The Virtual Menagerie: A look back at our techno pets
Pets are great. But if you're too lazy, busy or overcome with allergies for the real thing, you have a host of digital alternatives. They've found homes on our computers, in addictive little eggs and even housed insemi-realistic representations of actual animals.
Their souls may be entirely digital, but that hasn't stopped consumers from coddling and caring for these code-based creatures. Join us as we take a look at some of the digital, virtual and robotic pets that have captured our hearts over the years.
![<p>Playing with an onscreen puppy is fine, but Japanese toy and video game maker Bandai believed young girls might <em>enjoy</em> the responsibility of nurturing their own little creature. So, while decades-old pet rocks were doing the geological chillout, a portable variation on the virtual pet emerged: Tamagotchi.</p>
<p>It was released in Japan in 1996 and soon migrated over to the US. Over the next year, it managed to capture the attention of young girls across the globe, with its reign lasting <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/22/special-edition-tamagotchi-celebrates-10-years-of-wasted-time/">more than a decade</a> in various configurations.</p>
<p>[Image: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Tsca">Tomasz Sienicki</a>/Wikimedia]</p>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/x2Z5kAmXRivdKOUKMO7qqA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTk2MA--/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/k0X.i19PfFT.4.lgJN1_Yw--~B/aD04MDA7dz04MDA7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-/https://www.blogcdn.com/slideshows/images/slides/291/444/2/S2914442/slug/l/tamagotchi-800-1.jpg)
