A baby monkey named Punch has stolen the internet’s collective heart — and now fans can get their hands on the mammal’s favorite toy.
Punch, a baby macaque at Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan, has become a viral sensation after pictures of him dragging a monkey plush toy circulated online. The reason he carries the toy is heartbreaking.
According to the New York Post, it’s because it comforts him after his mother abandoned him.
Last July, after Punch’s mother rejected him after he was born, he was moved to another enclosure with other monkeys who also shunned him. Videos from that time show the monkeys pushing him away when he tried to integrate. The zoo then decided he would be hand-raised by caretakers.
Punch’s caretakers gave him the stuffed monkey from IKEA to help with his loneliness and anxiety, and it has since become his surrogate mom, which the internet has dubbed "oran-mama."
Earlier this week, Petra Fare, President and Chief Sustainability Officer of IKEA Japan, visited the zoo and donated plushie replacements for Punch and more toys.
"A little monkey (Punch-kun) who’s been working hard and growing all by himself has become so beloved that many people now cheer him on with 'Ganbare Punch-kun!' when they see him together with his stuffed toy, treating it like his mother," Fare wrote in Japanese.
The stuffed orangutan is IKEA’s DJUNGELSKOG soft toy, priced at $19.99 and available here.
"We hope the gifted plush toys can continue to be a source of comfort and help Punch gradually adjust to the troop. Let’s all keep supporting him together," a post from Ichikawa’s X account said this week.
