Animals as diplomatic gifts

woodcut by Albrecht Dürer

Chinese practice of giving live pandas as diplomatic gifts

elephant given by Manuel I of Portugal to pope Leo X in 1513

Abul-Abbas ( – 810) was an Asian elephant brought back to the Carolingian emperor Charlemagne by his diplomat Isaac the Jew. The gift was from the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid and symbolizes the beginning of Abbasid–Carolingian relations. The elephant's name and events from his life are recorded in the Carolingian Annales regni Francorum, and he is mentioned in Einhard's Vita Karoli Magni. However, no references to the gift or to interactions with Charlemagne have been found in Abbasid records.

giraffe given by Muhammad Ali of Egypt to Charles X of France in 1826

giraffe given by al-Ashraf Qaitbay to Lorenzo de' Medici in 1487

American alligator residing in the Moscow Zoo

female giant panda

foundation sire of the Thoroughbred horse breed (c. 1724–1753)

male giant panda

elephant given by al-Malik al-Kamil to Frederick II in 1228

asian elephant

elephant (c. 1245–1257)

Pushinka () was a dog given by the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, in 1961. Pushinka was the daughter of Strelka, who had travelled into space aboard Korabl-Sputnik 2.

Kaavan (; born 1985) is a male Asian elephant known as the "'''world's loneliest elephant'''" since his partner, 22-year-old Saheli, died in 2012. Kaavan was gifted by the government of Sri Lanka to Pakistan in 1985. He remained at the Islamabad Zoo until November 2020, when he was moved to a sanctuary in Cambodia, in response to a campaign launched by local and international animal rights activists, led by American singer Cher.

giant pandas at Taipei Zoo, Taiwan

bear owned by Henry III of England

panda couple