Zoo koalas to get new enclosure

The overhaul will be designed to bring visitors closer to the Australian marsupials, with an open-plan walk-through area to be created also.

Renovations will be finished in time for summer, but the koalas will be off display while the works are completed.

The changes follow the introduction of a female koala to the zoo last month.

Zookeepers are hopeful Alinga, who turns two in May, will successfully breed with the enlosure’s male koalas, Goonaroo and Yabbra.

Alinga arrived at the zoo in style last month when she was given her own seat by Lufthansa German Airlines, which flew her in to the Capital from Duisburg.

Edinburgh Zoo has hosted Queensland koalas for the past eight years. It is the only zoo in Britain to house the eucalyptus-eating animals.

And the koalas have Australian neighbours – with swamp wallabies and a cassowary also resident in Edinburgh.