Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
Moments in a longer story.
Selected milestones in the history of Edinburgh Zoo and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
On this page
A society and its zoo
These dates describe the place you can learn about here. They are not a company timeline for Apollonaut.
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1909
A society
Thomas Gillespie, an Edinburgh lawyer, founds the society.
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22 July 1913
The zoo opens
Edinburgh Zoo opens to the public on Corstorphine Hill.
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1919
A penguin chick
A king penguin chick hatches at the zoo, the first penguin hatched in captivity.
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1948
Royal
After a visit by King George VI, the society may add ‘Royal’ to its name.
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1950
The Penguin Parade
The Penguin Parade begins by accident.
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1986
Highland Wildlife Park
The society acquires the Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig.
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2011
Giant pandas
Two giant pandas arrive on loan from China.
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December 2023
Farewell to the pandas
The giant pandas return to China.
Follow the stories behind the dates
A timeline is a beginning. The longer history introduces the people and places; the sources below provide further context.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.