Anna Hyatt Huntington grew up surrounded by a range of animal life encompassing the entire zoological scale. She studied with sculptors Henry Hudson Kittleson in Boston and Hermon Atkins MacNeil at the Art Students League. She also worked for sculptor Gutzon Borglum. Huntington made frequent trips to the Bronx Zoo where she modeled animals and was especially intrigued by the large cats. It was feline subjects appear to have given her the most satisfaction. In conjunction with her husband, Huntington opened America's first public outdoor sculpture garden on their private estate, now called Brookgreen Gardens.