Edinburgh Zoo

Penguin Eggs!

Edinburgh Zoo has one of the largest Gentoo penguin colonies in the world, with over 120 adult birds. Although active all year, the breeding season is a great time to catch these amazing animals. The first eggs are laid in April and hatch after a 35 day incubation period. We have already had our first few eggs laid this year and are hopeful for a great breeding season.

Keep up with all the action with our Penguin Cam.

*Penguin egg photograph taken by Gunnella Thorgeirsdottir

New Arrivals

April is a great month to catch new arrivals here at the Zoo. This year we have young Rock Hyrax, Giant Anteaters and Grevy's Zebra, as well as baby Squirrel Monkeys, Gelada Baboons and Goeldi's Monkeys.

*Gelada Baboon photograph taken by Gordon Jack

Nesting

April will see the start of work on the Chilean flamingo nest-site. Keepers will dig this area over on a daily basis to get the soil in the right condition for the flamingos to start nestbuilding. The birds often show quite a lot of interest in the nest-site from this point onwards and look out for ritualised courtship displays taking place, sometimes spreading through the whole group!

Many of the other species are also starting to nestbuild: the Waldrapp ibis for example are busily lining their nest-boxes with twigs in advance of breeding and look out for the magnificent Stellar's Sea Eagles. Although it is believed they might still be too young to breed fully, they did display nesting behaviour for the first time last year.

*Steller's sea eagle photo by Edinburgh Zoo Facebook fan Debbie Grant

Easter Events

We'll be celebrating Easter at the Zoo this year with face painting, RSPB activities and cake decorating. Come rain or shine its sure to be an egg-stra special family day out!

Grasslands

We are eagerly anticipating the unveiling of Grasslands this April. The new eatery will be in the site formerly occupied by Stripes, and is due to open in the second half of this month. It will be the first in a series of exciting redevelopments within Edinburgh Zoo which also include the front entrance and Jungle Cafe.

Tulipa 'Negrita'

With bright purple flowers just beginning to open it signals the start of a colourful display of Tulips set to last for several weeks. Three more varieties of Tulip will carry on flowering into late May. The deep purple of T.’Havran’ opens shortly after T.’Negrita’ and will be followed by purples of T.’Queen of the Night’ and T.’café noir’. However the display doesn’t end once the tulips have gone over. Come early summer the purple theme continues with the appearance of the deep purple to almost black flower of Iris ‘Black Knight’ and of course there is the ever present rainbow coloured shrub Pieris ‘Forest Flame’. It’s all set to be a colourful year around the Gardens of the Zoo!

Not to mention...

...all of our other attractions such as the Budongo Trail, Penguin Parade, and Living Links, and the rest of our animal collection. This includes rhinos, koalas, sea lions, parrots, hunting dogs, tigers, lions, black stork, tapir, bongos, jaguar, pygmy hippos, sun bears....