Aardvark

The Aardvark is one of Jellycat's quieter character studies: mottled caramel plush, huge soft ears, a long tapering snout, and beige paw pads, weighted with beans so it sits upright rather than flopping. Stockist copy that survives from its selling days leans on the obvious joke — an aardvark is an animal forever sticking its nose in somewhere — and that is about the whole of its personality. It was a straightforward, affectionately silly design rather than a headline release, on the evidence we have, never given a large or baby-size sibling.

It is now retired. Jellycat's own index has not listed it across our last five checks, and two shops that once carried it mark it retired outright. We have no archived Jellycat page for it, so we cannot say when it arrived or when it left — collectors on the resale market date it loosely to the early 2010s, but that is seller shorthand, not a source we would stand behind.

Beware the crowded aardvark shelf when hunting one: Archie, Cordy Roy, Muggly, Woddletot and Quangle Wangle are all separate designs, and listings mix them up constantly. Match the SKU, not the animal.