The Strange and Funny World of Vintage Photos of Animals Acting Like Humans

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a popular and unusual style of photography emerged: capturing animals in staged scenes where they appeared to be acting like humans. These photographs were created with great patience and technical skill and became popular as postcards and book illustrations.

The popular subject was animals performing human jobs. Viewers could find photographs of a cat dressed as a photographer, peering into the viewfinder of a camera on a tripod. Other images depicted a team of puppies acting as a construction crew, complete with hard hats and tools, or a cat dressed as a doctor attending to a doll patient.

Leisure and recreation were also frequently staged. Photographs showed animals playing musical instruments, such as a kitten sitting at a tiny piano or a puppy holding a banjo. Images of animals engaged in sports were also created, showing them on roller skates, riding tricycles, or pretending to play tennis with small rackets.

To create these images, photographers used various techniques. The small costumes were stiffened with starch to help them hold their shape on the animals. The photographer had to work quickly and exercise immense patience to capture the perfect pose at the right moment. The resulting photographs created a funny and strange world where the lines between animal and human behavior were playfully blurred.

#1 An elephant from the American vaudeville stage riding a specially constructed tricycle, 1918.

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#2 A close-up of Mike, the world’s only canine aviator, wearing flying cap and goggles in Chicago, c. 1920.

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#3 A monkey doing the ‘Charleston’ alongside a couple of dancers, 1922.

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#4 A monkey ‘playing’ a toy piano on which is perched a thoughtful looking parrot, 1927.

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#5 An elephant from Earl’s Court Circus with a man in its mouth, 1928.

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#6 Two brown bears riding on a bicycle and side car, 1928.

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#7 A dog listening to the radio with earphones, whilst smoking a pipe, 1929.

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#8 Dame Clara Butt operating a communications radio with her dog, both wearing headphones, 1930.

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#9 A new breed of chauffeur takes the wheel, 1930.

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#10 In New York, an elephant from the circus claims the prize for the largest harmonica player in the Universe, c. 1935.

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#11 Peter the Great, the animal star, presenting film director Chester Franklin with a new puppy, c. 1935.

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#12 Comet, an elephant from Chessington Zoo spends the weekend as a waiter at the Trocadero Restaurant in Piccadilly Circus, London, 1938.

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#13 Farmer Mrs. Maud Lee and her daughter Pat enjoy elevenses at their farmhouse in Keynsham, near Bristol, with their pet lamb Betty, 1949.

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#14 A budgerigar pecks out a tune on a miniature piano, 1952.

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#15 An elephant at the London Zoo, Regents Park, joining five African visitors for a rest on a bench, 1954.

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#16 Two seals play basketball at San Diego zoo, c. 1950.

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#17 Two dodgem car passengers are surprised to see Susie the circus bear bumping into them at the fun fair attached to Bertram Mills Circus in Olympia, London, 1954.

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#18 Zippy the chimpanzee polishes bootblack Tony Finizza’s shoes while Tony watches and laughs at the spectacle, 1955.

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#19 A hamster on a miniature trapeze, 1955.

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#20 Young chimpanzee Kokomo Jnr sits in a chair wearing glasses and holding a comic book at his owner’s apartment in New York City, 1955.

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#21 Fifi, the chimpanzee star of the famous Chimps Tea Party at London Zoo, plays a game of chess, 1955.

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#22 Young chimpanzee Kokomo Jnr quenches his thirst with a glass of orange juice from the fridge at his owner’s apartment in New York City, 1955.

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#23 An ape paints a picture, c. 1955.

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#24 Chimpanzees Pepi and Janet try their hand at making espresso at the Hotel and Catering Exhibition at Olympia, London, 1956.

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#25 ‘Kam’, an elephant from Bertram Mills circus ‘drives’ a Land Rover along a road during training for the Christmas Show, 1959.

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#26 At the Space Research Laboratories in Boulevard Victor, Paris, French cats are kept in boxes to train them in remaining still for long periods during rocket flights, 1963.

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#27 Petra, the Alsatian dog from the BBC’s children’s program, ‘Blue Peter,’ answering her fan mail, 1964.

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#28 Judy, a two-year-old chimpanzee, feeding Tracey-Jane Clews in her grandparents’ home at Southam Farm Zoo, Warwickshire, 1968.

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#29 Bongo, a west African lowland gorilla, watches the BBC test-card on a color television in his new luxury enclosure at Twycross Zoo in Warwickshire, 1971.

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