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Teddy bear

A teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear for children. It was named after former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, whose nickname was "Teddy" and who enjoyed bear-hunting. The name is said to come from an incident on a bear-hunting trip in Mississippi, when Roosevelt's attendants found and caught a juvenile bear. He refused to kill the animal, and "Teddy's Bear" was immediately publicized by political cartoonists. The teddy bear is an enduring, traditional form of stuffed animal, often serving the purpose of comforting upset young children. Morris Michtom[?] and his wife Rose introduced the first teddy bear to America on February 15, 1903.

At about the same time, in 1902 in Germany, the toymaker Richard Steiff[?] produced a stuffed toy in the form of a bear cub. He launched the product at the March 1903 Leipzig Toy Fair. Michtom's bear had a more endearing, baby-faced appearance, while Steiff's more closely resembled a real bear-cub.

In recent years, the Vermont Teddy Bear Company (C), located in the U.S. state of Vermont, has become a popular source of teddy bear-oriented gifts.

Famous fictional teddy bears include Paddington Bear and Winnie the Pooh. Certain animal species such as giant pandas and koalas have benefited from their attractively strong resemblance to the toy and have received intense conservation efforts to preserve them.

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