Edinburgh Zoo

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Coordinates: 55°56′35″N, 3°16′5″W

Edinburgh Zoo
Date opened	1913
Location	Edinburgh, Scotland
Land area	82 acres (0.33 km²)
Coordinates	55°56′35″N, 3°16′5″W
Number of Animals	1018 (2005)[1]
Number of Species	171 (2005)
Major exhibits	Penguins, Polar Bear, Koalas
Website

Edinburgh Zoo, formally the Scottish National Zoological Park, is a non-profit zoological park located in Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The land lies on the Corstorphine Hill, from which it provides extensive views of the city. Built in 1913, and owned by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, it receives over 600,000 visitors a year, which makes it Scotland's second most popular paid-for tourist attraction, after Edinburgh Castle.^[2] As well as catering to tourists and locals, the Zoo is involved in many scientific pursuits, such as captive breeding of endangered animals, researching into animal behaviour, and active participation in various conservation programs around the world.^[3]

"To excite and inspire our visitors with the wonder of living animals, and so to promote the conservation of threatened species and habitats"

—Edinburgh Zoo's mission statement

The Zoo is the only zoo in Britain to house polar bears and koalas,^[4] as well as being the first zoo in the world to house and to breed penguins.^[5]"

Contents 1 History 2 Current attractions 2.1 Mammals 2.2 Birds 2.3 Other 2.4 Military animals 3 Future developments 4 Controversy and critique 5 Images from Edinburgh Zoo 6 References 7 External links

[edit] History

Main article: History of Edinburgh Zoo

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) was founded as a registered charity in 1909 by an Edinburgh lawyer, Thomas Hailing Gillespie. The Corstorphine Hill site was purchased by the Society with help from the Edinburgh Town Council in early 1913.^[6] Gillespie's vision of what a Zoological Park should be was modeled after the 'open design' of Tierpark Hagenbeck in Hamburg, a Zoo which promoted a more spacious, natural and environment for the animals, and stood in stark contrast to the steel cages typical of the menageries built during the Victorian era.

The Scottish National Zoological Park was opened to the public in the summer of 1913 and was incorporated by Royal Charter later that year.

In 1986, the Society acquired the Highland Wildlife Park at Kingussie, 30 miles (48 km) south of Inverness. The Zoo and the Park work together in providing animals with the best possible captive habitat available in Scotland. Public visitation trips between both sites are organised frequently by the RZSS.

The Zoo still retains the original charter, which drives its active breeding program, and biodiversity, conservation and sustainability initiatives. The RZSS provides multiple ways for the public to help support its mission, including a membership club, animal adoption, donations, legacies and volunteering.^[7]

[edit] Current attractions

As of 2007, Edinburgh Zoo has about 1,000 animals on its 82 acres of parkland.^[8] Due to Edinburgh's fairly cold climate, the Zoo has in recent years chosen to predominantly focus on mammals and birds, although several reptile and amphibian exhibits can still be found indoors in the revamped Discovery Centre.

[edit] Mammals

The Zoo currently exhibits Britain's only koalas, two males named Chumbee and Jannali,^[4][9] and Britain's only polar bear, a female named Mercedes.^[10] Other high profile mammals are two male Indian Rhinoceroses (Fanindra and Babuu),^[11] a pair of jaguars (Mowgli and Handaya),^[12] and a breeding pairs of rare Amur Tigers (Yuri and Sasha)^[13] and Asiatic Lions (Royal, Gita and Kamlesh).^[14]

The main bulk of mammals on show are African hunting dogs, bush dogs, Maned Wolf, wolverines, ratels, European sousliks, marbled polecats, Pallas cats, Temminck's golden cats, margays, otters, Sea lions, Giant Anteater, Bactrian Camel, zebra, vicunas, bongo, Thorold's deer, Siberian musk deer, Lesser Kudu, goral, Japanese Serow, hog deer, Bawean deer, nyalas, Kirk's Dik-diks, takins, capybaras, Malayan tapirs, pygmy hippos, Red River Hogs, Visayan Warty Pigs, warthogs, aye ayes, titi monkeys, purple-faced Langurs, drills, gelada baboons, Red Ruffed Lemurs, ring-tailed lemurs, North American tree porcupine and a large group of common chimpanzees, with swamp wallaby, gaur and kulan due to arrive soon.

[edit] Birds

The Zoo is particularly famed for its large collection of penguins, including king penguins, gentoo penguins and rockhopper penguins. The port of Leith provided passage for the first three king penguins via the Christian Salvesen whaling expedition of January 1914, and among the current king penguins is Colonel-in-Chief Nils Olav II. A popular daily Penguin Parade, whereby many penguins are let out of their enclosure, and waddle round the penguin plaza after their keepers through a gathered crowd of observing public visitors..

Other birds include flamingos, cassowarys, Steller's sea eagles, black storks, crane, Darwin's Rhea, raven, owls, hammerkops, thick-billed parrots, and Victoria Crowned Pigeons.

December 2007 marked the completion and opening of Rainbow Landings, a walk-through aviary for lories and lorikeets.^[15] The hyperactive birds fly in and amongst the public visitors, and any of the hundreds of birds can be can be fed nectar from small pots available for purchase.

[edit] Other

Other animals that can be found indoors include pythons, corn snakes, Indian Star tortoises, mice, rats, guinea pigs, a sulphur-crested Cockatoo, axolotls, tarantulas, a White's tree frog, Madagascar hissing cockroaches and giant African land snails. Many of these are available for public animal handling sessions, known as Close Encounters, held daily at noon in the Discovery Centre.

Touch Tables are operated throughout the Zoo, allowing visitors to see and feel animal artefacts up-close. Most of these artefacts are rare and exotic, including such items as tiger skulls, elephant skin, turtle shell and rhino horn.

Also on-grounds is Mansion House, formerly Corstorphine Hill House, an old estate house with over two hundred years of history within its walls, and is available for private formal bookings.

[edit] Military animals

Several of the zoo's animals have held military rank.

• Wojtek (known in Britain as Voytek) (1942–1963) was a bear adopted in Iran by the Polish II Corps and enlisted into the 22nd Artillery Supply Company to allow him to travel when the troops were posted. He served in the Middle East and during the Battle of Monte Cassino and retired to Edinburgh Zoo when the Polish troops, billeted in Scotland, demobilised.^[16]
• Nils Olav, a king penguin, was the mascot and Colonel-in-Chief of the Norwegian King's Guard. He was adopted in 1972 when the King's Guard were in the city for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, given the rank of visekorporal (lance corporal), and promoted each time the corps visited the city. He died in 1987 and his successor, Nils Olav II, inherited his rank.^[17]

[edit] Future developments

The Zoo has an ambitious plan for the next 10-20 years, with an estimated GBP 58 million being required for expansion and development. The Masterplan will see the site divided into four biomes:^[2]

• Grasslands - North Asian, African and South American grasslands and savannah and open plains habitats. Also planned are a recreation of a Nepalese village, African waterhole and a walk-through safari. Rhinos, cheetahs, zebras, giraffes, ostrich, antelope and hornbills will be featured.
• Woodlands - Asian, South American, Far East and Australian woodlands and mixed mountainous forest habitats. Planned exhibits will feature elephants,^[18] lions, bears, wolves, tigers, birds of prey, kangaroos, wallabies and wombats.
• Oceans and Wetlands - Arctic, Antarctic, North and South America, Pacific aquatic, tropical wetland and South Atlantic coast habitats. Animals planned for this biome include polar bears, penguins, sea lions, sea otters, manatees, flamingos and capybara.
• Tropical rainforest - South American, Asiatic, African rainforest and swamp forest habitats. Animals featured will be tapirs, jaguars, orangutans, gibbons, pygmy hippos, gorillas, bongo and chimpanzees.

The first phase of the master plan will see a new £5.65 million exhibit for chimpanzees, The Budongo Trail (named for the Budongo Forest in Uganda), as well as Living Links, a primate behaviour research centre. Both are currently under construction and are scheduled for completion in 2008.

[edit] Controversy and critique

The Zoo is a member of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions. It has also been granted four stars by the Scottish Tourism Board.

Organisations that remain critical of the Zoo's work include the Animal Liberation Front, particularly in the context of the polar bear enclosure;^[19] and the Born Free Foundation, who state that the Zoo is both failing in its conservation work^[20] and mistaken in planning to house elephants in the future.^[18]

In 2007, controversy arose over rumoured plans to move the Zoo to Glasgow amid quarrels with the local council,^[21] but these rumours were stated by Zoo officials to be completely unfounded, when a statement was issued that "The animals are staying in the Capital".^[22]

[edit] Images from Edinburgh Zoo

Koala	Eastern Bongo	Indian Rhinoceros	Red Ruffed Lemur
Gentoo Penguin nesting	Adult and young Oriental Small-clawed Otters at feeding time	Red Panda	Penguins nesting
Rainbow Lorikeet

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Animal inventory (PDF)
• Downloadable map (PDF)
• Page at VisitScotland
• Photos at Flickr
• Falklands Conservation - Penguins

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