Honey Bear Sculpture in Central Park

This whimsical bronze statue is part of a pair of niche sculptures that flank the brick triple-archway between the Central Park Zoo and the Children’s Zoo. The Honey Bear stands at the north side, with the Dancing Goat at the south.

Cast at Roman Bronze Works in Brooklyn and installed in 1937, the sculptures serve as decorative fountains. Placed in basins at the sides of the zoo’s Dancing Crane Café, both animals stand on their hind legs. Water sprays from five small frogs at the feet of the bear, and from five small ducks from the feet of the goat.

Created by renowned animal sculptor and Brooklyn native Frederick George Richard Roth, the lighthearted pieces are among several Roth works acquired by Central Park in the 1920s and 1930s. (Among them is Balto, the statue of the legendary Alaskan husky).

The Central Park Conservancy refurbished the sculptures in 1993, and today Roth’s pieces continue to delight Park and zoo visitors of all ages.