SNEAK PEEK: Florida Waters at ZooTampa, the zoo’s largest expansion ever opens this month!
From the streams to the rivers to the brackish waters near our coasts and the clear waters of the Keys, ZooTampa’s Florida Waters exhibit will take you on a journey of water in our state, immersing you in the world of the animals that call the waterways home.
And the crown jewel is the Straz Family Manatee Rescue that has undergone a massive renovation. This is ZooTampa’s largest expansion to date, and is set to debut this month. We’re giving you a SNEAK PEEK from our hard hat tour because it’s too good not to share!
The Journey Begins: Otter Oasis
Your journey starts at Otter Oasis, which has expanded from its original footprint and will be even more lush than before. There’s a shade structure over the guest walkway, and the otters will get their own shade sails over their habitat, so you can linger a bit longer while you interact with the playful otters with views underwater and above.
Fun Fact: Theme designers who also work with Disney and Universal are helping with the design to create the immersive experience.
As you enter the building that houses Straz Family Manatee Rescue, there are two new bathrooms in case someone needs a quick break! But let’s continue the journey into the Manatee Rescue Tunnel …
Straz Family Manatee Rescue
The building footprint might feel familiar, but it’s going to be a different experience since it is being completely renovated. Even the ceiling is 5 feet higher, giving it a more open feel.
You’ll start above the water among the cypress trees and work your way down through the roots of the mangroves, where you’ll get to see the manatees from several different viewing windows. Our favorite spot is the new stadium seating viewing area in front of the big window.
Florida Reef Tank and Moon Jellies
As water continues its journey from the springs to the estuaries, it makes its way to the sea, and for the first time, ZooTampa will have tropical fish on display in a 10,000-gallon reef tank.
They are also adding three Moon Jelly tanks that will light up in different colors. This also serves as a perfect backdrop, as the room can transform into an event space too!
Brackish Tank
There is another large tank that gives you a view from the underwater mangroves and piers, showcasing the animals that call Florida’s brackish waters home.
Fun Fact: The acrylic glass walls of the brackish tank and Keys tank were so heavy that the construction team had to use the largest crane in the Southeast to set them into place before the roof went on.
Once you’ve made your way through this journey, you'll move on to the existing and recently renovated Stingray Shores.
Reptiles and Amphibians Discovery
The exhibit has been moved out of the manatee tunnel area and now has its own standalone building in the Florida Waters realm. This is where you can get up close with some of our state's smallest creatures and creatures that are part of the Zoo's conservation work around the world.
Through it all, the manatee rescue efforts continued…
Here’s what’s really incredible about this project … ZooTampa was able to continue its manatee rescue work by working closely with the construction crew to monitor the animals, who did great! In fact, the Zoo rescued a record number of manatees during this expansion.
Fun Fact: ZooTampa is the only nonprofit Manatee Critical Center in the world and one of two currently.
Learn more at zootampa.org
Our interview with ZooTampa's Molly Lippincott about Florida Waters
TBPM: Unveiling Florida Waters has been a long time coming. What is it like to finally cross the finish line?
ML: I’m really excited to welcome people back to this reimagined space. I know guests have really been missing the underwater viewing, so we're super excited to share our new Florida Waters area. I've been working on this project for at least four, maybe five years. So it does feel a little surreal to be kind of at the end here. I'm really proud of what we've created here.
TBPM: It’s incredible that construction crews were able to build this project while your team was taking care of the manatees right here.
ML: We’ve actually had a record number of manatees over the last year. We had 28 last winter, and currently, we actually have 23, with 14 of those animals being critical. We've monitored the animals really closely throughout the construction. Their welfare was the number one priority for us. They've handled it incredibly well. I think the staff had more trouble managing around construction, but it's gone smoothly.
TBPM: What can guests expect when they walk through Florida Waters?
ML: I honestly don't know if they will recognize the space. It’s definitely been completely redone, where we're able to have a bigger space, better viewing overall. I feel like it's more inviting for guests. The old space was much more dated and a lot smaller. We obviously bring in big crowds, and we want them to have a space where they can feel relaxed.
This is an air-conditioned area, so that's really welcoming. We have a new Brackish Water Tank as well as Reef and Moon Jellies. Jellies are really exciting. We've never had them at the zoo before.
And then our river otter habitat is completely reimagined. That was taken down completely to the ground and built from the ground up. We really wanted it to be more guest-focused. You can view the otters from underwater or on land. It'll have more interactive areas for our keepers, so we’re very excited for it.
TBPM: The new Otter Oasis habitat is great for little kids too, with plenty of areas to view from their eye level.
ML: They can see the animals swimming underwater. We also want to make sure the animals have a space to get away from the guests if they choose that. So we have a pool that's not on the windows at all, so the animals have a space where, if they want to be away and rest, they have that.
We also have the training window where we can actually open that and work with the animals and do training with them, and guests get to see that. I mean, that's always the best part, right? Where you get to actually see us working with the animals and get to know them. We love sharing that. So it's really exciting for us too.
TBPM: We love that the Otter Oasis is covered, making Florida Waters a nice escape as a whole from the rain or sun.
ML: Yes, exactly. This is going to be a lot more comfortable. You can actually walk straight through. You don't have to come into the building if you don't want to. We have new restrooms as well. That's also a new thing that, believe it or not, guests asked about a lot.
TBPM: Why is it so important to bring this experience back? Why is this connection so important?
ML: We really want to share the mission, share our story. A lot of people don't realize that all the manatees we have here are all rescues. There's nothing like connecting with those animals, especially like you said, face-to-face, underwater.
Seeing them munch, it never gets old. I've been here a very long time, and I love coming down here. It's very peaceful and serene. There's nothing like really getting that opportunity to spend some time with the manatee in their space.
TBPM: Speaking of munching … manatees eat A LOT, right?
ML: About 15% of their body weight every single day with us! So we're going through thousands of pounds of food every single day. In a year, we spend at least $500,000 on lettuce just to feed the manatees. So about $2,000 a day to feed all these mouths. Our goal is to get them healthy, nice, and chubby before they go back to the wild.
TBPM: People may not realize it, but simply by visiting the Zoo or making a purchase here, you are helping with the mission to rescue and conserve.
ML: We’re non-profit. We do get some support from the state and they've been really instrumental and making sure we could get what we need, but in order to keep going, we really do need the community to support us from being out and checking on manatees in the wild as well as coming to the zoo and helping us and supporting all of our program goals.
And I don't think there's really anything better than getting to spend time with our cute manatees here. And because we're rehab, the manatees are coming and going all the time. So you can come back, and you can meet some of our new cases, [hear] some of their stories.
TBPM: Florida Waters isn’t just focused on manatees. You have some new creatures to introduce as well that really help tell the story of Florida’s waterways and ecosystem.
ML: The fish world — we’ve kind of dabbled in it before, but now we're really going big. It’s really exciting because obviously you think of aquariums but not necessarily in a zoo.
We'll have a Reef Tank with Caribbean fish you can find in the Florida Keys. We'll have a Brackish Water Tank, which is what you probably think of more when you're coastal, especially in the Tampa Bay area, where you’re going to see those game fish, and that actually has above-water and below-water viewing.
And then we have moon jellies, which are super different for us. We've never had that before. But there's something really unique about a jellyfish that a lot of people have maybe not had that up-close encounter with.
TBPM: Reptiles and amphibians will also return as part of the Florida Waters expansion!
ML: We actually had the opportunity to build our Reptile and Amphibian Discovery center, which is a completely reimagined space. Some people are fond of the snakes and reptiles, and we do a lot of conservation work with Puerto Rican Crested Toads [and] Panamanian golden frogs.
A lot of people don't realize all the work that goes on behind the scenes at the zoo, especially with some of those small critters. And we want them to build that connection and develop a fondness for those species. There are so many keystone species — especially reptiles, gopher tortoises —all of those that help other species in the state of Florida. So it's really exciting for us to open that space alongside Florida Waters at the same time.
We also have a new gift shop, which will tell a lot of the stories of the animals on the Florida Boardwalk, too. A lot of them are rescues. We have Black Bears and Florida Panthers that are all rescues from the state of Florida.