Over 10 acres (4.0 hectares) of botanical plants, as well as bird and animal exhibitions, can be seen in the Sarasota Jungle Gardens. On Bay Shore Road, Sarasota Jungle Gardens is a garden and animal attraction. It is one of the state’s oldest continually operating attractions, having opened in 1939. The gardens began with a ten-acre plot of ground that was planted with thousands of tropical flowers and trees from across the world. Cockatoos and macaws were included in the inaugural Exotic Bird Show, which was held in the 1970s. More animals and shows were gradually introduced. Animals such as parrots, small mammals, and monkeys, as well as reptiles such as alligators, crocodiles, iguanas, lizards, and snakes, live in the gardens today. The garden also has a large number of pink flamingos. In the 1920s, the site was a marshy banana plantation described as “an impassable swamp” in municipal records. In the early 1930s, local newspaperman David Breed Lindsay acquired the grove to establish a botanical garden. Admission fees began to be collected in 1936, and Jungle Gardens opened for business in its current form in 1939. Jungle Gardens was sold to the philanthropic Allyn family in the early 1970s, and they are still in charge of it. It is, as the name implies, a Sarasota destination that focuses on both flora and animals. In the 1970s, an Exotic Bird Show featuring macaws and cockatoos was staged in the Sarasota Jungle Gardens. It was the first of several animal and bird-themed events to be added to the venue’s schedule. If you went to the Sarasota Jungle Gardens in Florida today, you’d be seeing one of the state’s oldest attractions that are still open for business. It’s also one of the most popular! This area is home to small animals, lizards, primates, crocodiles and alligators, parrots, snakes, pink flamingos, and iguanas. You can feed flamingos, photograph reptiles, and even sit on an alligator! The free-roaming flamingos are the park’s most popular attraction. Guests are welcome to feed them by hand and stroll among them. There are also opportunities to engage with reptiles, parrots, butterflies, and other creatures up and personal. Thousands of local and international tourists are inspired and educated each year by the gardens, which host daily entertaining and instructive programs. On site, there is a cafe and a gift shop. The gardens feature native and exotic plants from all over the world, including the Australian nut tree, a bunya-bunya tree, Florida’s largest Norfolk Island pine, bulrush, strangler figs, royal palms, selloum, banana trees, Peruvian apple cactus, and staghorn ferns, as well as native red maples, oaks, and bald cypress. It is available to the public for a per-use ticket cost, as well as yearly membership cards for frequent visitors.

Click here to see an overview of roofing services we offer in Sarasota.

Previous Page || Next Page