Edinburgh Zoo Edinburgh Zoo News 2019

sooty mangabey said:
I was in Edinburgh last week, for the festival, and paid a very quick visit to the zoo. The negative reviews do not surprise me. The Pandas are invisible. The Lions are indeed blocked off (how on Earth did they ever breed in traditional Lion Houses, I wonder, when in 2019 they require a 100 metre exclusion zone when cubs may be imminent?). Lots of older areas are no longer in use. And there are huge lengths of (steep) pathway that do not lead to any great reward. Entry is pretty expensive as well (£22 for an adult). But there are a lot of Meerkats. And those lego sculptures too. Hurrah!

Some positives, of course: the Chimpanzee thing is great (even if it doesn't give the killer view of the animals); Penguin area is very good. Ermmmm. South American primates are done well. Macropod walkthrough is good. Tiger exhibit looks excellent - but you need to be lucky to see a tiger. Apart from that....
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Edinburgh Zoo has really gone downhill recently (which is ironic). I visited back in July and I think I saw more lego animals than real ones. I was hopeful that, with the new Panda enclosure, I would actually get to see the Pandas (which I still haven't seen since they got them) and of course, they weren't out. The Tigers were at least partially visible but all the visitors that were crowding around the exhibit were facing a keeper who was talking about them instead of actually looking at the animal oddly. Further on, the Lion exhibit was behind barriers and the only things visible at the top were the deer and vicuna, which to be honest I could see at practically any zoo or wildlife park so not a crowd drawer.

The amount of Meerkat enclosures is absurd and the majority of old exhibits that used to house some real rarities are now pretty much permanently empty.

It still has positives though - Koala Territory is one (obviously having such an unusual species is a bonus and the actual layout of the enclosure is nice), the Rhino exhibit is still ok and of course Penguin Rock, Budongo Trail and some of the walk-throughs. Hopefully when the new Giraffe house is built and open it might boost the zoo's popularity again and prompt them to start filling up some of the empty spaces, otherwise it's just not worth visiting anytime soon.
 
I visited Edinburgh Zoo yesterday for the first time in a couple of months. It was absolutely heaving with visitors, which as a member, was nice to see, as it's been about 2-3 years since I've seen crowds like that.

In regards to above comments regarding Meerkat enclousures, I normally visit at least once a month, and there are consistently 2 enclosures holding 2 separate groups of Meerkat, although I would agree that's 1 enclosure too many, I would hardly class it as absurd.

In response to comments about the lion enclosure, the pair breed regularly, however the female has so far killed all her cubs. The exclusion zone is there in an attempt to cause her as little stress/disruption as possible in the hope that she doesn't kill the cubs this time.

In regards to updates from my visit yesterday I noted the following:

  • Lion enclosure still fenced off, for reasons stated above
  • Binturong's have been moved into the enclosure between the Sun Bear's and Magic Forrest, previously home to the pair of Margay, the former Binturong enclosure is closed off for re-development and the Taiwan Beauty Snakes have been moved off show as their enclosure was part of the old Binturong area.
  • The Visayan Warty Pigs have been moved into the old Red River Hog enclosure, their former enclosure is currently empty.
  • The outdoor Panda area is available for viewing, although on both my visits both Panda's were inside. The inside area is closed off with signs advising this is due to the breeding season. I'm assuming this means they have tried to artificially inseminate Tian Tian earlier this year. The Panda's new outdoor areas are huge, with new climbing structures etc.
  • The new animal antics area is now open with a daily show at 12.15. I attended yesterday and the show involved a Turkey Vulture, Rainbow Lorikeet, Three Banded Armadillo, African Pygmy Goat, and finally a Bengal Eagle Owl, obviously all were brought out individually and not at the same time.
  • The new female Tiger is being kept in the Tiger Tracks exhibit, the older Tiger enclosure in currently empty while they await a new male arriving.
  • Work has started on the new Giraffe enclosure.
 
I know the Meerkat exhibits are not quite as absurd as I think they are, it's just because I still can't get over the fact that they replaced Sea Lions with Meerkats at the entrance exhibit. It just seems strange to let such a decent-sized exhibit go to just Meerkats and not even have them share it with Porcupines or Aardvarks or just have a slightly larger species.

Good to know that the Giraffe exhibit is under construction already.
 
Quincey said:
In regards to above comments regarding Meerkat enclousures, I normally visit at least once a month, and there are consistently 2 enclosures holding 2 separate groups of Meerkat, although I would agree that's 1 enclosure too many, I would hardly class it as absurd.
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Visiting last week, it was at least three! One right at the entrance, one a little way back, and one in the (very) old marmoset house, between the chimp exhibit and the (current) marmoset house.
 
sooty mangabey said:
one a little way back
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Can you describe where this one is in more detail? The first and last ones you mentioned are the 2 that are always there, I'm not sure where this one is though or whether it's still being used for Meerkat, or was perhaps only used on very short term basis?
 
Quincey said:
Can you describe where this one is in more detail? The first and last ones you mentioned are the 2 that are always there, I'm not sure where this one is though or whether it's still being used for Meerkat, or was perhaps only used on very short term basis?
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I thought there was another exhibit, between the “main“ one at the entrance, and the paddock for the goral. However, I was racing, and my memory does all sorts of strange things – so maybe I am wrong! Very happy to admit that this is a distinct possibility…
 
As of 2016 there were at least six exhibits; from memory:

1) old sealion exhibit
2) old skunk exhibit
3) old marbled polecat exhibit 1 (small carnivore house)
4) old souslik exhibit
5) old polecat exhibit 2 (next to playground)
6) interior of monkey house

Sure I'm forgetting one too.

The second one sounds like it could be the one @sooty mangabey reports.
 
If the old Skunk exhibit is the circular exhibit between the Pygmy Hippo's and the Otters, it is currently empty, and has been for some time now. I'm sure they only have the 2 Meerkat exhibits at the moment.
 
Quincey said:
If the old Skunk exhibit is the circular exhibit between the Pygmy Hippo's and the Otters, it is currently empty, and has been for some time now
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No, that's the old souslik exhibit.
 
They have since curtailed the number of meerkats. The entrance enclosure holds 0.8 and the other one holds the bachelor 6.0 group to stop them from rampant breeding.

I've not been in a while but if my memory serves me, is Brilliant Birds a little empty at the moment? I know they lost 3 of their Bali starlings in the last 18 months and I couldn't find 2 of the BCL. That would leave the walkthrough with only 16 individual bird iirc.
 
Dylan said:
is Brilliant Birds a little empty at the moment?
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When I visited on Sunday I only seen 3 species, Victoria Crowned Pigeon, Nicobar Pigeon and Pied Imperial Pigeon. It was a very brief visit right enough as my 6 year old isn't very interested in birds. I did note they had a sign up for Swift Parrots, which would be a new species on display, but as I said I didn't really get the chance to look for them.
 
I think that's just an ambition. But Darren McGarry (head of living collections) was very willing to add them to the lorikeet walkthrough.
 
I was just looking through some old zoo photos from about 1991 when I lived in Edinburgh and they used to have Thick-billed parrots. Very nice species.
 
Goura said:
I was just looking through some old zoo photos from about 1991 when I lived in Edinburgh and they used to have Thick-billed parrots. Very nice species.
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Indeed - that's one of the more recent losses actually, having been kept until about 3 or 4 years ago.
 
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