I tried to take a few different photo's of the different area's but they didn't turn out too well. In essence the entire paddock from the walkway down is being given over to the Panda's. The zebra's have been confined to the upper paddock and based on the fencing this is the only area they will have access too, still a large enough area although considerably smaller than what they are used to. The paddock below the walkway looks as though its being split into about 3 areas and it looks like there might be a path being built going across the paddock to let people get closer to the outside panda enclosures. You will also have a good view of these exhibits from the walkway, providing they don't put anything in the way to block your view. Given the size of these outside enclosures I think they are being developed with an alternative species in mind for their long term use.
What are this zoo's long-term plans that are known? At one point in the early 2000s they had an elaborate master plan to bring elephants, giraffes, manatees, etc. to the zoo. Have those plans all been permanently shelved?
Pretty much, I suspect - certainly even those long-term plans which I was told by various staff at the collection between 2010 and 2012 have amounted to nothing, with the exception of those plans which ran along the lines of "We will be ceasing to keep X", more or less all of which happened.....
These plans were based on the assumption that they could sell a large area of land to a housing developer to raise the funding required to bring these species to the zoo. The local council objected to the plans and refused to grant the required planning permission for the houses to be built. The zoo then had to shelve the proposal to sell the land, and thus that masterplan became void. Currently the zoo is building a new Giant Panda habitat, and a new animal antics area. Planning permission has been granted to build a new Giraffe house, so I would assume that will be the next development.
There are no Giraffe's at Edinburgh presently. The old Giraffe house is currently being used for the Indian Rhino. The new Giraffe house is to be built where the current animal antics area is situated at the top of the hill.
From facebook: Giant Panda update We would like to make our visitors aware that we are entering into the giant panda breeding season and may need to close the public viewing areas at short notice. Visitors with pre-booked tickets are welcome to re-arrange their visit for an alternative date in April. Edinburgh Zoo
Not sure what the point of this is? Are they still allowing them to 'go through the motions' so to speak? As the breeding programme has been halted (not sure if this is just at Edinburgh or worldwide?) and Yang Guang has had both testicles removed they won't produce cubs together. Just a thought.
They haven't actually attempted a natural breeding since 2012; all attempts since have been through AI, and more often than not using frozen sperm from a different male.
Here we go again . Tian Tian’s been artificially inseminated for the season:Giant panda artificially inseminated
A female Sumatran Tiger arrived at the end of March. She is called Dharma (born May 2017) and has come from Fota Wildlife Park
IMO the main problem with all these failed breeding attempts- and at other zoos with Panda pairs too- is that the Chinese only allow single pairs, so natural mating is compromised by lack of a choice of mates for the female (in the wild several males vie for mating a female). Of course, having an extra male(s) available just for the few days necessary around a female's oestrus would be virtually impossible to recreate in a zoo situation, but I do think the success rate might improve if they were able to.
Of course, they only ever attempted a natural mating once (the first year they had the species) and have gone with AI ever since I believe on most of these occasions they didn't even use semen from their make, choosing instead samples from Bao-Bao, late of Berlin and London.
I know the female has bred previously in China but after eight(?) failed years in Edinburgh I'd be very surprised if anything came from this latest AI attempt. We wait and see I guess.
It was the locals that objected. The irony being that the old hospital site is now being redeveloped for housing in approx the same area. I’ve suspected for a while that the failure of the panda to carry to term is down to environmental factors rather than biological. She’s just not very happy where the enclosures are, and apparently hates the wind. But, having said that, Edinburgh’s record in breeding carnivores over the last 20 years is very poor compared to the Highland Wildlife Park
