TikTok users are intrigued by an interesting question today about why were teddy bears invented. The answer seems interesting to many.
TikTok is a place that is always filled with entertaining videos, trends, and questions. From wondering about the origin of a chainsaw, users were intrigued to find out how teddy bears were invented. Many were pleasantly surprised to hear the lesser-known origin story of a teddy bear.
Teddy bears are something that most millennials have grown up with. But it did not exist as a toy since always, rather it is a relatively recent invention that came about in the early 20th century. The term teddy bear is based on the United States president Theodore Roosevelt, who was referred to as “teddy”, even though he did not like being called this.
The President went on a hunting trip to Mississippi in 1902. He was invited there by Governor Andrew H. Longino. Many attendees were present there, who were competing with each other as to who will manage to shoot an animal first.
After failing to shoot anyone despite help from hounds, some individuals who came with the President tied an American black bear to a willow tree and asked the President to shoot it. But the President declined and said that it would be against the spirit of a sportsman. However, he did ask someone else to shoot the bear, so that it can be put out of its misery.
More about how the teddy bears were invented on TikTok
Clifford Berryman of The Washington Post made a political cartoon out of this incident, which caught the attention of a toymaker Morris Michtom in the U.S. He took inspiration and made a soft bear named “Teddy’s bear” and put it outside his candy shop in Brooklyn.
Simultaneously, seamstress Margarete Steiff from Germany also made her version of a teddy bear, which gave more popularity to this children’s toy.
