John Quincy Adams is often cited as having the most unusual pet, a pet alligator allegedly kept in a White House bathtub, gifted by the Marquis de Lafayette. However, other presidents had equally strange animals:

Which president had odd pets?

Unusual First Pets

Outdoorsman Theodore Roosevelt also had bears among his pets, as well as snakes, pigs, an owl, raccoon, badger, hyena, zebra and lion. James Buchanan opened his home to an eagle. Martin van Buren received a gift of pet tiger cubs from the Sultan of Oman.

Which president never kept a pet?

Only James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson, and Donald Trump did not have any presidential pets while in office (however, Johnson did take care of some mice he found in his bedroom).

Which president kept alligators at the White House?

🐊 Did you know that John Quincy Adams is rumored to have had an alligator as a pet in the White House? During his presidency, Adams received the alligator as a gift from the French ambassador. He famously kept it in a bathtub in the White House, where it would swim and entertain guests.

Which president kept pet grizzly bears?

Thomas Jefferson received a pair of grizzly bears as a gift from Captain Zebulon Pike in 1807. The bears arrived at about the same time as Pike's letter (October 1807) explaining that he had acquired the male and female cubs in the southern region of the great Continental Divide.

Which presidents had exotic pets?

Which US president had a pet cow?

Presidential Pets (1860-1921) President William Howard Taft's cow, Pauline, poses in front of the Navy Building, which is known today as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Pauline was the last cow to live at the White House and provided milk for President Taft (1909-13).

Which president had a pet hyena?

President Theodore Roosevelt had the most pets owned as a president at 48. He owned a few strange pets, including a black bear, a badger, a hyena, and even a three-legged rooster.

Which president had a pet snake?

Theodore Roosevelt's Snakes - Presidential Pet Museum.

Which president had a pet hippo?

Billy, also known as William Johnson Hippopotamus (before 1927 – October 11, 1955), was a pygmy hippopotamus given to United States President Calvin Coolidge.

Did Bill Clinton have a pet?

Buddy (August 7, 1997 – January 2, 2002), a male chocolate-colored Labrador Retriever, was one of two pets kept by the Clinton family while Bill Clinton was President of the United States. The Clintons' other pet was a cat named Socks.

What did Patrick Swayze say about dogs?

The famous Patrick Swayze dog quote describes the "smell of a dog" as pure love, loyalty, and gratitude, contrasting it with resentment, saying, "They told me my house smelled like dogs, and I asked them, do you know what a dog smells like? It smells like gratitude, loyalty, nobility, affection, pure unconditional love. And in spite of all they've been through. They don't smell like resentment. So blessed that my house smells like dogs".
 

What president had a pet pig?

Theodore Roosevelt's Pig. Theodore Roosevelt and family were not above calling barnyard animals their pets. They kept animals such as horses and chickens as close in their hearts as they did the family dogs and cats. One such Roosevelt pet was a white pig named Maude.

What president took baths with his mother's dog?

TIL on Thanksgiving 1926, President Calvin Coolidge pardoned the raccoon meant for dinner, named her Rebecca and kept her as a pet at the White House. An escape artist, she often led staff on chases throughout the president's home and loved to sit in a bathtub and play with a bar of soap.

What was JFK's favorite dog?

As children, both the president and first lady had dogs, and continued that tradition when they added Charlie, a Welsh Terrier, to their family. He was said to be President Kennedy's favorite dog of the bunch, and the White House electrician/dog wrangler Traphes Bryant said he also liked Shannon and Wolf.

Which president had a pet rooster with one leg?

This photograph by National Photo Company shows President Theodore Roosevelt's children's former pet, a preserved one-legged rooster. The boys had endeavored to fit it with an artificial leg.

Which president fathered a child at 70?

The U.S. President who fathered a child at age 70 was John Tyler, the 10th U.S. President, who had his last of 15 children in 1860 when he was 70 years old, with his second wife, Julia Gardiner. This remarkable feat created an extended family line that includes living grandchildren from his son Lyon Gardiner Tyler, born when Tyler was 63, linking the early 19th century to the modern era.

Which president did not use the Bible to take the oath of office?

The Constitution does not say what the swearing-in must include. While most Presidents-elect chose a Bible, as George Washington did, John Quincy Adams used a book of law, and Teddy Roosevelt did not use any book.

What president kept alligators at the White House?

Did you know President John Quincy Adams had a pet alligator? He kept it in a bathtub in the East Room of the White House. But President Adams wasn't the only commander-in-chief with an unusual pet.

What US president had a pet cow?

Summary. Pauline Wayne III was President William Howard Taft's celebrity cow. She grazed on the White House grounds. But en route to a guest appearance at a dairy show in Wisconsin, she went missing, setting off a comic turn of events.

Which president had a squirrel?

Fun facts: We've had 2 American presidents that owned a squirrel. Warren G. Harding and Harry S. Truman, each had a pet grey squirrel named Pete.

Which president had a grizzly bear?

In an October 1807 letter to President Thomas Jefferson that accompanied a gift of two grizzly bear cubs, Capt. Zebulon Pike wrote that the bears were of “a different species of bear from that found in the East” and that they were considered to be the “most ferocious animals of the continent.”

Which president had a pet mockingbird?

Early in November 1772 — when he had a wife, a month-old child, and an unfinished house — Thomas Jefferson acquired a family pet. For five shillings he bought a mockingbird from Martin Hemings, the enslaved son of Elizabeth Hemings, matriarch of the family owned by Jefferson's father-in-law, John Wayles.

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