Manatee Springs greenhouse (Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden)

The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden has taken part since 1999 in the rescue and rehabilitation programme for Florida manatees run with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. That partnership made it possible to open Manatee Springs, designed to use the manatee as a thread for telling Florida's ecology. Construction began in June 1998 and the pavilion opened on 21 May 1999. The budget was $4.5 million, 9% of it for design. Engineering, architecture and planning went to CDS Associates, architecture to McCollow & Associates (both of Cincinnati), structure to Steven Schaefer Associates and construction to Turner Construction Company. According to Wikipedia, the pavilion received two American Zoo and Aquarium Association awards in 2000, including the Munson aquatic conservation exhibitry award.

The greenhouse is its first chapter. It leads into the exhibit building, where visitors discover the manatee's underwater world. In March 2010 the zoo, which had paused its programme for five months, used the break to upgrade the manatee tank and mechanical systems before two new females arrived. In October 2026 the zoo reported that it had cared for 38 manatees since 1999 and welcomed three orphaned calves. A one-day closure was announced for 17 October 2026 for the first swim of the three new arrivals.

The greenhouse measures 304 m² (3,375 sq ft) and 10.7 m (35 ft) in height, and continues into an exhibit building of 1,035 m²; the whole facility covers 1,339 m². According to the design document published by ZooLex, its walls and roof carry highly insulating glazing: insulated glass units filled with inert gas, which limits heat transfer, and Low-E coated glass that reflects infrared and controls ultraviolet.

A digital control system steps through natural ventilation, then powered ventilation, and only starts the cooling system above 29.4 °C (85 °F). Visitors move through the greenhouse on a wooden boardwalk with a rustic bridge over a naturalistic pond. A 73 m² enclosure with a 21,000-litre pool re-creates an alligator hole, with underwater viewing, and an 86 m² mangrove swamp with a 31,000-litre pool houses the American crocodile. The 455,000-litre manatee tank lies in the exhibit building, behind a large panorama window and a 2 m acrylic bubble.

The greenhouse illustrates three habitats: tropical hammocks, freshwater swamps and coastal mangrove wetlands. The design document names live oak (Quercus virginiana), bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) and water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) trees draped with Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides), with sabal palms (Sabal palmetto) accenting the greenery. Several palms native to south Florida are included, among them the buccaneer palm (Pseudophoenix sargentii), described as one of the rarest American palms, and the red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle).

The ZooLex plant list has some seventy entries, trees, shrubs, a vine and other plants, including ten Tillandsia. The animals in the first part are an American alligator and an American crocodile, according to a 2026 visitor guide. The zoo's horticulture staff maintain the plants.

According to a 2026 visitor guide, Manatee Springs lies toward the back of the zoo, just before Elephant Trek. The air turns warm and humid at the door, enough to fog glasses in winter, which makes it a popular refuge in cold weather. For the whole of Manatee Springs the guide allows at least ten minutes, and twenty or thirty for those who stop to watch the manatees and read the signs.

It combines with the neighbouring Elephant Trek and with the Reptile House, built in 1875 and a National Historic Landmark. Krohn Conservatory, Cincinnati's other glasshouse, is visited separately, in Eden Park. The zoo's website has announced one-day closures when manatees are moved, so it is worth checking before coming.