Residents of the White House have had fur and feathers, claws and hooves, scales, stripes and prehensile tails. Some were found on the property, many came with the new tenants and others were delivered by foreign leaders. But many less traditional pets have also lived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, their quantity and variety depending on each administration, said Matthew Costello, a senior historian for the White House Historical Association. “If you’re talking about which White House was quite literally a zoo, it was probably Theodore Roosevelt’s White House,” Mr. Costello said. “Between the six children that he brought with him to the White House and the assortment of pets — the Roosevelts, they just loved animals.”

Source: New York Times November 14, 2020 12:56 UTC