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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 seeking comfort in a plush toy after his mother abandoned him.
Now, the president of IKEA Japan has paid the zoo a visit to make sure there’s always a plushie available for support.
Born in July 2025, Punch was rejected by his mother after birth, and caretakers at the zoo stepped in to hand-raise him — but his fellow monkeys weren’t as kind at first.
They moved Punch into the enclosure with other monkeys and noticed that he was ostracized and struggling to integrate. Heartbreaking videos online have shown some of the other monkeys pushing Punch away when he tried to interact.
It’s common for monkeys to cling to their moms after birth, but without a mom around, caretakers gave him a stuffed orangutan to help ease his anxiety and loneliness.
Punch is rarely seen without the stuffed orangutan, treating the plushie like a mother and using it for comfort — and it turns out the “oran-mama,” as fans have dubbed it online, comes from IKEA and anyone can get their hands on one.
Petra Fare, President and Chief Sustainability Officer of IKEA Japan, visited Ichikawa City Zoo on Feb. 17 to donate multiple replacements as well as new plush toys.
Ichikawa City Mayor Ko Tanaka shared the exciting 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.”
The stuffed orangutan is IKEA’s popular DJUNGELSKOG soft toy — and the description notes that the plushie can hang 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.”
IKEAs around the world have started to join in on the conversation, too.
“Mother, yes, there’s more than one. And PUNCH!” a translated post from IKEA Spain advertising the plush said.
IKEA Switzerland posted a photo 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 available for anyone to purchase online and in stores for just $19.99, so you, too, can find comfort in it — just like baby Punch.
