Over the years, Queen Elizabeth has added to her menagrie of animals, receiving many of them as gifts. It all began in 1957 when the Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society sent the queen a cow called Beauchamp Oxford Lady, per Express. The cow would make itself useful, supplying milk and cheese for the royal family. By the ’60s, she was getting even more unusual breeds of animals, such as a pair of pygmy hippopotamus from the president of Liberia. Unlike Beauchamp Oxford Lady, the hippopotamus pair wasn’t able to live with the family, as they would soon be donated to London Zoo.

In 1977, the Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens in Australia sent the queen six red kangaroos, two Brolga cranes, and one fat-tailed dunnart, per Reader’s Digest. Much like the hippos, all animals were sent packing to the London Zoo. Along with the hippos and cranes, the queen has received even more exotic animals, such as two black jaguars, a sloth, two tortoises, and a 1,300-pound elephant who was fed bananas, avocados, and sugar on its flight to Britain. 

Queen Elizabeth has indeed taken on some fascinating and unusual animals — and we’re sure she loves them all; however, the London Zoo probably loves them even more. And we’re sure your image of the queen is a little different than it was before — instead of picturing her elegantly holding a corgi, you may now think of her wrangling jaguars while holding a sloth.