Decoder Ring: Stuffed Animals Gone Wild
Axolotls. Narwhals. Llamas. Sloths. Every few years, it seems like American kids and parents collectively decide they cannot get enough of a creature that makes teddy bears seem impossibly quaint. In today\u2019s episode we\u2019re going to swim after the axolotl, as it takes us to some far-flung and unexpected places, to understand how it came to rule the stuffed animal kingdom. Though the answer absolutely has to do with parents eager to please their children at the gift shop, it's bigger than that. The insatiable hunger for novelty that is bound up with the axolotl \u2014 well, that has to do with all of us.\xa0\nThis episode was written by Willa Paskin. It was produced by Katie Shepherd. It was edited by Evan Chung. We produce Decoder Ring with Max Freedman. Derek John is Executive Producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.\nIn this episode you\u2019ll hear from Elaine Kollias who works with Folkmanis Puppets, Diana Laura Vasquez Mendoza who is a biologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Dr. Jessica Whited who is a professor at Harvard, Gerhard Runken who is the executive vice president of global brand and marketing for Jazwares, and Laura Wattenberg who is a baby name expert.\nThank you to our translator Ezequiel Andino, as well as Luis Zambrano, Kelley Garnier, and Alejandra Escobar. And if you\u2019d like to help the wild Axolotl, here is the conservation project where Diana works and they accept donations.\xa0\nIf you haven\u2019t yet, please subscribe and rate our feed in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And even better, tell your friends.\nIf you\u2019re a fan of the show, please sign up for Slate Plus. Members get to listen to Decoder Ring and all other Slate podcasts without any ads and have total access to Slate\u2019s website. Your support is also crucial to our work. Go to Slate.com/decoderplus to join Slate Plus today.\xa0\n\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices