Animatronic dinosaurs to take over part of Edinburgh Zoo for two years

More than 20 different creatures are to go on semi-permanent display at the attraction from April.

The moving models are expected to provide a huge boost to visitor numbers at the zoo, which attracted more than 600,000 people through its gates in its last full year of operation before the pandemic.

New landscaping and catering facilities are being created at the zoo to house the creatures, which have been installed by staff in recent weeks ahead of their unveiling on April 1.

The life-like dinosaurs, which include a 40ft-long Tyrannosaurus Rex and a 65ft-tall Brachiosaurus, will be available to see with a general admission ticket for the zoo, which was created on Corstorphine Hill in 1913.

The new exhibition of the animatronic dinosaurs, which are manufactured in China, has been developed with an American company Dino Don Inc.

Lindsay Ross, events and experiences manager at the zoo, said: “We’ve had quite a lot of empty space at the top of the zoo.

"We thought this exhibition would be a good way to utilise that a lot better, as well as help entice back local people to the zoo and also have something special on for people coming from outwith the city.

“The dinosaurs we’ve shipped over from China are all animatronic and are powered by electricity, although they don’t actually need much power to move.

"The biggest one, the brachiosaurus, used about as much as it takes to boil a kettle.

“They have really seamless movement, which is very exciting as we wanted to have something life-like that would have a real wow-factor.”

Although their arrival at the zoo has been held up by the Covid pandemic, the dinosaur exhibits will be unveiled two months before the new Jurassic World blockbuster arrives in cinemas in Scotland.

Ms Ross said: “A lot of the dinosaurs do actually relate to the species that we have in the zoo and we will be introducing new interpretation to tell people about those connections.

“A part of the appeal with dinosaurs is that there is still a slight mystery about them.

““It has been incredibly hard to hide our new residents and some eagle-eyed guests have already spotted some of them peeking out from various points in the zoo.

“Our new dinosaur residents will stay with us for two years, giving everyone lots of time to enjoy our prehistoric trail, learn all about these extraordinary creatures and how they relate to endangered species today.”

The zoo’s announcement has been made days after it emerged remains of the world's biggest flying reptile from the Jurassic era had been unearthed on the Isle of Skye.

A fossilised skeleton of a winged creature around the size of an albatross was said to be in an “almost pristine condition” despite the pterodactyl dating back around 170 million years.

Skye has become renowned as “Scotland’s Jurassic Island” after a series of remarkable discoveries, including a trail of dozens of rare footprints track and the remains of a “Jurassic Mouse”.

A spokesman for VisitScotland said: “Attractions based on links to Scotland’s prehistoric past have always proved popular with visitors and these new ‘residents’ at Edinburgh Zoo will no doubt continue that trend.”