Follow-up to the sloth bear arrival, it’s now been officially announced via the zoo’s social media pages and is now visible outside from the main pathway up the hill.
Edinburgh Zoo Edinburgh Zoo News 2025
- Thread starter Quincey
- Start date
felis silvestris
Well-Known Member
Yep, went today and saw him!
Some notes about it:
- There are new plants in the exhibit according to the habitat they live in, which means it has more of a tropical feel now. The enclosure that is onshow, the former male giant panda enclosure, is pretty barren but is still good for them.
- There is new interactive signage up for them, like a size comparison sign with them and polar bears, and also some new statues of bears, like they used to have for the panda. There a also flags up displaying photos of sloth bears.
- Unfortunately though, most of the fencing around the lower parts of the old nyala enclosure is gone, probably meaning it won’t become a new animal holding anytime soon.
- There is a new building that has been constructed on the site of the former viewing into the female giant panda enclosure, with more information signs and an indoor buulding and glass viewing into another enclosure, though this is still closed off for now, along with the indoor areas that are for the bears.
- The bear itself was not shy at all! Though it took us around 15-20 minutes of waiting, he eventually popped out of his house and wandered around his enclosure, though he was pacing for a little bit of that time since there were lots of visitors looking at him.
I’ll upload photos of him and the new enclosure later on tonight.
Other news:
- The binturong is STILL in the old panda part, with the old binturong part, which is still in good condition, lying empty with the sign saying something exciting is coming soon. It’s been like four months now, come on.
Apart from that, there wasn’t much else to note, apart from the former zebra enclosure path being closed off for construction of the new Prezwalski’s horse and Bactrian camel enclosures and work commencing on the new relaxing garden on the site of the old monkey walkthrough.
I unfortunately didn’t get to go to Wee Beasties or the Monkey house- if anyone has been recently and has seen any changes let us know.
Great update I’ve not been up yet but I did notice that the online map has been updated with a picture of the sloth bear and the camel at the old zebra enclosure on it. I wonder what will go into the old Binturong enclosure or if they move binturong back into there to free up space for something in the old panda enclosure which is a decent sized enclosure. Where is the old Nyala enclosure again? Can’t picture where it is or the size of it? I know they mentioned potentially bringing in a new type of Antelope to the park at the existing horse enclosure when the horses move over wonder what enclosures are next lol
felis silvestris
Well-Known Member
Nyala enclosure was opposite where the pandas were, just beyond the lower tiger enclosure. It once held maned wolves a long time ago. The nyalas are probably that new antelope moved into the old Przewalskis horse area since they have part of the enclosure already.
Aw I still can’t really picture it or how big it is haha. The way they were talking at the AGM this year they made it sound like it would be a new Antelope species but I may be wrong. I imagine the plan now for any new animals/enclosures it will be a case of redoing existing enclosures as I don’t think they have any more new areas left for expansion like the new zebra enclosure area the digital map makes it look like there’s a gap for another enclosure between new zebra enclosure and the Solar panels. Otherwise I think the whole zoo is full with no room of expansion left. I know they are doing Koala enclosure next but would be interested to see if there’s any other big plans left would quite like to see them do an indoor enclosure such as the rainforest one they spoke about for the former cancelled big 5 campaign with crocodiles monkeys etc Maybe knock down the old monkey house beside the penguins and build there.
Link to the updated map:
https://images.rzss.org.uk/media/Ed...04.1798840541.1753463878-699076569.1727541911
Have the zoo announced anything to indicate that the camels have arrived? Or are they still not back in the collection yet
On show today in Wee Beasties:
Maclean’s Spectre
Trinidad Stream Frog
Blue Poison Dart Frog
Lime Green Stick Insect
Sun Beetle
Chilean Rose Tarantula
Land Hermit Crab
Royal Python
The aquatic tank and the enclosure underneath are boarded up.
Excellent viewing of Cipisek the Sloth Bear this morning, very active and within a metre of one of the viewing areas for a 10 minute spell.
Path to new camel enclosure still not open and not possible to see if camels have arrived, but their is signage in place above the Sloth Bear enclosure.
Zoo now charging £1 for paper maps!
GeeZee
Well-Known Member
That’s rather a shame that they are charging for maps now , especially considering there is the option to buy the guidebook now that they are releasing once a year.
I always liked collecting the maps, on some of the events I went on they handed them out with the brunches (as well as on entry) so it was like a nice little keepsake, it’s only £1 but still I think it’s a shame it’s come to that.
Cobi
Well-Known Member
It won’t make a huge difference to those who buy one - and if you don’t want to, you can have a map on your phone or refer to the ones around the zoo - but that represents a potential source of income that will be invaluable to the zoo.
ItsZach
Well-Known Member
I don't believe that it's been noted in the thread that the single Baer's Pochard (moved from the flamingo aviary) and Socorro Doves (about time these were back on show!) are now in an aviary together that used to hold lemurs just opposite the old saki walkthrough - will upload pictures of this exhibit soon 
Also regarding the walkthrough, apparently the building part of it is becoming a quiet zone and baby feeding area
Also regarding the walkthrough, apparently the building part of it is becoming a quiet zone and baby feeding area
Jambi
Well-Known Member
That's a shame to hear, I always liked that tank and it would be sad to see it go. If it is getting removed, I'm interested in seeing what they replace it with. It would be nice if that one axolotl listed in the 2024 inventory was put on-show. I've also been hoping the zoo at some point gets another type of lizard, perhaps a chameleon to replace the Natal dwarf chameleons they used to have.
GeeZee
Well-Known Member
Maybe, but I think it’s more the principle and £1 per map won’t generate any meaningful revenue - I think it’ll just annoy people, to an average family of 4 they are already paying £100 to go in & especially common complaints from people relate to the apparent lack of animals / empty enclosures and poor signage.
The updated design of the map is much better in recent years and I think introducing a charge for it will be more detrimental than positive , there was a lot of noise about the cost of the pandas and the reduction in expenditure that their departure would bring so I don’t understand why they are suddenly monetising something so minor when it isn’t typical for zoos to charge for maps - I may be wrong (and I’m sure they’ll be an example somewhere) but I don’t actually recall anywhere where an established city zoo has charged for a map (not including guidebooks of course).
The map thing could be an incentive for people to increasingly use the app or online PDF maps instead, while perhaps the zoo is attempting to cut down on the use of paper for sustainability reasons? I love a physical map as much as the next person but I can see why they might want to use alternatives as well.
If it means they'll keep doing maps, as less and less zoos are doing so now, the £1 charge doesn't bother me. As others have said, it's a revenue stream and there are plenty of alternatives for those that don't want to pay for one. Often, it means the maps are far better quality too. Marwell similarly charge £1 for a map and its on great quality paper.
GeeZee
Well-Known Member
But paper can easily be recycled, they had a number of recycle boxes around the zoo for them if people didn’t wish to keep them.
cornu aspersum
Well-Known Member
Would people be more likely to use those specific boxes or just throw away the maps in any type of bin?
GeeZee
Well-Known Member
Generally as it’s by the exit into the shop the recycle box got quite full, so I’d be inclined to say generally they did get a fair bit of use.