A society and a hillside
Thomas Gillespie, an Edinburgh lawyer, founded the society in 1909. Edinburgh Zoo opened on 22 July 1913 on 82 acres of the south-facing slopes of Corstorphine Hill, and the society was incorporated by Royal Charter later that year.
The first penguins
King penguins came to the zoo from a whaling expedition soon after it opened, and in 1919 a king penguin chick hatched there, the first penguin hatched in captivity. The Penguin Parade began by accident in 1950.
A conservation charity
The society became the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland in 1948 and acquired the Highland Wildlife Park in 1986. Giant pandas lived at the zoo from 2011 until they returned to China in December 2023, and today the zoo cares for around 170 species.



