Animal Lovers, Try This Quiz on History’s Famous Pets

According to the historian Suetonius, Caligula loved his horse Incitatus so much that he gave the steed a marble stall, an ivory manger, a jeweled collar, and even a house. Still, legend holds that Caligula wanted even more for his trusty equine friend, and planned to appoint him an official Roman consul. Though some scholars believe the story was fabricated as propaganda by Caligula's enemies, others think he may have attempted the act to insult the other elites, suggesting their jobs were so meaningless, a horse could do them.

Ravens are commonly associated with Edgar Allan Poe, but the poet’s connection to the bird can actually be traced to Charles Dickens, who kept a pet raven named Grip. Grip made an appearance in Dickens' novel "Barnaby Rudge," which Poe reviewed. Not long after, Poe published his now-famous poem "The Raven." Amazingly, you can still see Grip today — he was preserved after his death in 1841 and is on display at the Philadelphia Free Library.

Marie Antoinette's pugs were famous during her reign. Her favorite was Mops, who joined her in France after she traveled from her home in Austria to marry the French dauphin in 1770. Mops lived a life of luxury in the Palace of Versailles. The queen had lavish kennels for her dogs — elaborate padded furniture pieces decorated in fine textiles and gold trim. One of the kennels can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

The 1995 animated film “Balto” was loosely based on the real events of January 1925, when a deadly diphtheria outbreak swept through a small Alaskan town. The only way to make the 500-mile trek to Anchorage for lifesaving medicine was via sled, and mushers banded together to form a relay along the route. The final sled team of the relay was led by a man named ​​Gunnar Kaasen and Balto, a 3-year-old Siberian husky who successfully delivered the medicine in record time after a five-day journey.

Not only did famed composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart cherish his companionship with his starling, but he also gained inspiration from the little bird. He bought the starling in 1784 at a pet shop in Vienna. As the story goes, the bird was singing Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major,” prompting Mozart to take him home as a pet. There's even a book about the unlikely companionship, called “Mozart’s Starling.”

Famed magician and escapologist Harry Houdini was quite an animal lover. He owned several dogs, as well as an eagle named Abraham Lincoln. Billed as "the only tame eagle in the world," Abraham Lincoln accompanied Houdini on tour and appeared in a patriotic show at the Hippodrome in New York City. Each night, the eagle would emerge from the folds of an American flag.

The infamous French military leader Napoleon Bonaparte was known for many things, but keeping an orangutan as a pet was one of his more peculiar habits. The animal was the pet of Napoleon’s wife, Josephine, who was gifted the ape by General Charles Decaen, governor of Mauritius. The female orangutan often ate at the dinner table with the family and was known for being well mannered.

The average lifespan of a koi fish is 40 to 50 years, but one legendary Japanese fish named Hanako reportedly lived a whopping 226 years old, making it the oldest of its kind. Owned by the Koshihara family for generations, Hanako died in 1977 and was believed to have been born in 1751. After her death, however, her age was determined via scale analysis, which is now thought to be a less-than-accurate method.

The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, located at the author’s 1930s residence in Key West, Florida, is home to approximately 60 polydactyl cats. Cats normally have five front toes and four back toes, but polydactyl cats have a few extra toes, which look like little thumbs on their paws. Hemingway was a fan of polydactyl cats, starting when a ship's captain gifted him one named Snow White.

The King of Rock ’n’ Roll brought all sorts of animals home to Graceland, from dogs and horses to chickens and peacocks. One of his most interesting pets was Scatter the chimpanzee. Elvis purchased Scatter in 1961 from a Memphis television personality. The chimp was known for hanging out with Elvis and his guests, but he was an unruly creature and often got into trouble thanks to his mischievous nature.

Salvador Dalí was known to be seen with various exotic animals in his lifetime, but Babou the ocelot was the artist’s actual pet. Also known as the “dwarf leopard” or “McKenney's wildcat,” the ocelot is found predominantly in South and Central America, and is an endangered species. However, none of that stopped Dalí from acquiring the animal in the 1960s. Babou often accompanied the artist to dinners and events, but Dalí's friend Carlos Lozano believed it wanted to be free, saying, "I only saw the ocelot smile once, the day it escaped and sent the guests at the Meurice scurrying like rats for cover."

Tabby and Dixie were gifts from Abraham Lincoln's secretary of state, William Seward, and Lincoln loved them. First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln even once described cats as her husband's "hobby,” and one official wrote that he watched Lincoln pet a cat for an hour straight. Lincoln also respected his cats' intelligence, and is famously quoted as saying, "Dixie is smarter than my whole cabinet! And furthermore she doesn't talk back!"

According to one (almost certainly exaggerated) legend, Alexander the Great’s favorite dog, a giant beast named Peritas, saved Alexander from a war elephant during the Persian Battle of Gaugamela. As the tale goes, Peritas tore at the lip of the pachyderm until it collapsed from blood loss, allowing the dog's master to live another day. While the story is a myth, historians agree that Peritas was a real dog, and upon his death, Alexander named a (now lost) city after his beloved pet.

President Andrew Jackson passed away on June 8, 1845, and shortly afterward thousands of mourners gathered to pay their respects. One such guest was Poll the Parrot, one of Jackson's favorite pets. According to a report from Reverend William Menefee Norment, "before the sermon and while the crowd was gathering, a wicked parrot that was a household pet got excited and commenced swearing so loud and long as to disturb the people and had to be carried from the house.”

Audrey Hepburn was one of the first celebrities to tote her dogs everywhere she went. Not only were they cute accessories, but they were also her beloved companions. Hepburn’s most well-known dog was a Yorkie aptly named Mr. Famous, who was often seen in the front basket of her bicycle. He traveled with her to film sets and even had a cameo in “Funny Face.”

Terry the Cairn Terrier was cast as Toto in the 1939 classic "The Wizard of Oz," and became one of America's most famous dogs in the process. Terry had been an acting dog for a few years, first starring in the 1934 Paramount rom-com "Ready for Love," but "The Wizard of Oz" was the biggest role of her career. Terry was such a star, in fact, that she was paid $125 per week during the shoot — more than many of the human actors on set.

Fala, whose full name was Murray the Outlaw of Falahill, was possibly the most famous presidential pet in history. The Scottish Terrier moved into the Roosevelt White House in November of 1940 and lived by FDR's side until the President's death in 1945. During his tenure as First Dog, Fala became a national icon and was even referenced in a speech Roosevelt gave to the International Teamsters Union. A bronze statue of Fala is placed at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., making him the only presidential pet honored in such a way.

Seabiscuit was an outstanding American racehorse who broke records in the 1930s, winning 33 of 89 races over six seasons. The horse’s legendary career inspired the 1999 book “Seabiscuit: An American Legend,” which brought about the popular 2003 film. Seabiscuit was, by far, owner Charles Howard’s favorite horse. Heartbroken after the horse’s death in 1947, Howard buried Seabiscuit on his California ranch and planted an oak tree at his grave.

In 1952, Dwight Eisenhower's Vice President, Richard Nixon, was accused of taking an $18,000 contribution and using it for personal expenses. In a speech, he denied the claim, but he did admit that his family dog, Checkers, had been a political gift. Pulling on the heartstrings of America, Nixon said, "the kids, like all kids, loved the dog, and I just want to say this, right now, that regardless of what they say about it, we are going to keep it."

As far as Queen Elizabeth II was concerned, her corgis were part of the royal family tree. The British monarch bred 14 generations of corgis, and owned around 30 of them during her 70-year reign. Her love affair with the breed began in 1933 when the royal family welcomed the first corgi, Dookie, into the palace. A few years later, Elizabeth received a corgi of her own, named Susan, for her 18th birthday.