# Punch the Monkey > Baby monkey, plush orangutan, the whole internet as his emotional support. Updated Oct 15, 2026 · first seen Feb 3, 2026 · on X, TikTok, Instagram. Where it is in its life: Brands (past peak). Past its peak: searches are down from the high; still fine to make, best with your own twist. Also called: punch the monkey, punch kun, panchi kun, punch the baby macaque, ichikawa zoo monkey, monkey with stuffed animal, hang in there punch, justice for punch. Page: https://viralmeme.ai/meme/punch-the-monkey-meme ![Punch the Monkey: the picture as it went round online](https://media.rapduo.ai/uploads/rapduo/site/viralmeme/memes/punch-the-monkey.jpg) The original picture, as it went round online. ## TL;DR Punch the Monkey is a baby Japanese macaque at Ichikawa City Zoo near Tokyo who went viral in February 2026 for clinging to a plush orangutan after his mother abandoned him, and for getting pushed around when he joined the troop. One clip of him being dragged passed 11 million views in a day. The meme has faded since: by his first birthday in July 2026, Punch the Monkey had let go of the toy and made friends. ## What does Punch the Monkey mean? Posting Punch the Monkey means rooting for an underdog. A clip of the little macaque hugging his plush orangutan says "hang in there" to anyone having a rough week, and captions run from worried ("is he okay?") to fiercely protective. Fans sent him about 2,500 birthday cards. Two uses stand out. One is the mock-tough joke, such as an image of someone working out captioned as training to fight the monkeys who bullied Punch. The other is the "how it started, how it's going" edit: Punch the Monkey alone with his toy, then Punch being groomed by new friends. ## Why did Punch the Monkey take off? Punch the Monkey was an underdog story with a hook anyone gets: a lonely baby and his comfort toy, then a hard first day at a new school. The clips arrived in order, from the toy to the bullying to the first friends, so people kept checking back. The zoo asked fans to support his effort rather than feel sorry for him, which gave the story a hopeful frame. Then the big names arrived. The New York Times, CNN and the BBC covered him, the White House posted about him on X, and IKEA, which makes the plush, ran an ad in his support. Google added a search animation and Roku put him in its screensaver. ## Where did Punch the Monkey come from? Punch the Monkey was born on July 26, 2025, at Ichikawa City Zoo, a lesser-known zoo just over an hour by train from central Tokyo. His mother abandoned him shortly after birth; zoo officials said she had health issues of her own. Keepers raised him by hand and gave him an orangutan plush from IKEA, which the AP reports was meant to help him build his grip. On Jan 19, 2026, after about six months of special care, he joined the macaque troop in the zoo's Monkey Mountain enclosure. In early February, a post on X showed him clinging to his plush, and on Feb 5 the zoo's official account introduced Punch the Monkey by name. Clips of older monkeys pushing him away spread over the next two weeks. The peak came on Feb 19, when a repost of him being dragged by an adult passed 11 million views in a day. The next day the zoo explained that an adult female probably thought he was bothering her baby, a normal part of joining a troop. By late February he was being hugged and groomed, and the story turned from sad to sweet. - **Jul 26, 2025:** Punch the Monkey is born at Ichikawa City Zoo. His mother abandons him, and keepers raise him with an IKEA plush. - **Feb 5, 2026:** The zoo's X account introduces Punch the Monkey by name. - **Feb 19, 2026:** A repost of Punch the Monkey being dragged by an adult passes 11 million views in a day. - **Mar 2, 2026:** He wins Know Your Meme's February 2026 Meme of the Month with 25% of the vote. - **Mar 4, 2026:** Roku confirms to Newsweek that it added him to Roku City. - **Jul 26, 2026:** On his first birthday the zoo shows about 2,500 cards from fans. He no longer holds the toy. ## Popular versions of Punch the Monkey ### Punch the Monkey then and now The most shared edit sets the lonely clips with his plush next to later footage of him being groomed and hugged. A TikTok version from the sports account Overtime passed 3.2 million views in a day on Feb 19, 2026. ### Revenge and justice jokes Fans posted mock-tough image macros: people training to fight the monkeys who bullied Punch the Monkey, "Justice for Punch" posts and morning check-ins asking where he was. ### Brand tributes IKEA US posted the plush, its Djungelskog orangutan, with a caption saying we're all his family now, and IKEA Japan's CEO visited the zoo. Roku drew him into Roku City, alone on a sidewalk holding his toy. ### Hang in there, Punch Supporters used the #HangInTherePunch tag for fan art, zoo visits and messages, and for his first birthday the zoo hung fans' cards in an indoor exhibit. ## How to post Punch the Monkey on TikTok 1. Repost a zoo clip of Punch the Monkey with a caption rooting for him. 2. Or post fan art of Punch the Monkey with his plush orangutan, tagged #HangInTherePunch. 3. For the late-stage version, post a then-and-now edit: the plush toy, then Punch the Monkey with his troop. ## Make your own ViralMeme explains this meme: it's a clip, a sound or a phrase you post as it is, not a format you put your photo into. ## Questions about Punch the Monkey ### What does Punch the Monkey mean? Posting Punch the Monkey means cheering for an underdog. People share his clips to say hang in there, joke about protecting him from bullies, or post then-and-now edits. ### Who is Punch the Monkey? Punch the Monkey is a male Japanese macaque born on July 26, 2025, at Ichikawa City Zoo near Tokyo. Clips of him clinging to a plush toy after his mother abandoned him went viral in February 2026. In Japanese he's Panchi-kun. ### Why was Punch the Monkey abandoned? His mother abandoned him shortly after birth. Zoo officials told ABC News she had health issues of her own, and the AP reported she was presumably exhausted. Keepers hand-raised him for about six months. ### What is Punch the Monkey's stuffed animal? It's an orangutan from IKEA, the Djungelskog. Keepers gave it to him to cling to and to help build his grip. ### Why was Punch the Monkey bullied? Punch the Monkey got pushed and dragged while joining the troop. The zoo said an adult female likely thought he was bothering her baby, a normal part of troop life. ### Is Punch the Monkey okay now? Yes, Punch the Monkey is doing well by the latest reports. At his first birthday in July 2026, the AP said he no longer held the toy, played with about 50 other monkeys and was hard to tell apart from them. ### When is Punch the Monkey's birthday? July 26; he was born in 2025. For his first birthday, the zoo opened an indoor exhibit with about 2,500 cards from Japan and abroad. ### Is Punch the Monkey real or AI? Punch the Monkey is a real macaque. Ichikawa City Zoo introduced him on its official account in February 2026, and the AP and Time Out have reported on him from the zoo. ### Does Punch the Monkey have a girlfriend? Punch the Monkey went viral again in March 2026 for videos of him playing and showing affection with another young macaque that fans call Momo-chan. Us Weekly noted that the zoo had not confirmed her name. ### Is Punch the Monkey in Roku City? Yes. Roku added him to Roku City, its purple cityscape screensaver, in March 2026, as it confirmed to Newsweek. He appears alone on a sidewalk holding his plush. ### Can I visit Punch the Monkey? He lives at Ichikawa City Zoo in Chiba, near Tokyo, and tens of thousands of visitors came after he went viral. After a costumed intruder entered the enclosure in May 2026, the zoo added patrols and nets. ## Sources - [Know Your Meme: Punch the Monkey (Ichikawa City Zoo)](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/punch-the-monkey-ichikawa-city-zoo) - [Know Your Meme: February 2026's Meme of the Month (Mar 2, 2026)](https://knowyourmeme.com/editorials/meme-review/see-the-winner-of-february-2026s-meme-of-the-month) - [Newsweek: Where to find Punch hiding in Roku screensavers (Mar 4, 2026)](https://newsweek.com/where-find-punch-monkey-hiding-roku-screen-savers-11614422) - [Time Out Tokyo: Japan's Punch the monkey saga, a timeline (Mar 6, 2026)](https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/japans-punch-the-monkey-saga-a-timeline-030626) - [Us Weekly via AOL: Punch and his new girlfriend (Mar 19, 2026)](https://www.aol.com/punch-monkey-packs-pda-girlfriend-214203292.html) - [ABC News: Punch and other monkeys are safe after 2 arrested (May 19, 2026)](https://abc13.com/post/ichikawa-city-zoo-says-punch-other-monkeys-are-safe-2-arrested-breaking-enclosure/19130092/) - [AP via ABC7: Punch gets thousands of birthday messages as he turns 1 (Jul 26, 2026)](https://abc7news.com/post/japans-monkey-sensation-punch-gets-thousands-birthday-messages-he-turns-1-sunday/19579247/) ## What changed on this page - Oct 15, 2026: Tightened the page to the site's 1,200–1,600-word standard; no facts changed. - Oct 13, 2026: Added the original picture, as it went round online. - Oct 12, 2026: Page expanded: origin story, popular versions and more questions, with sources. - Oct 11, 2026: Page published with dated sources.