Unusual pals: Stuffed manatee and stuffed extinct squid Tusoteuthis - NOW, WHAT'S YOUR STORY?

You just never know. Our very popular 30-inch stuffed manatee has befriended one of the newcomers under its sheltering paddle, so to speak. Tusoteuthis (an extinct giant squid) seems very happy in the company of its new buddy. Tusoteuthis may well look a little concerned. We had already announced that he was AGAIN becoming extinct (out of manufacture), when we discovered that there had only been a complication causing a confusion between the manufacturer and the importer, and indeed Tusoteuthis has a brand new lease on life.

In the background, you can see the green felt "spines" on our Folkmanis iguana stuffed hand puppet, and to the right at the bottom, another popular creature is trying to get into the picture - our purple latex Soft Play octopus with the posable tentacles. Not quick enough, Octopus. Better luck next time!

DO YOU OR YOUR KIDS LIKE TO TELL STORIES?

If you'll send us your stories based on the animals in our online Animal Store, we'll post the stories along with pictures of the animals. We'll be happy to give you credit for your story or you can choose to be anonymous or use only your first name. If you'd like to name the animal, we'd like that, too! You can name ANY of our collection of animals and write something about them. If they end up with two or three names because several people wrote about them, that's OK, too. Every once in awhile we name an animal ourselves, and the name sticks with it and ends up on the order page for that animal. Maybe you'll be the one with the name that fits the animal perfectly! The stories can be written by kids of any age or with an adult's help. They don't need to be long or complicated. Maybe you just want to tell us what one of the animals is thinking, or whether they are friends with some other animal. Or maybe they took a trip together, or. . . . It's up to you! If it seems like we need to take a new picture of the animal to fit the story as I've done on this post, we may be able to do that!

So, what are you thinking?