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Beyond the panda Learning activities aimed at providing relevant, challenging and enjoyable learning experiences for children and young people from early years onwards.
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Discovery and Learning Packages Mix and match virtual sessions with a self-led visit to create the perfect blend of learning for your class
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Will you save the Highland Tiger?
RZSS WildGenes Blog: What is hybridisation?
18/05/2016 in Conservation
One the of the main threats to the survival of the Scottish wildcat is hybridisation. There are so few wildcats left that it is difficult for them to find other wildcats to breed with. It is estimated that there are a minimum of 813,000 feral cats in the UK and the impact on our native cat is huge.
Hybridisation, is the result of interbreeding between Scottish wildcats and domestic cats. As the offspring are a mixture both in their appearance and genetically, Wildcats are under severe threat of being wiped out as a distinct species by genetic introgression.
RZSS is a partner organisation of Scottish Wildcat Action. For more information about this programme and how we are working to save the Scottish Wildcat, please visit: http://www.scottishwildcataction.org/
Featured Articles
An update from the Budongo Forest
19/04/2024 in Conservation
Edinburgh Zoo named best zoo in Scotland
15/04/2024 in Edinburgh Zoo
Latest News
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Blog
20/01/2024
Penguin Awareness Day 2024
Edinburgh Zoo is home to the largest outdoor penguin pool in Europe, with three different species and over 100 individuals. This penguin awareness day get to know some of the famous faces in the colony who you can also watch live on our penguin cam.
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Blog
21/09/2023
Tracking penguins in the Southern Oceans
Earlier this month at the 11th International Penguin Congress in Viña del Mar, Chile, Dr Heather Ritchie-Parker, one of our conservation charity’s research scientists, presented important data which explores the connectivity between endangered Northern rockhopper penguin colonies.
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Blog
30/08/2023
A library for genetics
In a hidden area within the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s (RZSS) Edinburgh Zoo, the RZSS WildGenes Biobank preserves important genetic material for conservation research and population management.
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Blog
24/07/2023
What’s on the menu for the European wildcats
European wildcat is a secretive species, and so it is difficult to observe their hunting and feeding behaviour in the wild. Analysing their scats is an alternative way to find out what they eat and therefore how they fit into the ecosystem. RZSS WildGenes scientists developed a technique to detect DNA of different prey species in scat samples.
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