But why bears? Why aren’t children sharing their duvets and secrets with cuddly foxes or fluffy squirrels?
Catherine Howell, from the V&A Museum of Childhood, says that as the earliest toy bears would have been stuffed with wood shavings and therefore less than soothing to stroke, it is the bear’s face that seems to appeal to us.
Like dogs and cats, bears have forward-looking eyes, rather than the monocular vision of rabbits for example, which makes us relate to them as more human-like.
Bears also have an oddly human gait when they walk upright. Bear cubs have rounded limbs, rather like human babies, and stand up when they wrestle which gives them a toddler-like appearance.