The Smithsonian's National Zoo had its modest beginnings in the south yard of the Castle. A collection of live animals was assembled for taxidermists to study while preserving and posing specimens for the natural history exhibits of the National Museum, then housed in the Castle. By 1887, several thousand people a day visited the small exhibit, which consisted of a bear, four deer, several birds of prey, and a pair of bison from the American West.
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