A restless tiger circles near my head, its incisors a mere foot from my skull. As I study its long whiskers, I've never been more thankful for the inventors of paw- and jaw-proof glass – or the folks at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay [1] who decided to use it in their new Jungala attraction.

Jungala is just one of three new places where exotic wildlife and even prehistoric creatures roared to life in summer 2008 in Tampa, just minutes from the beaches of St. Petersburg and Clearwater. Lowry Park Zoo and MOSI-Museum of Science & Industry [1] also have hair-tingling new exhibits that will make you thankful for – or in some cases a little scared of – man's inventiveness.

At Jungala, in addition to glass nodule windows that allow you to poke your head up into the habitat of white tigers, you can watch orangutans climb overhead or you can glide high above the jungle on zip lines inside the park's new four-square-mile attraction. You can also shoot up four stories out of a waterfall in a ride that allows a thrilling view of the surrounding jungle. (888-800-5447, www.buschgardens.com [2])

The new Gator Falls water flume ride at Lowry Park Zoo drops 30 feet and lands with a splash near two rare albino alligators. Thankfully, they are contained and not swimming alongside your craft. The alligators and flume ride, which takes you along a faux Old Florida Cracker trail, are the newest additions to the park, which has been named the "No. 1 Zoo in America” by Child magazine. (813-935-8552, www.lowryparkzoo.com [3])

On the other side of Tampa, it's human ingenuity that frightens me. Ten life-size robotic dinosaurs come alive inside MOSI at the Dinosaurs! exhibit, which runs through Sept. 7. The unique museum, which includes a planetarium, IMAX theater and other interactive exhibits, also displays one of the largest articulated dinosaurs ever discovered. The sauropods, which occupy three stories of the museum, are big enough to make Busch Gardens' white tigers seem as small as house cats. (813-987-6100, www.mosi.org [4])

Happy to escape from my jungle adventure with all of my fingers and toes, I plan to toast my good fortune with a tropical drink on the beach.

The following articles in the column archive were added weekly over the summer of 2008.