Plush Toy

Stuffed animal
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This article is about toy animals. For preserved dead animals or hunting trophies, see Taxidermy.
"Plush toy" and "Plushie" redirect here. For other uses, see Plush (disambiguation).

Duck stuffed animals
Soft toys are not necessarily animal shaped.
Soft toys come in all varieties of animals.A stuffed animal is toy animal sewn from cloth, plush, or other textiles, and stuffed with straw, beans, plastic pellets, cotton, synthetic fibers, or other similar materials. Stuffed animals are also known as plush toys (U.S English) from the plush outer material used, and soft toys or cuddly toys (British English). They are made in many different forms, some resembling real animals, some in a caricature with emphasis on different features, some in the form of Legendary creatures or Cartoon characters.

Some stuffed animals are very old – home made cloth dolls stuffed with straw go back to at least the 1830s, perhaps much older. The most well known type of stuffed toy is likely the teddy bear. They are often used as comfort objects.

History
Stuffed animals in the past were used for random stuffing of 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, plush toy or plushie (U.S. English) or soft toy (British English) may be more appropriate names for modern synthetic stuffed animals.

The first commercial concern to create stuffed toys is apparently the Steiff company, founded in 1880 in Giengen an der Brenz, Germany.

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

Today
Stuffed animals are bought for a variety of reasons. Some are bought for display in home or a work place. They can also be given as gifts, such as for graduation, Valentine's Day, other special days, or just as an expression of thought.