Edinburgh Zoo

Today I took a bus over to Edinburgh Zoo, on Corstorphine Road. I learnt on my bus tour the other day that Corstorphine means "Cross of Torphine", but I haven't found out who this "Torphine" (or perhaps Norse "Thorfinn") was...

Anyway, the zoo is cool. Lots of exhibits, especially of endangered species they're trying to breed and conserve. I saw scimitar-horned oryx (believed extinct in the wild in Tunisia), Amur tigers (from Russia), three Asian lions, and a small pack of Cape Hunting Dogs.

The walk-through red lemur enclosure was cool. One of the lemurs was sprawled out on a platform on their wood-and-rope playground above me. He hung his head over the edge for a quick look but was obviously too bored or tired to take an interest in me.

The penguin parade was cool, but only five penguins wanted to come out for a walk. One of the Gentoos came out of the gate early, and waddled around for a bit before the others decided to join him. Then when the parade started (two Gentoos and three Kings), a couple of the Gentoo penguins inside the enclosure followed alongside on the other side of the bars. Once again I put my pencils and brush to work and painted a Gentoo penguin.

They have one polar bear, who was swimming doggy-paddle up to one end, pushing off and flipping over to do backstroke the other direction.

Edinburgh Zoo is the only zoo in the UK to have koalas... coming later this summer. I saw the exhibit under construction.

I also saw "nature red in tooth and claw" as Tennyson put it. The muntjac enclosure also contained a pond, with a few ducks and other waterfowl. A seagull was inside hopping on the grass, flapping its wings as an angry moorhen tried to get at it. I thought this was a bit odd, till I saw the tiny moorhen chick held tightly in the seagull's now red-tinged beak. The moorhen mother attacked the gull a bit more, and I couldn't see the chick anymore. I think the gull dropped it. :(

But all in all a good zoo experience. I also got to see a zebra rolling in the mud. :D