Long before the black guards: the sad story of the life of the four-legged inhabitants of the Tower (12 photos)

For some, the English Tower is a fortress or a palace. Other not particularly lucky to catch this majestic building in as a prison. But there were those for whom the Tower became a home. Though forced.





And from that period, as in the laid down by William the Conqueror fortresses lived predatory cats, elephants and bears, not much passed time is about 200 years. Actually, the king laid the foundation for the tradition the content of exotic animals, which were presented to the ruler as a gift other rulers. The rarer the animal presented, the more show off. Such a banal psychology, but the animals were not easier.



Tower





Sculptures of lions in Trafalgar Square

By the way, the lions here lived not ordinary, but Barbary - the inhabitants of North Africa, unfortunately, are now extinct. Saved in Stone images of these proud predators adorn Trafalgar Square.



barbary lion

The main difficulty of the zoo or the zoo in the Tower is precisely was the rarity and exoticism of its inhabitants. Ministers who are not encountered exotics, had no idea how to properly feed them. Care and heal. After all, you can’t ask your neighbor and you can’t look on the Web.



Therefore, experiments on the poor fellows were carried out by those. Yes, white bear, which was presented to Henry III by the Norwegian ruler, daily muzzled and taken to the banks of the Thames, giving the bear the opportunity to fish independently, getting their own food.



And the gift of the French monarch - the elephant was much lucky less. For some reason, the servants decided that since the eared giant comes from hot countries, then it must be constantly heated from the inside. Desired degree provided with wine, which was soldered daily in the amount of one gallon (approximately 4.5 liters). It is clear that the life of a poor man with an average the duration of 70 years turned out to be much shorter. But gastronomic the idiocy of the ministers taught nothing. And all the following elephants were also sitting on a wine diet.



The ostriches were even more unlucky. In someone's not very bright head, the owner of which noticed the bird's interest in shiny hats nails, the idea came to treat the ostrich with delicious carnations. Since he is so actively trying to peck at those that are driven into the floor. True, ostriches showed much greater intelligence than people. They simply ignored the iron supplement in the feed. But there were also sad exceptions. The carcass of one bird, which is suspiciously fast died, opened And they found almost a hundred nails inside. It's clear, that on such a diet the bird will not last long. But this case made gears in the brains of servants to turn a little and stop mix sharp objects in food.



Jacob I

But if the ministers did stupid things out of ignorance, then the owners did it quite consciously. So, King James I is a man educated, but cruel, decided to organize a semblance of the Colosseum in the Tower, where the animals had to fight in the arena with each other.



In the 16th century, the zoo was made accessible not only to the nobility, but and for the common people. Which, in the absence of money to pay for the entrance, could bring puppies and kittens to feed predators.



Dangerous animals were kept in cages. What didn't stop them deal with overly curious and careless bipeds. Yes, one the leopard fiercely hated excessive attention to himself. And when approaching his cage urinated on everyone who got into the affected area. And his girlfriend experienced some kind of pathological aversion to women's accessories. AND managed to deftly steal handbags, hats, umbrellas, fans and gloves and tear them to shreds in front of an astonished audience.



Was amongthe inhabitants of the hyena, which delivered several curious from unnecessary limbs. Killing a child with a deft shot monkey. And the drunkard's zebra, which the guards taught to drink beer. striped the horse constantly came to them and begged for foam.



Tower Raven

The people gradually got used to the animals and no longer experienced the same delight. In the 1830s, a local constable thought the animals were harmful defensive characteristics of the fortress. The rest of the inhabitants were transferred zoological community and settled in zoos. They are reminded only sculptures dedicated to them. Of the living inhabitants in the Tower remained only ravens, according to the old tradition, considered his guardians and guarantor British monarchy.