Exhibition to celebrate 100 years of zoo

Edinburgh Zoo is 100 years old this year and its history will be celebrated in an exhibition opening tomorrow.

The zoo first opened to the public on July 22, 1913, four years after the Zoological Society was established by Edinburgh lawyer Thomas Gillespie.

As the zoo’s first director he welcomed Scotland’s first giraffe, provided a home for Wojtek the brown bear who carried ammunition for Polish troops during the Second World War and also introduced penguins.

Initially, the zoo gave people the opportunity to see wild animals in the flesh but over the years the zoo has had to evolve a wider remit in response to a changing world.