Zoo Tampa at Lowry Park ZooTampa at Lowry Park news 2025

On December 31st, 2024, the zoo announced they rehabilitated and released a further 10 Florida manatees back into the wild in 2024.

8.7K views · 259 reactions | As we wrap up 2024, we want to reflect on another successful year of Florida Manatee conservation at the David A. Straz, Jr. Manatee Critical Care... | By ZooTampa at Lowry Park | Facebook

On January 10th, the zoo announced they rehabilitated and released a Florida manatee named Grizzly back into the wild.

886K views · 6.3K reactions | 2025 has just begun and our Manatee Team has already hit the ground running with a marathon of manatee releases! Grizzly was the first in the line of upcoming releases. Rescued at 420lbs from Bear Creek on Christmas Eve in 2023, Grizzly has made a remarkable recovery from cold stress, and currently weighs 710lbs. On Tuesday, our team reintroduced Grizzly into Florida's waterways by the TECO Powerplant, where many other manatees gathered to combat the cold. Winter manatee releases provide an opportunity to reintroduce cold stress cases or orphaned calves into the waterways that they should be seeking out in low temperatures, along with groups of other wild manatees. We're excited to continue this line of releases and rehabilitation success stories! Stay tuned to learn more about our releases this winter and what it means for this amazing species. Special thanks to our team for taking the time to capture this video! #ZooTampa #Florida #Wildlife #wildliferehab #FloridaManatee | ZooTampa at Lowry Park

On February 6th, the zoo announced that a (0.1) eastern bongo named Millie was born on January 24th.

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SwampDonkey said:
An emu has been added to the yellow-footed rock wallaby exhibit in Australia.
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On February 14th, the zoo announced they rehabilitated and released 7 Florida manatees back into the wild.

ZooTampa at Lowry Park

On February 11th, the zoo announced the name of the siamang born on October 27th, Ketiga.

ZooTampa at Lowry Park

On February 23rd, the zoo announced they acquired 2 southern ground hornbills which are now on display in the lowland nyala exhibit.

ZooTampa at Lowry Park
 
On March 21st, the zoo announced that they helped rehabilitate and released 2 Florida manatees (nicknamed Gully and Ripkin) back into the wild on March 19th and March 21st, respectively.

ZooTampa at Lowry Park

On May 6th, the zoo announced that 2 more eastern bongos, including a (1.0) named Mack, were born which are now on display in the Expedition Wild Africa attraction.

ZooTampa at Lowry Park
 
The member's newsletter gives a little more detail on the renovation of the manatee building.

It is being called "Straz Family Manatee Rescue" and will open "spring 2026". Further it states " The area will also feature various Florida marine life including graceful jellies floating weightlessly with the current and a riverbank oasis for playful otters."

So that gives us a little more detail. The newsletter also shows images if the otter habitat and some fish and jelly tanks. It is nice to see that the otters will have a new habitat. It was supposed since the area was closed, but I had not heard that it was official.

They are also installing very large viewing windows for the "new brackish and coral reef tanks". The construction cranes will be on site this week to move the windows into place.
 

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I’m going to go to the Jacksonville Zoo and ZooTampa for the first time this week. I was wondering if annyone has any tips or tricks for one or both of the zoos. Out of curiosity I was also wondering what the rare animal species that these two zoos have that very few, or no other, zoos in the AZA have in captivity. I know off the top of my head Jacksonville is one of the few zoos, if not the only zoo in the AZA, to house a red-necked ostrich and ZooTampa I’m aware of the infamous Shoebill stork.
 
ZooNerd said:
I’m going to go to the Jacksonville Zoo and ZooTampa for the first time this week. I was wondering if annyone has any tips or tricks for one or both of the zoos. Out of curiosity I was also wondering what the rare animal species that these two zoos have that very few, or no other, zoos in the AZA have in captivity. I know off the top of my head Jacksonville is one of the few zoos, if not the only zoo in the AZA, to house a red-necked ostrich and ZooTampa I’m aware of the infamous Shoebill stork.
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Recently the shoebill pair have been on habitat and readily visible, hopefully they will remain so when you go to Tampa. Otherwise we don't have a ton of rarities anymore. The manatee building is currently under renovation, but you can see them from above water still. Manatees are not super rare, but they are pretty rare in AZA facilities. Asian Gardens has anoa if you haven't seen them and the sun bear is not particularly rare, but a phase out species for the AZA. You might catch a glimpse of the patas monkeys and bongo if you do the safari bus tour, otherwise the tour isn't really anything worth waiting more then 15-20 minutes for as you see the animals from the regular walk through part of Africa.
 
Is the bay duiker still there? That's definitely a rarity that I'm still miffed I wasn't able to catch during my visit (along with the anoa). Yellow-footed rock wallaby would definitely count too, and maaaybe koala is worth a mention. Hard to say without knowing what you've seen.
 
biggest_dreamer said:
Is the bay duiker still there? That's definitely a rarity that I'm still miffed I wasn't able to catch during my visit (along with the anoa). Yellow-footed rock wallaby would definitely count too, and maaaybe koala is worth a mention. Hard to say without knowing what you've seen.
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Ha, forgot about the duiker and wallaby, yes those are worth noting as well. Good recommendations.
 
Left the zoo around 3pm and saw almost everything (apart from the manatees since the construction). I saw all of the “rare” animals like the Bay Duiker, Shoebill, Yellow Rock Wallaby, and Lowland Anoa. The only complaint I had was the shoebills were NOT photogenic today lol. One hid behind a bush next to a sprinkler and the other was giving me the cold shoulder.
 
ZooNerd said:
Left the zoo around 3pm and saw almost everything (apart from the manatees since the construction). I saw all of the “rare” animals like the Bay Duiker, Shoebill, Yellow Rock Wallaby, and Lowland Anoa. The only complaint I had was the shoebills were NOT photogenic today lol. One hid behind a bush next to a sprinkler and the other was giving me the cold shoulder.
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What were your impressions of the zoo overall? Be as kind or brutal as you want to be :):):)
 
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