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.