amazing creatures that flap their wings 50-70 times per second. Now that's fast. But slugs like Jackie's flowers too: her garden is home to fast and slow ...

A young Belgian colt follows a trail of oats that Chris unwittingly left in his wake as he and Martin carried food supplies to Animal Junction. The appearance of the colt and then his mother gets Zoboo, Chris and Martin talking about horsetails, hooves and different breeds of horses. Jackie tells the Kratts that she's helping horses by cleaning up their meadow. Sometimes horses think that garbage, like Styrofoam cups, is food, so it's important to keep garbage where it belongs ... in a garbage can where animals can't get at it.

Things get messy when three muddy dogs descend upon Animal Junction. To make matters worse, Martin gets coated in mud, too, so now there are four creatures in serious need of a bath. Zoboo and Chris run a bath and clean up the filthy four. But bathtime isn't always about getting clean; it's about feeling good, too. Pigs take a mud bath to cool down, so do elephants, rhinos and hyenas. Jackie is busy filling up her birdbath with water so that birds have a place to drink and to splash around. Even the racoons like using her birdbath.

When migrating red kangaroos stop by Animal Junction, Zoboo, Martin and Chris discover that every creature has its own way of jumping: kangaroos and wallabies, caracals, frogs and even fish. Jackie plants a vegetable garden in her backyard for more great jumpers: rabbits!

Everybody in the creature world has a funny face, even Chris and Martin. Zoboo's always thought that the Kratts look funny because their eyes are so small and they don't have any hair on their noses. Zoboo saw another funny face on his way to Animal Junction, a baby moose. A moose's big nose helps him find the water plants that he loves to eat, and he doesn't get water up his nose because his nostrils close when they're under water. An elephant has a big nose too. It's big and helpful and the elephant couldn't live without it. Creatures need their funny faces to ...

Spots and stripes are great camouflage for creatures. They help them blend into their environments. When Chris, Martin and Zoboo see striped and spotted creatures (tiger cub, serval cats, Dalmatian puppies, coati babies, a skunk), they get inspired to paint Animal Junction in spots and stripes. Zoboo takes that inspiration a step further when he paints spots on Martin and stripes on Chris. He also paints himself with spots and stripes, and the gang learns about being a camouflaged creature. Jackie says that milkweed plants may look like weeds, but they're home for ...

A sandstorm has buried Animal Junction in sand. Perfect for the meerkats, scorpion, and camel that stop by for a visit. Chris, Martin and Zoboo explain how each of these creatures is suited to living in a dry, desert climate. Jackie's at the beach, exploring some tide pools. She says it looks just like a puddle but it's home to all sorts of creatures. Beaches are amazing places to check out creatures. Zoboo tells a story about the time he was playing in the sand with a friend, and suddenly felt tickled - sure enough, another friend was hiding in the sand and tickling ...

When two African penguins stop by Animal Junction, Chris, Martin and Zoboo get talking about water creatures. Even though penguins are birds, they don't fly, they swim. But these penguins aren't swimming! It takes some time to figure out that the penguins won't swim in the pool because the water is too warm. When the water is chilled with ice cubes, there's no stopping the penguins... or the Kratts, once they've donned wet suits to protect them from the cold. And did you know that jaguars love to swim too? A black jaguar stops by and plays ball with the Kratts in the ...

Rhode Island Red chicks hatch at Animal Junction, but Martin, Chris and Zoboo don't have any idea who's inside the other egg they find in the nest. Imagine their surprise when they discover it's a baby alligator. Martin and Chris take the baby alligator back home to mom. Jackie and the Animal Helpers are protecting salmon egg nests. Salmon eggs are tiny and delicate; they can easily break if the water around them is disturbed. So Jackie and the Helpers are making sure that people cross further up stream and don't interfere with the salmon eggs. Zoboo saw an egg hatch ...

When a kinkajou comes to hang out in Animal Junction her prehensile tail takes centre stage. A prehensile tail is a grabber that the kinkajou uses to swing through the trees and hop on the ground. Creatures use their tails for all kinds of things. Chris and Martin decide that they'll create supertails that combine all the best elements of creature tails. Jackie visits a litter of newborn kittens. The kittens are cute and cuddly, but it's important to know that to pick them up you gently place your hands around their stomach. A kitten's tail is not a handle! Zoboo ...

It's kitten pandemonium when a gaggle of all different breeds of kittens turns Animal Junction upside down. An overwhelmed Martin, Chris and Zoboo try to take care of these curious creatures but quickly realise that they're in over their heads. Luckily, the cavalry rides to the rescue when the mother cats arrive to take control of the situation. The guys wonder if wild cats are similar to house cats and go to see if lions purr. Lions don't, but cougars do. Jackie's busy brushing her cat Rapunzel. It's a great way to show your cat that you care for him or her. Plus, ...

Creature coats are the key to keeping animals warm in cold weather. Chris, Martin and Zoboo realise that animals beat the cold with fur, feathers, and fat... and in the case of otters, fun. Those are the four F's for staying warm in winter. But what happens when the weather warms up? Ernie the camel comes to Animal Junction looking for a good scratching post to help him shed his winter coat. Summer's coming and he's not moulting. No need for all that fur when it's hot outside. Jackie's brushing her dog, Goldie, helping her take off her heavy winter coat. Dogs and cats...

In the creature world, different smells mean different things. When a skunk visits the gang at Animal Junction, things get pretty stinky. A skunk's smell is its protection. Martin, Chris and Zoboo discover the difference between a "come-here" smell and a "go away" kind of smell. They also visit with mink, a creature that scent-marks to let other creatures know they were passing by. Chris decides to make a Chris scent so he can scent-mark Animal Junction. Jackie gives her friend's dog a bath in tomato juice. The dog found out the hard way that a skunk didn't want to ...

Animal Junction's teeming with bugs which gets Chris, Martin and Zoboo thinking that these tiny critters are nature's little superstars. Insects and spiders are amazing athletes. There are quick leaping grasshoppers, far flying butterflies, super strong ants, heavily armoured beetles, and plenty more. Bugs have to be quick because there's a lot of creatures looking to eat them. If bugs disappeared, a lot of other creatures would disappear too. That's why the Kratts always say, "be nice to bugs. " Chris and Martin get a bug's eye perspective when they shrink down to ...