The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland is a learned society and registered charity based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded by Thomas Haining Gillespie in 1909. In 1913, Edinburgh Town Council bought a large plot of land on Corstorphine Hill for the society - this later opened to the public as Edinburgh Zoo. The society received its Royal Charter in 1913. in 1986, the society acquired the Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie, Inverness-shire