How Did Theodore Roosevelt Become A Conservationist?

Theodore Roosevelt was an avid conservationist throughout his lifetime and protected approximately 230 million acres of public land. Teddy Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858 in New York City. During his childhood, he wrote many books about nature, and even turned his bedroom into a museum where he showed off his collection of animals. His cousins named it “The Roosevelt Museum of Natural History.” (Jeffers 7). Roosevelt accomplished a lot of things during his life like, writing numerous books, becoming president, and protecting nature and animals. From the first time Teddy obsessed over the illustrations in David Livingstone’s Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, and asked questions about Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, Roosevelt’s
Whenever he would see certain animals, he would be excited. Theodore Roosevelt studied the anatomy of many animals as a child, and as a result, was already on a one way course to becoming a conservationist. Theodore Roosevelt was so into studying different species of birds that he actually studied over 600 species of them! “At a very early age, Theodore Roosevelt started studying the anatomy of more than 600 species of birds in North America...The mere sight of a jackrabbit, flying squirrel, or box turtle caused Roosevelt to light up with glee.” (Brinkley 22). Theodore Roosevelt was very enthusiastic about seeing animals because since he lived in New York, he didn’t see many animals from day to
When Teddy was a child he would study animals through his own eyes, but after discovering Charles Darwin’s theory, he then started studying animals through Darwin’s eyes. “Although the Darwinian catchphrase ‘survival of the fittest’ didn't appear until a revised 1886 edition, by the time Theodore was ten or eleven, the biologist was a Noah-like hero...With Darwinian eyes he now studied every bird beak and eye stripe, hoping to reconcile anomalies in the natural world. As an adult he would often carry On the Origin of Species with him in his saddlebag or cartridge case while on hunts.” (Brinkley, 23, 24). Teddy always looked up to Darwin, and succeeded when as an adult, he protected many areas of land. Teddy wanted to be like Darwin when he was as young as ten years old. He understood how and what to do to make that happen. “Eventually once the seal’s body was sold for blubber, Roosevelt was given the head as a souvenir. With this in hand, the ten-year-old created his ‘Roosevelt Museum of Natural history.’ Its purpose was to help train him to become a natural history professional like Darwin.” (Brinkley