You can pay a lot of money and go swimming where the manatees hang out and maybe see them swim by (I have never done it) or you can go to Zoo Tampa and see them really up close without getting wet. Although, I have had one swim within a few feet of me when I was out past the sandbar at Fort Desoto Park. It was feeding time when I visited the zoo in late April. This lady was eating right in front of the window.
The zoo has an amazing manatee hospital. All of these manatees came in as injured or sick ones and the zoo rehabilitates them and releases them once they are better. I saw a release that the zoo did in 2022 and you can read about it here. You can read more about their manatee center here.
It was funny to watch the turtle pick the algae off the manatee.
I got to see the baby pygmy hippo that was not quite a month old.
Now that’s a big lizard!
The red tailed guenons are my favorite primates. They are so animated.
Flamingos on alert.
I walked through the lorikeet aviary and caught these 2 flirting.
A wild baby grackle was looking for bugs but found a leaf.
The wild little blue herons nest in the trees over the alligator exhibit. There were a lot of nests far in the back but only one near the fence. The babies were almost fully grown but not ready to fly yet.
I saw a tricolored heron sitting in the cypress tree across the exhibit.
One tree over I could hear the babies making a loud clacking noise. They were waiting for Mom to regurgitate her food and come over and feed them. They have the craziest looks when they are begging.
I love to watch manatees. Such a sweet animals!
Beautiful photos, as always. Love the clip on the birds flirting. We had many sweet encounters with manatees in the Keys, when they came to drink water out of our boat!
Such great captures! We love watching the Manatees and made sure to visit Zoo Tampa on our trip down to Tampa years ago.
Oh – wow! A large critter, that manatee.
Beautiful photos – thanks so much for sharing with our linkup at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2024/07/a-visit-to-philadelphias-reading.html
Lovely photos of all the lovely creatures. Cute video of the lorikeets flirting too!
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Oh wow! What a neat thing to do! I would love to swim with a manatee. I have swum with sharks, but this looks so much better. Have a wonderful weekend! https://shorelinejourneys.com/butler-service-at-sandals-resorts/
What fantastic photos. I worked where I saw adult Blue Herons when I hiked the park, but I never saw the babies. They’re pretty shocking in looks. The close relationship between Manatees and turtles is new to me. The video is beautiful. You do have a fun time around wildlife.