Florence Nightingale’s Owl Companion
While nursing wounded soldiers, Florence Nightingale kept a pet owl named Athena—whom she carried in her pocket. She rescued the tiny bird from a Greek market and raised it to respond to whistles and sit calmly during medical rounds. Athena became her nightly companion and stress reliever during the Crimean War.
Nightingale even designed miniature furniture for the bird and mourned deeply when it died. She preserved Athena’s body through taxidermy and kept it on her writing desk for years. To Florence, the owl symbolized wisdom, serenity, and her lone flight through the darkness of war.
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