You only turn one once, so don’t miss your chance to wish the Little Rock Zoo’s sloth bear cub, Zaara, a happy first birthday!

All are invited to come to the Zoo on Saturday, January 11, 2020, at 11 a.m. to wish her another great year.  This flannel and bear lodge-themed party, held in indoors in Café Africa, will be great winter fun!  Beginning at 11:30 a.m., guests are invited to enjoy cake and refreshments while supplies last.

This special celebration will include story time by the fireplace, bear keeper chats, craft-making, hot chocolate, and s’mores.  Guests will enjoy a slide show presentation on Zaara’s first year.  Guests will also have a chance to meet the Zoo staff who hand-raised Zaara. Each of these birthday activities are included in admission prices.

Café Africa will feature a specially-priced hearty meal that will include a choice of soup and/or salad and/or a sandwich for $7.

Zaara’s birthday is so important because The Little Rock Zoo was one of only two zoos in North America to have a sloth bear cub birth. Of the 40 sloth bears housed in Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accredited Zoos in the United States, the Little Rock Zoo has four of them; that’s 10 percent!

Zaara’s birth came as a recommendation of the American Species Survival Plan ® Program, known as SSP.  The SSP Program, developed in 1981 by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), helps to ensure the survival of select species in zoos and aquariums, which are either threatened or endangered in the wild. Native to the Indian subcontinent, sloth bears are listed as a vulnerable species, meaning one that is likely to become endangered unless the circumstances that are threatening its survival and reproduction improve.

Learn more about Zaara and other endangered animals at their birthday celebrations throughout 2020.