6. Salvador Dali kept an ocelot as a pet, and possibly an anteater at one time
To say that Salvador Dali was eccentric would be to utter an understatement of immeasurable proportions. The word Daliesque was coined to define the surreal. So it should be no surprise to learn that he carried his eccentricities with him when choosing his pets. Dali was once photographed emerging from the Paris subway system walking an anteater on a leash, after an employee of the Paris Metro informed him that he was not allowed to transport the creature on a train. In the photograph Dali is looking straight into the camera, indicating that the incident may have been staged, which like his eccentric behavior would not have been out of character.
Another pet that Dali favored was an ocelot. The artist had numerous cats over the years, but his favorite feline was an ocelot which he named Babou, and which he took with him wherever he chose. Once in a restaurant, he noticed another patron eyeing the cat somewhat nervously, and Dali informed the diner that the animal was a housecat on which he had painted a design which was, well, Daliesque. At an art gallery, at which Dali allowed the cat to roam freely, an outraged proprietor informed Dali that Babou had “made a nuisance” on some etchings, nuisance being a euphemism for the animal relieving itself. Dali loftily told the proprietor that any “nuisance” made by a Dali would increase the value of the etchings.