It has also been granted four stars by the Scottish Tourism Board. The zoo gardens boast one of the most diverse tree collections in the Lothians. Gillespie's vision of what a zoological park should be was modelled after the 'open design' of Tierpark Hagenbeck in Hamburg , a zoo which promoted a more spacious and natural environment for the animals, and stood in stark contrast to the steel cages typical of the menageries built during the Victorian era.
The design and layout were largely the product of Patrick Geddes and his son-in-law Frank Mears but Sir Robert Lorimer was involved in some of the more architectural elements including the remodelling of Corstorphine House at its centre.
The Scottish National Zoological Park was opened to the public in and was incorporated by Royal Charter later that year. It remains the only zoo with a Royal Charter in the United Kingdom. Edinburgh Zoo's long association with penguins began in January , with the arrival of three king penguins from the Christian Salvesen whaling expedition which docked in Leith. The subsequent successful hatching of a king penguin chick in was the first penguin to be hatched in captivity.
These were the first penguins to be seen outside of the South Atlantic anywhere in the world. The now famous daily penguin parade started by accident in with the escape of several birds. This proved so popular with visitors and the penguins that it is a daily feature of the zoo today. After Tom Gillespie retired, Gilbert D. Fisher was appointed director-secretary of the zoo in He held the post till he retired in The zoo and the park work together in providing the most appropriate captive habitat possible in Scotland.
Public visitation trips between both sites are organised frequently by the RZSS. The zoo still retains the original charter, which drives its active breeding programme, and biodiversity , conservation and sustainability initiatives.
The RZSS provides multiple ways for the public to help support its mission, including a membership club, animal adoption, donations, legacies and volunteering. The main building features viewing galleries, a lecture theatre and interactive games and displays designed to teach visitors about the chimpanzee's lifestyle and social structure. Living Links is built around a field station and research centre for the study of primate behaviour. Our extensive education programme aims to raise awareness and understanding of the fragility of life on this planet, and our responsibility to help care for it.
We also support a range of targeted research projects which are designed to enhance our understanding of animals' behavioural and physiological needs, with many useful consequences for conservation in the wild. The Zoo is also one of Scotland's most popular visitor attractions, with over , visitors a year.
Open every day of the year with the exception of Christmas Day, we have four stars from the VisitScotland quality assurance scheme, and we work hard to offer our visitors a truly great day out. Please see our section on visitor information for details of all our visitor facilities.
Mission 'Connecting people with nature. The parade has continued voluntarily to this day. Since then, Discovery and Learning at the Zoo has gone from strength to strength. The award winning education programme has reached over 1 million pupils both onsite and through outreach programmes.
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