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Edinburgh Zoo

zoo Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Edinburgh Zoo, owned and operated by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, sits on 82 acres of slopes on Corstorphine Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland, receiving over 600,000 annual visitors. It is home to more than 1,000 animals across 150 species, including critically endangered taxa such as the western lowland gorilla (*Gorilla gorilla gorilla*), Scottish wildcat (*F

Edinburgh Zoo houses giant pandas under international loan agreement with the China Conservation and Research Center, as part of the cooperative panda diplomacy and ex-situ conservation network.

No pandas here now

Yang Guang and Tian Tian returned to China in December 2023.

Checked 28 October 2026· Source

How this page is organized

Start with the pandas, then move outward into the surrounding archive

This page gathers the residents linked to Edinburgh Zoo, the key moments recorded here, nearby institutions, and the articles that add context.

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Resident archive

Pandas connected to this place

0 pandas recorded

No pandas recorded yet

The archive does not yet list pandas connected to Edinburgh Zoo.

Recorded moments

Archive timeline at Edinburgh Zoo

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2011
Dec 4

Yang Guang and Tian Tian Arrive at Edinburgh Zoo

Yang Guang and Tian Tian arrived at Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland, becoming the UK's only giant pandas and launching a 12-year conservation partnership.

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2011
Dec 4

Yang Guang transferred to edinburgh_zoo

Yang Guang moved to Edinburgh Zoo alongside Tian Tian as part of a 10-year Sino-British conservation partnership.

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2004
Aug 24

Tian Tian transferred to edinburgh_zoo

Tian Tian moved to Edinburgh Zoo.

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In the library

Further reading on Edinburgh Zoo

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Cover image for "Edinburgh's Farewell: Tian Tian and Yang Guang's 12-Year UK Journey"
Culture 📚 general

Edinburgh's Farewell: Tian Tian and Yang Guang's 12-Year UK Journey

For 12 years, Tian Tian and Yang Guang were the United Kingdom's only giant pandas — drawing millions of visitors to Edinburgh Zoo, generating an estimated £50 million in economic impact, and becoming beloved Scottish cultural fixtures. This article chronicles their journey from arrival in 2011 to their emotional departure in 2023, capturing the joy, the breeding attempts, the disappointments, and the legacy of Britain's panda era.

edinburgh uk scotland +2
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Cover image for "Feeding Pandas Across Europe: The Transnational Bamboo Supply Chain"
Nature 📚 general

Feeding Pandas Across Europe: The Transnational Bamboo Supply Chain

Every panda in a European zoo eats 12-38 kilograms of fresh bamboo daily — none of which grows naturally in European forests. This article traces the hidden logistics infrastructure: dedicated plantations in southern France, weekly refrigerated truck deliveries crossing borders, the economics of panda food, and the emergency networks that keep pandas fed when supply chains break.

1 panda
europe bamboo supply-chain +3
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Cover image for "How Much Is a Giant Panda Worth? Price, Cost and Value Are Three Different Things"
Culture 📚 general

How Much Is a Giant Panda Worth? Price, Cost and Value Are Three Different Things

Giant pandas have never been sold. What foreign zoos pay is an annual conservation fee, not a purchase price; the largest costs sit in long-term care rather than the fee itself; and the values that matter most — ecosystem protection, watershed stability, cultural significance — cannot be transacted at all. This article separates the three, and explains why collapsing them into a single number produces misleading answers.

3 pandas
panda economics conservation funding panda diplomacy +2
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World map

Where this place sits in the wider panda world

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Coordinates: 55.9422 N, 3.2693 W

Sources and references

Archive notes

About Edinburgh Zoo

Edinburgh Zoo, owned and operated by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, sits on 82 acres of slopes on Corstorphine Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland, receiving over 600,000 annual visitors. It is home to more than 1,000 animals across 150 species, including critically endangered taxa such as the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), Scottish wildcat (*F