On the Set : Beastie Ploys : FAMILY CHANNEL’S GAME SHOW LETS KIDS ACT LIKE ANIMALS

Lions and tigers and bears ... and smiling horses and roosters that play the piano and primates that drink Pepsi ... and snapping turtles and zonkeys (a cross between a zebra and a donkey) and elephants and an 800-pound pig ... and a peppy game-show host with an impish chimpanzee co-host and a zany veteran producer and dozens of kids with balloons filled with tapioca pudding that get thrown at their parents ... oh my!

What a zoo! Actually, it’s just a kids’ game show that looks like a zoo. Animals are everywhere on the Glendale set of the Family Channel’s “Wild Animal Games” on this balmy afternoon. Kids are everywhere, too. On this show the kids learn about the animals and then play games inspired by animal behavior. Sometimes the animals play the games, too.

Woody Fraser, the producer responsible for “That’s Incredible,” “Home” and two games shows for kids on Nickelodeon, masterminded the kid-animal connection. The producer, who happens to hold a degree in zoology from Dartmouth University, was approached by the Family Channel to come up with a show involving animals and games. “I thought maybe I could bridge it by taking animal behavior and tricks and making them into a game,” he says.

What resulted isn’t your average game-show fare. “The emphasis is on wild, and I don’t mean the animals. I want the show to be wild,” Fraser says.

How’s this for wild? A pig-relay race in which Porkahontas, Swinefeld, Jurassic Pork and Forrest Plump go snout to snout, then kids in padded pig-like outfits waddle through their leg of the race. For the exciting last leg: The kids’ moms dive headfirst into a trough of what looks like shaving cream--the first to find three Oreo cookies wins.

It makes Double Jeopardy look easy.

But “Wild Animal Games” it’s not just a dog and pony show. There are real learning opportunities for kids, which is part of Fraser’s vision. “I call it education by osmosis. I want kids to learn something but not realize they’re learning it,” he explains.

Today, the show’s resident animal expert, Mark Biancaniello (who’s also the head zookeeper at pop singer Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch), is teaching the kids in the studio audience all about turtles. Biancaniello, in his khakis, demonstrates what a snapping turtle does by putting a wooden dowel in the turtle’s jaw. (And you thought turtles were slow.)

Now it’s time for some turtle-style fun. Several kids strapped onto dollies, with plastic turtle shells on their backs, move around on the floor like turtles. Other kids are on ladders aiming glop-filled balloons at the shells. The team with the most hits win. Ani, a fourth-grade contestant under a green shell, sums up the experience: “It’s fun,” she says, and rolls away.

The show’s “Chimp Challenge” offers yet another opportunity for learning. Kid contestants watch a funny but instructive video about animals. Questions posed include, “What does an African wild boar do with his snout?” (Answer: Dig for worms).

“If you lose, then Mom’s got a little something coming to her,” Ryan Seacrest, the show’s 20-year-old host, tell his contestants. That something is the sour corn mash that’s dropped from above on the coiffeur of Brendan’s mom after his response.

The parental element is a big part of the show. “The kids like to see their parents get it. It’s like, ‘Gee, Mom’s a great sport.’ It’s good for Mom to do because it brings her closer to her kid,” says Fraser.

Another key to the show is the host. “He’s enthusiastic and real and he controls the show in a nice way. I call him the young Dick Clark because he has so much charisma,” says Fraser.

Host Seacrest, who looks like he could be on “Melrose Place,” is certainly energetic. During the grand-prize segment, which involves kids competing outside at the show’s pool, Seacrest gets so excited about an inner-tube game that he jumps right into the water with his audio equipment. “Sometimes I forget. I get so into the game,” he says.

The host says he relates nicely to his sidekick, Eddie the Chimp. “He’s almost like a person. He even ad-libs.” Instead of playing the drums like he’s supposed to, Eddie throws the drumsticks at Seacrest. Or starts eating them.

Never fear, there is a serious side to the show. Safety is important. “You don’t want anyone to get hurt, the kids or the animals,” Fraser says.

There have been some mishaps of elephantine proportions on the set, however. One occurred on the day that both the elephant show and the bee show were to be taped. As Fraser describes it, the kids were spreading yellow and pink icing on an elephant for a game. Then the beekeeper let the bees out. “All of a sudden about 1,000 bees go right for the icing on the elephant and I’ve got all these kids around plus an audience and a crew,” Fraser recalls. Since the elephant’s skin was so thick, the bees weren’t able to sting quickly. The bees flew away when the elephant was hosed off.

Fraser hopes that his show makes kids at home want to take part in the wildness. “I hope it makes kids say, ‘Wow, I want to go down there. I want to touch that elephant. I want to wrestle that alligator. I want them to put a spider on my mom’s head.’ ”

“Wild Animal Games” airs weekdays at 4 p.m. on the Family Channel.