“Punch the Monkey” Goes Viral, Sells Out IKEA Orangutan Plush

Punch, the 7-month-old Macaque monkey from a Japanese zoo has gone viral this week. Online videos have shown Punch being abandoned and pushed away by his own mother and dragged across his habitat by other adult Macaque monkeys. In other videos, Punch is seen jumping on, climbing and clinging to zookeepers while they enter the habitat; looking like he is begging to be rescued from there. 

It is unusual for Macaque mothers to abandon their young. Zookeepers have said that the mother may have abandoned her baby Macaque, for a couple of reasons. The first being that she is a first-time and inexperienced mother, along with the grueling heat of the Japanese summer- might have made it unbearable for her to cradle or snuggle the baby Macaque. Punch was born in the Ichikawa Japanese zoo in July of 2025, during hottest part of summer.  

Macaque monkeys are native to Asia, spreading across Japan and Afghanistan where extreme temperatures can be reached.  Macaque monkeys acclimate to the sweltering temperatures, but this past summer Japan reached nearly record-breaking temperatures.  

IKEA Japan often donates plush animals to the Ichikawa Zoo, and “Punch the Monkey” just so happened to receive a Djungelskog (orange orangutan) plush. 

Newly seen videos show Punch confiding in the plush; laying atop and underneath it and dragging it around with him. Punch’s expressions have changed ever since he had the orange plush in his presence. The videos of Punch have continued to go viral, with the latest being seen with his new confidant. Thus, striking his viewers to purchase the Djungelskog (orange orangutan) from IKEA, creating a worldwide sell out.  

Zookeepers at the Ichikawa Zoo in Japan have alerted Punch’s fans that he and his plush

orangutan are starting to become welcomed by his habitat mates, including his mother.