We all love viral videos of Punch the monkey. A lot of them are AI.

Punch, the baby macaque abandoned by his mother, is the breakout star of 2026. The internet has come together to swoon and cry over videos of Punch clinging to his Ikea orangutan plushie, a stand-in for his absent mother.

As Punch's beloved Ikea plushie became his emotional support animal, he became the world's emotional support animal. And, for now, the story seems to have a happy ending. As Punch grows up, the macaques at the Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan are accepting him as one of their own.