Punch: The Monkey Who Stole Our Hearts

Punch-kun, a baby monkey located in Japan, has gained tens of millions of views and captured just as many hearts for his adorable relationship with a stuffed animal. Viral clips of him circulating online have inspired fan art, caused an increase in IKEA’s orangutan plush sales across multiple countries, and have made him an international sensation.

Due to a difficult birth, Punch became a motherless six-month-old Japanese Macaque in July of 2025. Punch was then taken in by the Ichikawa City Zoo and was primarily in the care of humans. Once placed in the zoo’s Monkey Mountain enclosure, caretakers noticed he suffered from anxiety, loneliness, and overall difficulty fitting in with the rest of the monkeys in his exhibit. Consequently, zoo staff gifted Punch a stuffed orangutan from IKEA, which became his prime source of comfort. The two quickly became an inseparable pair. 

Monkeys normally rely on constant contact with their mother, clinging to them as soon as they are born. However, Punch was deprived of this phenomenon at an early age and was instead dependent on humans, making his integration with the other monkeys in the zoo more difficult. Videos of Punch approaching older monkeys and getting roughly dragged or pushed away before running to the comfort of his stuffed orangutan have gone viral. The stuffed animal has become Punch’s stand-in mother, as he constantly clings to it, carries it wherever he goes, and never lets the fluffy toy out of his sight.

IKEA has caught a whiff of the global adoration and donated dozens of stuffed toys to the zoo in support of Punch. IKEA also released a new ad for the orangutan plush that references Punch, featuring two monkeys hugging beneath the caption, “Sometimes, family is who we find along the way.”

This bittersweet side of social media has sparked a diverse landscape of emotions. Some Punch fans remain heart-eyed over his precious bond with his stuffed animal, while others passionately declare they will go adopt Punch to save him from the “bullying” he endures from the monkeys he shares his habitat with. 

This saving may not be necessary, as zoo staff have reassured Punch’s widespread audience that the viral videos of him interacting with other monkeys don’t show loneliness and bullying but that he has “very strong mental resilience and recovers quickly.” In attempts to further reassure Punch fans, staff also stated, “The fact that he repeatedly receives the cold shoulder and exclusion from group members after trying to communicate with various monkeys is not something to simply feel sorry about.” In fact, Ichikawa City Zoo released a statement in early February that Punch has been improving his relations with his monkey friends and is engaging in healthy interactions (such as grooming and playful poking).

Meanwhile, Punch’s views, Ichikawa City Zoo’s ticket sales, and purchases of IKEA’s stuffed orangutan have been steadily increasing. As Punch’s audience increases, the content they view will soon shift from heart-tugging displays of loneliness to wholesome displays of friendship.