IKEA donates $20 plush toys to viral baby monkey…
People online are going bananas for a baby monkey and its stuffed animal.
Punch, a baby macaque at Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan, has gone viral for looking for consolation in a plush toy after his mom deserted him.
Now, the president of IKEA Japan has paid the zoo a go to to make sure there’s always a plushie obtainable for assist.
Punch is a baby macaque at Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan. X / @ichikawa_zoo
Born in July 2025, Punch was rejected by his mom after start, and caretakers at the zoo stepped in to hand-raise him — but his fellow monkeys weren’t as type at first.
They moved Punch into the enclosure with other monkeys and seen that he was ostracized and struggling to combine. Heartbreaking videos online have shown some of the other monkeys pushing Punch away when he tried to work together.
It’s common for monkeys to cling to their mothers after start, but without a mother around, caretakers gave him a stuffed orangutan to help ease his anxiety and loneliness.
Punch is never seen without the stuffed orangutan, treating the plushie like a mom and utilizing it for consolation — and it seems the “oran-mama,” as followers have dubbed it online, comes from IKEA and anybody can get their arms on one.
Punch the monkey is never seen without the stuffed toy. X / @ichikawa_zoo
Petra Fare, President and Chief Sustainability Officer of IKEA Japan, visited Ichikawa City Zoo on Feb. 17 to donate a number of replacements as nicely as new plush toys.
Ichikawa City Mayor Ko Tanaka shared the thrilling news of the donation, writing in a translated X post, “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.”
“Today, the president of the company that makes those stuffed toys came to Ichikawa Zoo and Botanical Garden with a huge number of them.”
Petra Fare, President and Chief Sustainability Officer of IKEA Japan, visited the Ichikawa City Zoo on Feb. 17. @ichikawa_shi / X
The stuffed orangutan is IKEA’s in style DJUNGELSKOG mushy toy — and the outline notes that the plushie can grasp on your hip or back, “just like how real apes climb and hang in the rainforest trees.”
“IKEA Japan Co., Ltd. has donated familiar plush toys and other items for ‘Punch,’ the Japanese macaque at our city zoo and botanical garden, to carry around,” a translated post on Ichikawa’s official X account said.
“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.”
Punch has taken to the stuffed orangutan as if it’s his mom. X / @ichikawa_zoo
IKEAs around the world have began to be part of in on the dialog, too.
“Mother, yes, there’s more than one. And PUNCH!” a translated post from IKEA Spain promoting the plush said.
IKEA Switzerland posted a picture of a monkey hugging the stuffed orangutan on Instagram with the caption, “Sometimes, family is who we find along the way.”
The post referred to the product as “Punch’s comfort orangutan.”
The best-selling IKEA toy is on the market for anybody to buy online and in shops for just $19.99, so you, too, can discover consolation in it — just like baby Punch.
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