Edinburgh Zoo first visit
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Must see at Edinburgh:
The penguin enclosure in the centre of the zoo
Steller's sea eagle
The monkey house, not a cutting edge exhibit, but a wonderful selection of rare and unusual primates.
Indian rhino
The UK's only koala, Persian fallow deer, lesser kudu, Siberian musk deer.
My favourite exhibit - the gelada, near the top of the hill.
Must see at the Highland wildlife park:
The UK's only Turkmenian markhor, Japanese serow, bharal, Himalayan tahr and kiang.
wolf wood exhibit
Amur tiger
European moose
"Walker" the polar bear
My favourite exhibit - the Japanese macaque enclosure, shared with the serows.
Have a great trip.
The penguin enclosure in the centre of the zoo
Steller's sea eagle
The monkey house, not a cutting edge exhibit, but a wonderful selection of rare and unusual primates.
Indian rhino
The UK's only koala, Persian fallow deer, lesser kudu, Siberian musk deer.
My favourite exhibit - the gelada, near the top of the hill.
Must see at the Highland wildlife park:
The UK's only Turkmenian markhor, Japanese serow, bharal, Himalayan tahr and kiang.
wolf wood exhibit
Amur tiger
European moose
"Walker" the polar bear
My favourite exhibit - the Japanese macaque enclosure, shared with the serows.
Have a great trip.
The Living Links enclosure is good to see too, as the squirrel monkeys and capuchins there are usually pretty lively and like watching the visitors. Also Budongo trail is a good enclosure to see, get there for 11.45 for the chimp feed and talk (it can be easy to miss this enclosure as it's in the corner of the zoo, just up the road from the main entrance and on the right.
I think the last musk deer has died as there are none anymore. Only the gorals in that paddock now I think.
New arrivals in the aviary next to this enclosure are egyptian vultures.
Another tip is to get the free safari bus to the top of the hill and work your way down, easier on the legs!
Lesley4444
Well-Known Member
I think my favourite animals at the zoo at the moment are the sunbears... they are always active in the afternoon.
To catch the goldencats and wolverine...ive found it better going first thing in the morning. The goldencat that i see the most is the one to the right of the sunbear enclosure... its like a wee secret passage inbetween the sunbear enclosure and the aardwolf.
Mowgli the Jaguar is back in his old enclosure... and is alot more photogenic in there...lol The two sumatran tigers might be together when you get there.
The Gentoo colony is also a must see and its a great time right now when there is adults and chicks... the chicks are almost out their nests and scrambling around the enclosure attempting to get the adults to give them more food.
I agree with what was said before... get the safari coach up... and then make your way back down to the bottom... i tend to do this twice in one day.. concentrate on one side of the zoo...go back up and then do the other.
At the highland wildlife park.. defintely got to see Walker the polar bear...when i have been there... early mornings he tends to be wandering.. and its mostly later in the afternoon that he is in his pool...best place to see him in his pool is in the drive thru part of the park.
Definately got to see the 3 female Amur tigers... mum and 2 daughters.... last time i was there the daughters both nearly two were having a right fight... was great to watch and they were using the enclosure fully. Its a great enclosure.
Wolf wood is also a must to see... and the pair of wolves are surprisingly difficult to spot... my advice would be to go when there are hardly anyone else around... and thats when they tend to be more visable and active.
They also have wild cat kittens at the moment as well as snow owl chicks!.. ive yet to see the snow owl chicks...would love to see a picture of them as in the years i have been going i cannot recall them ever having snow owl chicks. They share an enclosure with the artic foxes.
Hope you have a lovely time and get to see all that you want too
To catch the goldencats and wolverine...ive found it better going first thing in the morning. The goldencat that i see the most is the one to the right of the sunbear enclosure... its like a wee secret passage inbetween the sunbear enclosure and the aardwolf.
Mowgli the Jaguar is back in his old enclosure... and is alot more photogenic in there...lol The two sumatran tigers might be together when you get there.
The Gentoo colony is also a must see and its a great time right now when there is adults and chicks... the chicks are almost out their nests and scrambling around the enclosure attempting to get the adults to give them more food.
I agree with what was said before... get the safari coach up... and then make your way back down to the bottom... i tend to do this twice in one day.. concentrate on one side of the zoo...go back up and then do the other.
At the highland wildlife park.. defintely got to see Walker the polar bear...when i have been there... early mornings he tends to be wandering.. and its mostly later in the afternoon that he is in his pool...best place to see him in his pool is in the drive thru part of the park.
Definately got to see the 3 female Amur tigers... mum and 2 daughters.... last time i was there the daughters both nearly two were having a right fight... was great to watch and they were using the enclosure fully. Its a great enclosure.
Wolf wood is also a must to see... and the pair of wolves are surprisingly difficult to spot... my advice would be to go when there are hardly anyone else around... and thats when they tend to be more visable and active.
They also have wild cat kittens at the moment as well as snow owl chicks!.. ive yet to see the snow owl chicks...would love to see a picture of them as in the years i have been going i cannot recall them ever having snow owl chicks. They share an enclosure with the artic foxes.
Hope you have a lovely time and get to see all that you want too
im back from my trip and enjoyed seeing walker the polar bear and the markhor as well as the elk and at edinburgh the sun bears and koala bears were indeed a favourite loved the tiger enclosure unfortunately they were in quarintine so were not out on main exhibit but was definetly worth a visit pictures to follow
Lesley4444
Well-Known Member
Glad you enjoyed it...lookin forward to seeing the pictures... did you see the wild cat kittens?
The tigers can be hard to spot in the big enclosure, although one is usually in the small front section - I think they are still separate - you need to look up, as if it is out, it's usually on the high platform. When we were there on Friday, it was Tibor the male (Recognisable due to only having one eye). Baginda (sp) the female is a recent arrival, so she might still be a little shy.
They will both be in quarantine as they are in the process of introducing them to each other, and as they have been 'in contact', Tibor is effectively quarantined, although he has been at the zoo a couple of years. Until recently, he was in one of the enclosures at the other end of big cat row.
The 'side' enclosure has been part of the Tiger exhibit since it was built - it enables them to separate the cats if needed (e.g. if there are young cubs, or there is a fall out. When the Jaguars were in that enclosure last year, they use dthe side enclosure because they couldn't have the female in with Mowgli all the time as she didn't have any canine teeth and couldn't defend herself. When it was Amur tigers in the enclosure, the 'bamboo' bars (actually steel) were the only barrier between the cats and the visitors - presumably the smaller pawed Jaguars and Sumatrans have resulted in the wire mesh now there!
Glad you enjoyed the zoo and hope you come back to see the Pandas!
The 'side' enclosure has been part of the Tiger exhibit since it was built - it enables them to separate the cats if needed (e.g. if there are young cubs, or there is a fall out. When the Jaguars were in that enclosure last year, they use dthe side enclosure because they couldn't have the female in with Mowgli all the time as she didn't have any canine teeth and couldn't defend herself. When it was Amur tigers in the enclosure, the 'bamboo' bars (actually steel) were the only barrier between the cats and the visitors - presumably the smaller pawed Jaguars and Sumatrans have resulted in the wire mesh now there!
Glad you enjoyed the zoo and hope you come back to see the Pandas!