(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Photo Diary: Native Florida Wildlife at the Zoo Tampa [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2023-04-06
Zoos used to be not much more than animal prisons, with the goal of exhibiting as many postage-stamp collections of species as possible. Now, zoos are wildlife conservation centers which practice captive breeding and ecological research to help maintain wild populations. As part of this effort, most zoos now have prominent displays of local wildlife, to educate the public about the ecology of their area.
Zoo Tampa does a good job of this—they not only exhibit and breed many native Florida species, but they run their own Manatee rescue center.
Some photos.
For those who don't know, I live in a converted campervan and travel around the country, posting photo diaries of places that I visit. I am currently wintering in Florida.
Florida Cottonmouth
Spotted Turtle
Sheepshead
Sandhill Crane
A pair of Hooded Mergansers
Black-Necked Stilt
Southern Copperhead
Spotted Salamander
Florida Black Bear
Red Wolf
Florida Box Turtle
River Otter
Rescued Manatee, hit by a boat
Manatee in the recovery pool
American Alligator
The Zoo is also home for some of the local wildlife that have moved in and made themselves at home.
Little Blue Heron on nest. The local birds like to nest in the zoo’s Alligator pond
A nestling clambering around
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/6/2161141/-Photo-Diary-Native-Florida-Wildlife-at-the-Zoo-Tampa
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/