Candidates hardly ever go off script, but carefully insert a duck or taxidermied hunting scene, and you are guaranteed a genuinely human reaction.

Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton poses with a mule during a campaign stop in Centralia, Ill., in 1992.

Greg Gibson / AP

Republican vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle holds a puppy during a campaign appearance in Newnan, Ga., in 1988.

Schaefer / AP

In 1976, Republican vice presidential candidate Robert Dole and his wife, Elizabeth, gave coins to an organ-grinder's monkey at the Iowa State Fair.

AP

John Anderson (center), who made an independent bid for president in 1980, takes measure of a donkey and an elephant outside his campaign headquarters in Los Angeles. Campaign aides, poking fun at reporters covering Anderson, indicated that the elephant would serve as the media bus and the donkey the media car in the Los Angeles area.

Reed Saxon / AP

During his 1960 campaign, Sen. John F. Kennedy, accompanied by Tennessee Gov. Buford Ellington (right), made friends with a couple of Democratic donkeys in Nashville. Moments later, as the presidential candidate addressed a packed State Fair crowd, the donkey closest to Kennedy began to bray. Kennedy didn't seem to notice.

AP

Through much of the 1972 campaign, the press corps accompanying Democratic vice presidential candidate Sargent Shriver carried around a toy rubber duck. After the duck was stolen, reporters replaced it with a live version and introduced it to the candidate.

AP

With the political conventions kicking off, it's prime time for politicians. Balloons are inflated. Podiums are carefully placed. Lights, cameras and music have no doubt been painstakingly orchestrated. Amid the political circus, you may not be surprised to see donkeys and elephants, but we found while trolling through historical campaign images that they're not the only animals to turn up during presidential campaign season.

These days candidates hardly ever go off script, but carefully insert a duck, monkey or taxidermied hunting scene, and you are guaranteed a genuinely human reaction. Here are a few of our favorite political animal moments.

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