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While many famous authors and artists kept common pets like cats and dogs, some found their furry companions to be more than just animals—they became sources of creative inspiration for their works. Emily Dickinson, the famed poet, had a large dog named Carlo who accompanied her on long walks and appeared in several of her letters and poems. Jorge Luis Borges, the Argentinean writer, had a white cat named Beppo, who was by his side for 15 years and inspired at least two of his poems. Edward Munch, the creator of the iconic painting 'The Scream,' had a dog so attached to him that he even took it with him to the movies. Yet, many artists chose even more exotic pets. Here’s a list of some of their unusual companions.
10. Frida Kahlo’s Deer, Granizo
Frida Kahlo, known for her deep love for animals, kept a variety of unusual pets at her Blue House in Mexico, where she both lived and worked. She had monkeys, cockatoos, parrots, and even an exotic breed of dog known as the Xoloitzcuintli, hairless dogs believed to have been domesticated by the Aztecs. Of her 143 paintings, 55 were self-portraits that featured her animals. One of her most cherished pets was the deer Granizo (Hail), who was not only a companion but also served as inspiration for one of her most famous works, 'Wounded Deer' (1946), where she depicted herself as a deer with a human face. Granizo would sleep beside her and pose for many photographs.
9. Ernest Hemingway’s Polydactyl Cat, Snowball (or Snow White)
Ernest Hemingway, despite not fitting the typical image of a 'cat person,' had a deep fondness for cats, owning several throughout his life. While residing in Key West, Florida, Hemingway was given a unique cat by a ship’s captain, whom he named Snowball (or Snow White, as some sources suggest). This cat was special due to having six toes on each paw, a condition known as polydactyly. Today, many descendants of Hemingway’s cats, including several with the same six-toed trait, live in his former residence, now the Hemingway House-Museum.
8. Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Wombat, Top
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the acclaimed painter and poet of the Pre-Raphaelite movement in the 19th century, had a fascination with exotic animals, particularly wombats, the rare marsupials from Australia. He adopted one and named it Top, allowing the wombat to sleep on the dining table during meals, much to the dismay of his guests. When Top passed away, Rossetti was deeply saddened and composed a heartfelt epitaph in verse for him. He also captured the wombat in at least two of his drawings. Rossetti’s affection for unusual animals expanded over time, eventually adopting a llama and a toucan from South America, with one legend suggesting he trained the toucan to ride the llama while wearing a gaucho hat, galloping around the dining room table.
7. Charles Dickens’ Raven, Grip
Charles Dickens, the celebrated English author, had a raven named Grip, who was not only a beloved pet but also a character in his novel 'Barnaby Rudge.' It is believed that Edgar Allan Poe, who later reviewed Dickens’ work, drew inspiration from Grip when writing his famous poem 'The Raven.' Dickens, an enthusiast of taxidermy, preserved Grip after his death and kept the stuffed bird on his desk as a source of creative inspiration. After Dickens passed away, Grip was sold at auction and eventually purchased by an American collector. Today, the preserved bird can be seen in a museum in Philadelphia.
6. Lord Byron’s Tame Bear
Lord Byron is best known for his dog Boatswain, who accompanied him on many adventures and to whom he even penned an epitaph. However, he also had an unusual pet—a tame bear. The tale goes that while studying at Trinity College in Cambridge from 1805 to 1808, the college had a strict no-dogs rule. In protest, Byron supposedly purchased a tame bear from a fair and brought it to live with him at the college. Since the college statutes didn’t specify anything about keeping bears, the authorities had no legal ground to remove the bear. Byron treated the bear like a dog, walking it on a chain, and even took it with him to his estate in London when he left Cambridge.
5. Flannery O’Connor’s Backward-Walking Chicken
Before Flannery O’Connor became renowned for writing 'A Good Man is Hard to Find' and other classic short stories, she briefly gained attention as a child for owning a chicken that could walk backward. This unusual pet even appeared in a Pathé newsreel in 1932, a film still available today. O’Connor’s fascination with birds persisted throughout her life. In addition to her backward-walking chicken, she had peacocks—her favorite animals—which she often dressed in clothes she made herself, along with a toucan and an emu.
4. Charles Baudelaire’s Bat
Charles Baudelaire, the renowned French poet behind 'Les Fleurs du Mal,' resided at the Hotel du Grand Miroir in Brussels between 1864 and 1866. One day, while walking in the hotel courtyard, a bat fell at his feet. Concerned that the creature might be sick, Baudelaire gently scooped it up with a handkerchief and nursed it back to health, feeding it bread and milk. The bat hung upside down in an empty canary cage, and Baudelaire took pleasure in petting it, much to the dismay of his young maid, Nelly. Once the bat had recovered, Baudelaire promised to release it near Sainte-Anne chapel, where it seemed to have come from.
3. Princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy’s Lion, Goldfleck
Princess Vilma Lwoff-Parlaghy, a once-popular painter during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is best remembered for her 1916 portrait of Nikola Tesla, the only portrait the inventor ever posed for. Born in Hungary, Vilma lived in various cities, including Paris and Prague, before marrying and quickly divorcing a Russian prince, earning her the title of Princess. She eventually moved to New York in 1909, taking residence at the Plaza Hotel. Passionate about animals, she once set her heart on a lion cub she saw at a circus. When the circus owner refused to sell it to her, she enlisted the help of her friend Daniel E. Sickles, a Civil War hero, to procure the cub. Unable to refuse a war hero, the circus owner gave the cub to the Princess, who named him Goldfleck. She lived with him and other animals in her hotel suite and even walked him on a leash in Central Park. Sadly, the lion became ill and passed away in 1912, just two years later. He is the only lion buried at Hartsdale Pet Cemetery.
2. Henrik Ibsen’s Scorpion
In 1865, Henrik Ibsen, the Norwegian playwright still unknown at the time, lived in Rome on a modest scholarship. While writing 'Brand,' the play that would eventually bring him fame, he discovered a scorpion crawling across the floor. Ibsen decided to keep the creature at his desk, confined to an empty beer glass. In a letter to a friend, he shared that, 'During the time I was writing Brand I had on my desk a glass with a scorpion in it. From time to time the little animal was ill. Then I used to give it a piece of soft fruit, upon which it fell furiously and emptied its poison into it — after which it was well again.' Ibsen’s account may hint that the scorpion’s reaction was more about its irritation with the fruit rather than any form of medical treatment, as scorpions are typically predators, preferring insects as their prey.
1. Alexandre Dumas’ Vulture, Diogène (formerly Jugurtha)
Alexandre Dumas, the renowned author of 'The Three Musketeers' and 'The Count of Monte-Cristo,' was known for his love of exotic pets. On his country estate, in addition to five dogs and a cat, Dumas kept three monkeys, two parrots, a golden pheasant, and a vulture. He had purchased the vulture for a low price from a local in Constantine, Algeria, but transporting the bird to France was much more costly. Initially named Jugurtha, after the ancient Numidian emperor born in the same city (then called Cirta), the vulture soon became known as Diogène. This was a nod to the Greek philosopher Diogenes, who was said to have lived in a barrel, which became the bird's preferred home in Dumas' house.
