Toby

Your stomach is a stretchy mixing bag with strong muscles. It squeezes and churns your food while special stomach juice breaks it into a soupy mush called chyme. The whole mash-up takes a few hours. Tough little Toby just curls up and enjoys the ride — nothing bothers a water bear!

Stomach juice (scientists call it gastric juice) is amazing — your tummy makes about 2 litres of it every day! It is strong enough to soften tough food, but your stomach has a clever slippery lining that keeps everything safe and comfy. Toby thinks of it as a warm bubbling hot spring.

Your stomach stretches like a balloon as food arrives, and stretch sensors tell your brain "we have enough, thank you!" That full feeling is your body being smart, not something going wrong. Toby knows the feeling well — after a big meal it is officially nap o’clock.

Toby is a PeekaLab creature inspired by a tardigrade — the real "water bear", the toughest tiny animal on Earth. Chubby, unhurried and basically indestructible — Toby survives anything and naps through most of it.

Toby lives near the Stomach. Real tardigrades can survive freezing, boiling and even outer space by curling into a tiny dried-up ball called a tun — then wake up good as new!

Open PeekaLab and move your cursor over the scan area. When you get close, Toby will glow and reveal itself. Look for faint pulsing rings — that's a clue something is hiding there!

Toby is a fun character inspired by real biology! The creature design and organ facts are based on real microorganisms and anatomy, but Toby itself is a fictional, friendly version for kids to enjoy.