For over 600 years, strange and exotic animals were sent as royal gifts and kept at the Tower of London, as symbols of foreign lands and political connections.
The King of Norway gave a Polar Bear, the King of France gave an African Elephant and the Hudson Bay Company gave a Grizzly Bear called Old Martin!
For the Royal Beasts exhibition, we’ve re-opened the Royal Menagerie – virtually. You are invited to do as centuries of royals, rulers and remarkable characters have done and send your beast to the Tower. But what weird, wild or wonderful creature will you send to impress the King?
How to send your beast…
- Take, make or fake a photo, drawing or image of your beast
- Upload an image of your beastly gift to our Flickr group ‘The Virtual Menagerie’
- Tell us why it should be in The Virtual Menagerie in the image’s description box
- Geo-tag the image to show where in the world it has come from
- Share your beast with friends on Facebook or Twitter using the hashtag #virtualmenagerie – and encourage them to send theirs too
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Please note, the Keeper of the Virtual Menagerie regularly inspects the beasts: please don't add any offensive, defamatory or inappropriate images as they will be removed.
NB: Beasts welcome, but no children allowed!
