10 Years Later, The Ikea Monkey Is Thriving
On Dec. 9, 2012, a woman shopping at an Ikea in Toronto saw an unusual customer: a Japanese snow macaque. A photo she took of the monkey balefully staring out the glass door in a little shearling coat blitzed across the internet, and a meme was born: the Ikea monkey.
Ten years later, Darwin the monkey is living his best monkey life. “He’s doing great. He’s being allowed to behave like a monkey as opposed to a human baby,” Daina Liepa, the volunteer executive director of the Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Ontario, told BuzzFeed News.
Darwin was about 6 months old when he, wearing a coat and a diaper, escaped his owner’s car and got lost in Ikea. He ended up in the primate sanctuary in Sunderland, Ontario after local animal control brought him in. (His former owner later unsuccessfully tried suing to get him back). When Darwin first came to the sanctuary, the staff gave him extra attention and food to help him acclimate. Slowly, he got comfortable and began playing with other monkeys. He now even has a best friend named Maximus.
On Dec. 9, 2012, a woman shopping at an Ikea in Toronto saw an unusual customer: a Japanese snow macaque. A photo she took of the monkey balefully staring out the glass door in a little shearling coat blitzed across the internet, and a meme was born: the Ikea monkey.…
