Nearly 10 years ago, in December 2012, a woman spotted a monkey while shopping at an Ikea store in Toronto. To be precise, the lady met an unusual customer: a Japanese snow macaque.
At that point, the woman took a picture of the monkey in which the Japanese snow macaque can be seen staring out the glass door in a little shearling coat. In the blink of an eye, the picture went viral on the internet. Read on to know everything about the story of the Ikea Monkey.
Here’s everything you need to know about the story of the Ikea Monkey
Once, the picture of the Japanese snow macaque went viral on social media. A new meme was born: The Ikea Monkey. From that point in time, the monkey was popularly known as the Ikea Monkey.
The name of the woman who took the iconic picture of Darwin is none other than Lisa Lin. Darwin was nearly 6 months old when he was snapped by Lisa at an Ikea store in Toronto. In the snap, Darwin can be seen wearing a coat and a diaper. It has been reported by BuzzFeed News, that the monkey escaped the car of his owner and got lost at Ikea.
Soon after, the local animal control brought Darwin in and he ended up in the Primate Sanctuary in Sunderland, Ontario. Later on, his former owner tried to sue the sanctuary to get him back but all his attempts went in vain.
When Darwin was taken to the Primate Sanctuary, the staff of the local animal control took extra care of the monkey and provided him with food to help him acclimate. Gradually, he got comfortable and started playing with other monkeys.
Where is the Ikea Monkey right now?
Now, Darwin is living his best life at the moment. During an interview with BuzzFeed News, Daina Liepa, the volunteer executive director of the Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Ontario talked about Darwin and said, “He’s doing great. He’s being allowed to behave like a monkey as opposed to a human baby.”
Daina Liepa went on to say, “[Darwin] can go outside when he wants to, to an outdoor enclosure with other monkeys, or stay indoors with other kinds of enrichment we have for him.”
The favorite activity of the Ikea Monkey is using old fire hoses set up as a jungle gym. Liepa further added, “He loves to swing back and forth, which is something he’d do in the wild.”
In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Lisa who took the cute picture of Darwin staring out of the window at an Ikea store in Toronto stated that she is pretty happy that she bumped into the furry little guy nearly ten years ago. She told the media outlet, “I will forever remember Darwin.”
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