Teddy Bears and Real Life Bears
Cuddly Teddy Bears
Who can resist a soft-fur teddy bear.? So beautiful to touch. We´ve been giving our babies and small children teddy bears for well over a hundred years.
When l was little l can remember pressing the tummy of my teddy bear and it would make a noise that l can´t quite recall. l do remember that it was a cute sound , nothing like the growl of a Big Black bear stepping out of the woods to spoil your picnic (or your whole life if he got close enough to whack you with one of those magnificent paws with its claws out..!)
A dangerous animal that we love to give replicas of to our tiny tots?
Many people believe the story goes back to President Roosevelt His name being Theodore, he was often called Teddy. The story goes that The President and some others were hunting in the woods. Several of the hunters had shot and killed some of these incredible wild animals, and with a rather ugly sense of humour, they chased , clubbed, and tied to a tree a beautiful Big Bear. They thought they were being clever presenting a ready to kill animal for Teddy Roosevelt. WRONG!
He refused to shoot the poor bear as it was, he said it would be very unsportsmanlike, but he did order that someone kill the bear to put it out of its misery.
The story became a popular cartoon, but since the President was so disgusted with the event, the cartoon bear became smaller and smaller until it was a cute little bear cub.
Morris Michtom was inspired by these cartoons to create a new toy. The Teddy Bear was born.!
At about the same time as this incident, The Steiff firm in Germany had a similar idea, unaware of what had happened in America. The picture to the right taken from 1954 looks exactly like my teddy bear, which is well fitting since l was 3 yrs old in 1954
Modern day teddy bears, l notice are much softer to the touch. They feel soft and cuddly. Great advances have obviously been made since the first little bears were made roughly between 1903--1906.
My favourite bears are Pandas.Apart from the fact that they have needed help, lest they become extinct,, their numbers were getting dangerously low, but l can´t help loving them for their lifestyle. It really makes me laugh. Since 99% of their diet is bamboo and bamboo has so few nutrients , the Panda has to eat heaps of the stuff every day to keep healthy. Whenever l see a picture of a panda lying back munching bamboo, knowing that when he´s finally eaten enough, he´ll need a long nap, l just cannot help but laugh. What a life. !!!
However much l love pandas, and think they are cute, l´m well aware that they are still BEARS.
A friend of mine went to visit china and had the joy of visiting a sanctuary for these marvellous creatures. The people working there are trying hard to make sure we don´t lose the species altogether.
My friend showed me a photograph of herself .................l am not kidding you, she was covered from head to toe plus special boots. An outfit that made her look as though she was about to board a rocket and Zoom into outer space. All this safely precaution was so that she could get close enough to a Panda to have her picture taken with him A very good reality check, l thought. A good reminder that however cute, pandas can be dangerous. One swipe of those enormous paws could do a lot of damage.(just as the Black bear in the forests.).
Nevertheless l still adore pandas , it´s just a case of remembering that all types of bears are wild animals and therefore unpredictable. Besides l think some of our endangered species have a right to be a bit annoyed with us , humans. We keep stealing more and more of their
habitat.
That´s it, mate, just one more push...
yes the only safe bears to have around, especially children are teddy bears. Little stuffed cuddly toy, teddy bears. They´ll never hurt you. The teddy bears for cuddling or the teddy bears for collecting. Many people do collect teddy bears and have them from different countries and different eras..
What baby or toddler does not like a cuddly toy?
And the original cuddly toy must surely be the teddy bear.
As adorable now as when they were first created.
