This is a paid piece from the Sioux Falls Zoo and Aquarium.
Simplified: It's a great time of year to visit both the Great Plains Zoo and the Butterfly House and Aquarium, and with the Sea & Snow Package, you can get discounted admission to enjoy both places. Plus, if you snag your tickets before Monday, you can also help celebrate bear birthdays at the zoo campus.
Why it matters
- While a January zoo visit does often require a little extra bundling up, the winter months are a great time to see the animals – especially those who enjoy cooler temperatures like snow monkeys, tigers, snow leopards and wolves.
- All six of the zoo's bears have January birthdays, or at least that's the best guess of their birthdays because they were all born in the wild, according to PR and Marketing Director Denise DePaolo. That's why on Jan. 19, the zoo is throwing a bear birthday party with special zookeeper chats and enrichment activities to celebrate all of the bears.
- And if the bear birthday party doesn't fit your schedule, you can still take advantage of the Sea & Snow Package through March 31 and get a discounted ticket that covers admission to both the zoo and the butterfly house.
"Visiting the zoo in the winter is a really special time," DePaolo said. "You don't have to deal with the crowds. It's very peaceful, and it's very beautiful."
Tell me more about the bear birthday party
The fun kicks off at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 19 with a progressive zookeeper chat moving through each of the three bear exhibits.
- If you're not there right at 11 a.m., you can just walk over to the bear exhibits and join the group.
Visitors can also buy a black bear latte – a mocha with both dark and white chocolate – in the gift shop and receive a free bear button.
- If you're not a coffee drinker, you can also purchase the buttons at two for $1, and that purchase helps fund continued conservation efforts.
The birthday bears include:
- Coastal Brown Bears Kodiak and Katmai, twins who were orphaned in 2017 in Alaska. They'll be turning 9.
- Grizzly Bears Juneau and Sitka, twins who were orphaned in 2015 in Yellowstone National Park. They'll turn 11.
- Black Bears Jenny, 22, and Marshmallow, 11 are a mother-daughter pair who were brought into human care in 2015 after they got a little too comfortable around the humans (causing risk to both humans and to themselves) at Grand Teton National Park.
Tell me more about the Sea & Snow Package
The package includes one admission for the zoo and one admission for the butterfly house.
- Sea & Snow package costs are:
- $26.99 for adult
- $21.99 for kids
- $24.99 for seniors.
