Plan Your Visit to Edinburgh Zoo
We are open every day of the year, including Christmas Day, from 9am until:
| 6.00pm | April - Sept. |
| 5.00pm | Oct. & March |
| 4.30pm | Nov. - Feb. |
How you can help
The natural world needs our help...and we need yours! Please consider making a donation to support our conservation, education and research work, both within our parks and across the world.
Christmas Wish List from our Animals
All I want for Christmas…
The ‘Christmas Wish List’ from Edinburgh Zoo’s animals
that you can make come true!
Children across Scotland have eagerly written their letters to Santa and adults have probably given hints to loved ones for weeks now. With just days to go, the big day is nearly here when people across the country excitedly awake to find out if they’ve been naughty or nice, and if Santa was good to them this Christmas.
Unfortunately, even with all the planning and the unsubtle pointers – shock horror - sometimes even Santa gets it wrong. But despair not, did you know many of your unwanted items could actually find a new and useful home at Edinburgh Zoo?
Keepers at Edinburgh Zoo have in place an extensive and constantly revised enrichment programme for the animals in their care, and they’re hoping that you’ll remember them this Christmas and donate some of your discarded gifts.
Edinburgh Zoo’s other most famous black and white inhabitants, the 200 strong colony of gentoo, rockhopper and king penguins, are extremely curious creatures. Top of their Christmas list would be bubble machines, or CDs and DVDs for keepers to string up. Second only to fish, penguins love chasing after bubbles or bright reflections.
If granny’s knitting isn’t quite to size, or you’ve had one too many festive jumpers adorned with snowmen and reindeer, spare a thought for our chimpanzees and other primates who love to use them as snuggle blankets, or just generally tare them to shreds – however the mood takes them! In particular, our Sun bear brothers love boomer balls, the larger the better, and rubber Kong chew toys.
Non-toxic paint, canvasses and brushes even go down well with our macaws who love to get creative, and our parrots, who love the noise, can offer you a new home for discarded baby rattles. A few too many rubber snakes, spiders and frogs in your stocking this year? Why not donate them to Edinburgh Zoo to be used in our fantastic birds of prey shows for our birds to retrieve.
Finally, once Christmas is over and the 2012 clear out has begun, Edinburgh Zoo’s animals would also be delighted to put your old Christmas trees to good use as scratching posts, back rubs or just something curious to investigate.
If you happen to have a stockpile of old newspapers, telephone directories or any cardboard tubes and rolls, then Edinburgh Zoo’s primates would be more than happy to take them off your hands! Edinburgh Zoo’s animals can also make brilliant use of lengths of rope made of natural material for a variety of fun activities.
Finally, if you are a keen gardener and get one too many bird houses this year – why not help the Zoo create nest boxes for wild birds in the park?
If you have an item to donate, please get in touch with the Edinburgh Zoo Enrichment Team on enrichment@rzss.org.uk., before sending the items in.