Built in 1999, based on the Everglades, Manatee Springs houses many different species of wildlife from the swamps of Florida. The first section of the building is a greenhouse that simulates the sights and sounds of a freshwater swamp, tropical hammock and coastal wetland mangrove wetlands. American alligators, American crocodiles, and Florida cooter turtles can be observed in a series of water/land exhibits all with an underwater viewing. This includes a bridge constructed over a deep pool where zoo visitors may walk on as an alligator snapping turtle lies directly beneath it.