How a Dead Seal Sparked Theodore Roosevelt's Lifelong Passion for Conservation

When Theodore Roosevelt was 8 years old, he walked down the stairs of his parents’ brownstone mansion in Manhattan and set off toward a market near the city’s commercial hub on Broadway. Nobody paid attention to the delicate boy with teeth too large for his small round face, light hair and blue eyes. Known to his family as “Teedie,” Roosevelt was on a mission, much like the heroes of the books he read about…