Stuffed Animals

A stuffed animal is a toy animal stuffed with straw, beans, cotton or other similar materials. Some stuffed animals are very old - home made cloth dolls stuffed with straw go back to at least the 1830s, perhaps much older. more...

Stuffed animals in the past were frequently produced by stuffing the evacuated skins of hunted animals. The phrase is still sometimes used to refer to examples of Taxidermy. However, with modern technology it is now possible to produce them with synthetic materials. For this reason, a plush toy or plushie may be a more appropriate name for a modern synthetic stuffed animal.

The first commercial concern to create stuffed toys is apparently the Steiff company that was founded in 1880 in Germany. In colloquial German, stuffed animals are often referred as Steifftiere, which derives from the name of that company.

Among the most popular types of classic stuffed animals are teddy bears and sock monkeys.

A popular modern brand of stuffed animals is Ty Beanie Babies.

History

It is known from tomb paintings in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamian civilisations that stuffed animals existed in those societies for religious purposes, and undoubtedly for human play as well. Human psychology has very strong links with anthropomorphism, and so it is almost certain that most cultures and societies in human history have used stuffed toys in the form of popular animals for children's entertainment.

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