A modest privately-owned animal park located a quarter-mile (0.5 km) northwest of Polbeth in West Lothian, the Five Sisters Zoo takes its name from the distinctive oil shale bing, located a mile (1.5 km) to the west. Established in 2005, the zoo developed from a private collection of animals intended to entertain children while their parents shopped in a garden centre which once occupied part of the site. Operating as a non-profit organisation, entirely by its visitors, the zoo now focusses on rescuing unwanted animals. There is a collection of over hundred different species of mammals, birds and reptiles from around the world kept in a variety of indoor and outdoor enclosures. There are small enclosures for the likes of exotic birds and marmosets, with larger cages for species such as Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx), Scottish Wild Cat (Felis silvestris grampia), Bat-Eared Fox (Otocyon megalotis), Fennec Fox (Vulpes zerda), Kunekune Pig (Sus scrofa domestica), Ring-tailed Lemur (Lemur catta), Meerkat (Suricata suricatta), Black-Tailed Prairie Dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) and Continental Giant Rabbits. There is an extensive enclosure which contains European Brown Bears (Ursus arctos arctos) which were rescued from a circus. The zoo runs educational experiences for local schools and includes a large children's play area.
A fire in 2013 destroyed a significant building and killed a number of animals, including a large number of reptiles, an otter, several meerkats and a leaf-cutter ant colony
