Edinburgh Zoo — Zoo in City of Edinburgh

Edinburgh Zoo and its collection

Edinburgh Zoo, opened in 1913, is a zoo in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

The grounds occupy south-facing hill slopes with wide views over the city. The layout was modelled on the open design of Hagenbeck's park in Hamburg rather than on Victorian steel cages.

History

The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland was set up as a charity in 1909 by the lawyer Thomas Hailing Gillespie, and the Corstorphine Hill land was bought in early 1913 with help from the town council. The zoo claims to have been the first anywhere to keep and breed penguins, its first three, all kings, arriving in January 1913.

Animals and collection

Animals on show include pygmy hippo, king penguin and Koala.

Exhibits

Budongo Trail, named after a Ugandan forest, holds 13 chimpanzees, six male and seven female. In 2011 the zoo leased two giant pandas born in 2003, Yáng Guāng and Tián Tián, from the Bifengxia centre at a cost of $1m a year. The Monkey House shut for redevelopment in April 2024.

Things to do

Things to do include Keeper experiences and Build your own wild experience.

Conservation and approach

Living Links, a primate behaviour research centre holding capuchins and squirrel monkeys, was developed with the University of St Andrews.

What the venue says

• Build your own wild experience
• There is an on-site cafe offering a variety of food and drink options, with visitors often mentioning reasonable prices and plenty of choices available throughout the grounds.
• The zoo features an on-site paid parking lot, along with available paid and free street parking options nearby. The parking facilities include designated accessible spaces.