Based on this, it seemed appropriate to choose this week to hold a Burns Supper at Edinburgh Zoo for our patrons.  Hosted by our Chair Manus Fullerton, Counsul General Li Ruiyou of the Chinese Consulate is our guest of honour, Natascha Gentz, director of the Confucious Institute for Scotland and Deirdre Kinloch Anderson, director of Kinloch Anderson. 

The evening will see the official registration of our panda tartan and renowned designers Kinloch Anderson will share the story of this special tartan to our guests.  As we speak Kinloch Anderson is busy creating an enormous table runner, made out of the very first ream of woven fabric, which will take pride of place across the centre of the dining table. 

This weekend saw our own very popular Chinese New Year celebrations at Edinburgh Zoo, with a range of activities for all the family.  The Confucius Institute for Scotland offered Chinese language tasters and calligraphy taster classes, as well as bamboo drawings and Chinese book mark making for younger ones.  We were also delighted to welcome Hong Kong based children’s author Sarah Brennan.  Her book, The Tale of Pin Yin Panda, was launched in Scotland on Saturday.  Inspired by the real life arrival of Tian Tian and Yang Guang to Scotland, her tale features a foreword by Edinburgh Zoo and the official panda tartan.  The tale covers Chinese history and culture, but delivers it in an accessible and highly entertaining way.  Copies of Pin Yin Panda are on sale at Edinburgh Zoo priced at £6.99.

We are also excited to tell you that our pandas will feature on Blue Peter this week (Thursday 26^th CBBC channel / Friday BBC 1 and BBC 1 HD).  Animal presenter Naomi Wilkinson made the journey to Edinburgh last week, on the coldest day of the year so far, to spend time with our panda keeper Alison Maclean and to meet our female Tian Tian.  Naomi went behind the scenes and pitched in to help clean Sweetie’s enclosure and to feed her bamboo, carrots and a little bit of panda cake!

There are also two new inhabitants in the Magic Forest at Edinburgh Zoo – Bruce and Aru the ground cuscus.  Predominately nocturnal marsupials that are most recognisable for their large eyes and ears, these two apparently enjoy a bit of sunbathing too.

Meanwhile, at the Highland Wildlife Park our two new musk ox ladies are settling in well and should be going on display later this week.  Known to be a bit temperamental, so far our females have been nothing but well-behaved.  I don’t think they’ll stay that way though!

Best wishes,

Hugh Roberts

Ground Cuscus

For the first time Edinburgh Zoo’s new pair of Ground Cuscus will go on view to the public. 6 year old Bruce the male and 3 year old Aru the female have been part of the Zoo’s animal collection for a few months, but have just gone on public display.

Ground Cuscus are marsupials, meaning the females have a pouch for carrying their young in once they are born. Most recognisable for their large eyes and ears which are perfect for night-time tree foraging, Ground cuscus also enjoy a bit of sunlight and can often be seen catching a warming ray or two.

Donald Gow, Primate and Hoofstock keeper at Edinburgh Zoo said “We’re excited to be showing the Ground Cuscus to Zoo visitors for the first time since they arrived in our collection.  Bruce and Aru seem to be getting on really well together thankfully, because if they weren’t we would know all about it! Ground Cuscus are known to hiss and even bark at other members of their species if they don’t quite see eye to eye. Things are going really smoothly with the pair so far, so we’re extremely hopeful they will breed together – it’s just a case of fingers crossed!”

Excitingly we received two Musk Ox over the weekend.  They are the only Musk Ox on display in the whole of the UK.  Another incredible first for RZSS.

After a short settling in period of around a week, visitors will be able to see these powerhouses for themselves.  I’m amazed to hear that they are even thought to have survived the last ice age and that their wool, which is given the Inuit name qiviut, is prized for being soft and 10 times as strong as sheep wool.

A male Musk ox is then due to arrive later in the year.

Never far away from the news, the story that our male panda, Yang Guang, was suffering from colic quickly spread around the globe.  It has been wonderful to hear how concerned so many people have been about him. 

I’m happy to say panda colic isn’t serious, but we’re going to keep him off show until later this week to help him recover quickly and fully in private.  I’m told he’s had some good night sleeps though and is getting much brighter.

A new animal pairing last week brought a smile to my face.  Argus, a Hamlyn’s monkey, arrived at Edinburgh Zoo to join our resident group.  He’s settled in right away to his new home with female monkey Shaba.  Both in their twilight years, it’s more of a retirement pairing for these two!  Argus is apparently very shy, but Shaba was keen to start grooming him from the moment they were first introduced.  Keepers are really pleased and think they will make a great pair.

At Edinburgh Zoo it was also time to sex our 13 Squirrel monkey youngsters that were born in Living Links across 2011.  The babies were also weighed, measured and given identification necklaces.  Now onto the task of naming the little ones – all 13 of them!

Best wishes until next week,

Hugh Roberts

Our pandas, particularly Tian Tian, have been in the news a lot since I last blogged.  On Christmas Day the two were treated to extra portions of panda cake and then promptly slept it off in their indoor enclosures!  It made for some great photographs for all the visitors who took time away from the presents and turkey to come to see our famous pair on Christmas Day. 

The festive season here at Edinburgh Zoo has been extremely busy, with Christmas Day seeing three times as many visitors as the previous year, and Boxing Day four times as many.  However the 27^th December was by far the most popular day over the holiday period – seeing eight times as many people than the previous year come to visit us. 

A few days later Tian Tian our female panda was back in the news again when the BBC voted her one of their Women of the Year for 2011.  Although opinion was mixed, we were delighted to hear the news.  The BBC has always included a light-hearted entry for these awards.  We believe the award is a great reflection of how the people of the UK have taken Tian Tian and Yang Guang straight to their hearts and of just how high profile they have become.

Onto more panda news!  A lovely little girl of Chinese and Scottish decent, Tian Tian Brunton, was so delighted to hear that Tian Tian the panda was coming to Edinburgh Zoo, she put pen to paper to tell her all they had in common, reassuring her Scots are friendly people and offering to speak Chinese to her if she ever got lonely.  It was such a delightful letter, we invited Tian Tian Brunton and her little sister Lulu along for a special visit with our giant pandas.  We really hope it’s an afternoon that she’ll remember always.

Our last animal birth of 2011 took place right on New Year’s Eve as Ellen and Otto the pygmy hippos gave birth to little Eve.  Mum and baby are doing well and we’re hoping Eve will take her first tentative steps into her outside enclosure over the next couple of weeks.

Now that 2012 is here, we have many more exciting things on the horizon.  As we announced at the end of last year, we hope Walker the polar bear will get a mate, we hope our two giant pandas will mate with each other, and we really look forward to telling you about lots of exciting updates and additions across both Edinburgh Zoo and the Highland Wildlife Park.

Best wishes,

Hugh Roberts

Well this is my last blog before Christmas, so I’m delighted to wish you all a Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year whilst I have the chance.

It’s been an eventful 2011 for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, with some real highs.  Our sights are firmly set on the future and all the tremendously positive things that 2012 will bring.

Exciting news this week was one of our vets, Romain Pizzi, performed ground-breaking keyhole surgery on one of the Golden Cats at Edinburgh Zoo.  He used a pretzel shaped surgical instrument, designed especially for this operation, to perform a minimally invasive liver and kidney biopsy.  Ipoh, the cat, had lost weight over the last few months and his behaviour and scans had led keepers to believe this procedure was necessary.

The pioneering technology allowed Romain to fully explore all the abdominal organs and, despite being the first time Romain had used this new surgical instrument, the operation was a great success.  Shortly after surgery the cat was up, behaving normally, and eating.

Although practiced regularly by Romain here at the RZSS, keyhole surgery is still extremely rare across the animal world in general.  It is so rare that Prof Tang of the Ya’an Panda centre in China, who is visiting the Zoo to help the Giant Panda’s settle in, watched the whole thing, with a view to apply these techniques on Panda’s in his hometown of China.

This week Edinburgh Zoo unveiled another animal themed bus on the service 26 route.  The new bus features the giant panda characters of Tian Tian and Yang Guang and joins the fleet of 10 other animal themed buses often seen brightening up the Edinburgh roads.

Duke and Noemie the Sclater’s lemurs at Edinburgh Zoo enjoyed Christmas enrichment too.  They took delivery of a sack full of presents to investigate.  Over the festive period our keepers at the Highland Wildlife Park and Edinburgh Zoo will take the opportunity to introduce a wide variety of Christmas themed enrichment, it is great fun for our keepers and animals alike.

This is where I sign off for 2011 and I look forward to blogging again early in the New Year.

Best wishes for the festive season,

Hugh Roberts

Today our giant panda enclosure opened up to members of the public.

At 9.15am a whole host of television cameras, press photographers and journalists gathered to see the reactions of the crowds when they caught their first glimpse of Tian Tian and Yang Guang.  The initial group of excited visitors began to gather, chatting with myself, press and our panda patrol greeters.  And then along with the very first person to book a panda ticket slot, who was Andy Mclean from Warrington, I had the pleasure of cutting the ribbon to celebrate.

A great moment, this was the next step in our panda journey here at Edinburgh Zoo, and it was a delight to see the anticipation and enthusiasm of our visitors in person.

Visitors were treated to Yang Guang in his indoor enclosure, munching away on his breakfast of bamboo, and Tian Tian in the outdoor part of her enclosure, exploring and taking in the morning sights and sounds.  It was lovely for all to observe the pandas in both environments.

There’s been a steady stream of visitors all day to meet our new black and white residents, and I look forward to many more people coming to get more acquainted with Sweetie and Sunshine over the weekend.

Tomorrow (Saturday 17^th December) is a ‘Panda Family Fun Day’ at Edinburgh Zoo.  There are lots of activities from panda cupcake decorating, Chinese calligraphy or bamboo craft classes with the Confucius Institute, face painters transforming children in pandas, zebras and tigers and too much more to mention here.

If anyone wants to book tickets to see our giant pandas, please visit our website (or members’ portal for RZSS members) to book online and avoid disappointment.

Lastly, not everyone realises, but we’re actually open 365 days of the year.  So that means you can even visit our giant panda and other animals on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day.

Another one of our bears even made headlines again this week!  It seems that Walker the polar bear is becoming a real favourite.  We discovered that Walker was one of the tiny cubs featured in the cubbing den in the BBCs well-known Frozen Planet series.  Shown at only 10 weeks old, it was delightful to have an insight into his life at such a young age.

I think with all this attention on our other bears, the Sun Bears at Edinburgh Zoo will want their share of the limelight soon!

Well panda-mania has certainly been sweeping the country since Tian Tian and Yang Guang arrived at Edinburgh Zoo last weekend.

The two giant pandas are in fine form and I’ve continued to visit them several times.  They’re really healthy and are adapting extremely well to their new home.   We hope to let both giant pandas out into their enclosure for more of an explore over the weekend and it won’t be long before the panda cams go live.

Remember that viewings commence for members from the 13^th and visitors generally from the 16^th December, but please be sure to go online in advance and book your panda viewing time slots at no extra charge.  Not long to go now!

The weather has been hard on us this week, particular on Thursday when storm force winds swept across Scotland.  Edinburgh Zoo was closed all day that day, but as can often be the way, Friday has been lovely and sunny – if somewhat chilly – and visitors enjoyed a great day out in the Zoo.

Our gardens team have been busy preparing and tidying the grounds for winter all week, and I must say they’ve gone a great job.

Our members’ magazine LifeLinks has hit the printers, so we expect it to be with our members and adopters early next year.  It details some exciting new benefits for members, updates across the various sections of Edinburgh Zoo, an update from the Highland Wildlife Park, details of our online shop, a gift guide and news on beaver education packs for all schools in Scotland.

Lastly, it really has been all about bears this week!  On Tuesday Walker the polar bear turned three.  The Highland Wildlife Park’s well-loved and playful bear was treated to a huge ice cake packed with all his favourite foods.  Full of salmon, apples and carrots – the cake was also topped with Walker’s absolute favourite food – sardines!  Not my idea of a birthday cake, but he certainly was happy.

Well they’re here!  Our two giant pandas are safely settling into their new enclosures at Edinburgh Zoo and we’re absolutely delighted with them.

The moment of their arrival was so very poignant, and a moment that I and many others will never forget.  I was honoured to represent the Society as one of their greatest achievements came to fruition.

On Sunday 4^th December at around 1pm, Tian Tian and Yang Guang arrived on Scottish soil at Edinburgh Airport.  The pair had touched down safely courtesy of the FedEx Panda Express – a specially chartered Boeing 777F flight from Chengdu in China.

The runway tarmac was packed with dignitaries and ministers, as well as the world’s press.  I was even joined by six year old Maisie Dalton, who won a competition to represent the children of Scotland.  Maisie clutched a panda cuddly toy and proudly wore a kilt specially made from panda tartan – and I’m sure you’ll all agree she did a fantastic job of representing children everywhere.

Thousands of people cheered and waved from the side of the road as our two new arrivals were escorted by police on their short journey from the airport to Edinburgh Zoo.  Media were also at Edinburgh Zoo in abundance, you’ve probably seen from all the press coverage in the last few days!  It was all extremely moving.

I’m glad to report that our two giant pandas were safely delivered to their new custom built enclosures – their home for the next 10 years – and are settling in wonderfully well.  In fact, on arrival Yang Guang made himself right at home and immediately tucked into great piles of bamboo!

I’ve been to see both pandas a couple of times now, and am looking forward to when our members and the public are able to get their first glimpse at Edinburgh Zoo.  Viewings commence for members from the 13^th and visitors generally from the 16^th, but please be sure to go online in advance and book your panda viewing time slots at no extra charge.

Here at Edinburgh Zoo we are now embarking on a 10 year project to allow us to better understand these amazing bears.  At the very heart of this very special partnership are the Society’s three objectives of conservation, education and research.  We will continue to work with the China Wildlife Conservation Association and the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda in Sichuan Province.  The next steps are going to be tremendous.

This week Walker, our well-loved polar bear at the Highland Wildlife Park, entertained visitors with his acrobatic displays, leaping and splashing around in his large pool.  His antics were captured by a photographer and then appeared across the Scottish press. 

This young playful bear is fast winning hearts across Scotland and beyond and, since the publicity surrounding Walker’s love of hard hats as a play thing, Walker has even started getting fan mail from admirers as far afield as Devon, Leamington Spa and Northampton.

Walker's fan club is growing

Also at the Highland Wildlife Park, two young male European Forest reindeer have moved into a new enclosure and are settling in well.  Marten and Lenni’s new enclosure has a raised wooden walkway that offers visitors a picture perfect view.

Reindeer also aren’t the only festive sight at the Highland Wildlife Park, Santa will turn on the Christmas lights on December 3^rd and entry to the Park will be free from 4pm to 6pm.  Children can also meet the big man on December 4^th, 10^th, 11^th, 17^th and 18^th at 11.30am and 2.30pm as he leads a walk to Reindeer Wood to feed our reindeer.

Santa checks on his helpers

I’d also like to congratulate Kimberley Walker and her family who are the winners of our online competition for a family membership.  Kimberley and her family can look forward to a year’s unlimited access to Edinburgh Zoo and the Highland Wildlife Park, as well as many other benefits.

Just a reminder too that RZSS members can enjoy a tasty new benefit.  The Mansion House will serve up afternoon tea on the last Wednesday of every month from 1pm to 4pm.  Come along and enjoy tea or coffee, a scone with jam and cream, cucumber sandwiches and a cake all for £5.95 per person.  The first afternoon launches on Wednesday 30^th November.

Our penguin cam software had an upgrade this week, so fans of our world famous residents can continue to enjoy our penguins splashing, waddling and swimming anywhere, and anytime.

And our penguins aren’t the only Edinburgh Zoo residents appearing on camera.  Edinburgh Zoo’s historically famous former inhabitant, Wojtek the ‘soldier bear’, will be coming to the small screen in December on BBC Scotland.

During World War II Wojtek was adopted by the 22^nd Company Polish Army Service and Corps (Artillery) troops.  Following the war, Wojtek spent the rest of his days peacefully at Edinburgh Zoo.  I’ll let you know when we have further scheduling details.

Until then, all the best

Hugh

 To welcome the pandas to the UK and celebrate their forthcoming arrival, the Chinese Embassy in the UK launched a competition for UK primary and secondary school children.  I was delighted to be asked to speak at the launch event down in London.

Primary children across the UK are invited to design and draw a poster to welcome Yang Guang and Tian Tian and to celebrate the friendship between the UK and China, and Secondary children are being asked to compose and deliver a short speech that will mark the arrival of the pandas and demonstrate enthusiasm for learning Chinese and about China.  For further information and details on how to enter, please visit www.panda-pals.org

Closer to home, I’m delighted to tell you the duck pond at Edinburgh Zoo is going through an overhaul  and we’re developing it into more of an experience.  More news to follow soon!

The RZSS member’s forum has now gone live, where our members can access past issues of Life Links, exclusive videos and downloads, renew their membership online and discover more about spotlight animals.  For further information please visit www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/support/membership/MembersPortal.html

I’m also pleased to be able to tell you that our education department won an SQA Star Award for their ZEST programme.  Run by Alaina Macri, our Tertiary Education Officer, ZEST stands for Zoo and Environment Skills Training, and the programme integrates SQA qualifications with practical experience.   ZEST has doubled the number of students hosted in the programme since its launch in 2009 and we hope to continue going forward.

News of other awards, Grasslands our newly revamped and redesigned eatery at Edinburgh Zoo, won the Roses Interior Design Awards recently.  A prestigious industry award, it’s fantastic to have our rebranded and revitalised eatery recognised in such a way.

Grasslands has style and taste: Photo by Jon Paul Orsi

Meet Nadira the Malayan tapir

Finally, we’ve also had a new Sclater’s lemur join us at Edinburgh Zoo.  A male named Duke, he’s been showing a strong interest in one of the bossy females named Noemie. 

Scalater’s lemurs are the only primate species, other than humans, to have blue eyes and are pretty striking to look at.  You can see Duke, Noemie and our other red-bellied and mongoose lemurs in their large outdoor enclosures just below the Mansion House.

Duke is settling in well at Edinburgh Zoo: Photo by Jon Paul Orsi