Random Historical Figures With Animal Sidekicks (13 items)

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  (#10) Frida Kahlo

  • Dec. at 47 (1907-1954)

  Frida Kahlo is a countercultural icon, and it makes sense for her to have had a few unique animal companions. Kahlo had a practical menagerie, including several monkeys, exotic birds, and even an eagle. Perhaps Kahlo’s most treasured pet, however, was a deer that she took in as a fawn. The deer was named Granizo and was predictably adorable. It may have even inspired a famous piece of art in which Frida placed her head on the body of a deer, The Wounded Deer (1946).
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  (#12) George Gordon Byron

  • Dec. at 36 (1788-1824)

  Lord Byron’s pet bear is a direct result of his spiteful desire to exploit a loophole. When Byron went away to college, he was dismayed to learn that he could not keep a dog on campus. He checked the rules, which didn't say anything about other large mammals, so he showed up with a pet bear, which became his roommate. Apparently, the bear was well behaved, so nobody really did anything about it, and Byron got away with his ursine rebellion. The bear later got to retire to Byron’s ancestral home, where it shared the grounds with a friendly wolf. How delightful!
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  (#6) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  • Dec. at 35 (1756-1791)

  A musical figure needs a musical pet, and that’s exactly what Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart found when he purchased a small starling just before he hit his 30s. The bird was with him for three years, during which time it is claimed the bird would tweet along with Mozart’s melodies. The starling’s own songs may have influenced Mozart’s work, and Mozart was devastated when his companion died, staging a full-on funeral for it, complete with a reading of an original, heartfelt poem. The service was reportedly well attended.
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  (#7) Salvador Dalí

  • Dec. at 85 (1904-1989)

  Salvador Dalí was well-known for his eccentric behavior, so it’s no surprise that he had a few exotic pets in his lifetime, including an anteater. His most famous animal companion, however, had to be Babou the ocelot. Babou was one of the few living creatures that Dalí seemed to genuinely care about, even though Babou was barely tame and tended to frighten passersby. Often, Dalí would simply lie to people and tell them that Babou was a house cat that he painted. Babou was so famous that he inspired a likeness of himself to appear in TV’s Archer.
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  (#1) Tycho Brahe

  • Dec. at 55 (1546-1601)

  Sources will differ as to whether the famed Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe, owned a moose or an elk; although, a moose seems more likely. All sources agree, however, that Brahe got that large mammal astoundingly drunk on a regular basis, whatever species it was. Brahe respected his pet moose so much that he sometimes sent it to visit various nobility as an envoy of sorts. It was on one such diplomatic mission that the moose met its tragic end, getting far too drunk late into the night and then falling down a set of castle stairs to its death.
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  (#5) Ramesses II

  • Dec. at 90 (1302 BC-1212 BC)

  Most historical pets are companions in the sense that they spent a lot of time with their owner. Not so for a lion owned by Egypt’s Ramesses II, however; this tough pet accompanied his pharaoh master into battle on several occasions. The lion, whose name roughly translates to “Slayer of Foes,” was fiercely aggressive and loyal only to Ramesses, making him a deadly element in war. Slayer of Foes was not the only lion used in battles by the Egyptians, but he was the most famous and saw his most notable action against the Hittites.

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