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    #IkeaMonkey: Where is he now?

    Five things we learned about Darwin from the morning papers

    Maclean's
    <p>A small monkey wearing a winter coat and a diaper apparently looks for it&#8217;s owners at an IKEA in Toronto on Sunday Dec. 9, 2012. The monkey let itself out of its crate in a parked and went for a walk. The animal&#8217;s owner contacted police later in the day and was reunited with their pet, police said. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Browley Page</p>

    A small monkey wearing a winter coat and a diaper apparently looks for it’s owners at an IKEA in Toronto on Sunday Dec. 9, 2012. The monkey let itself out of its crate in a parked and went for a walk. The animal’s owner contacted police later in the day and was reunited with their pet, police said. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Browley Page

    Five things we’ve learned about #IkeaMonkey from the morning papers:

    1. His name is Darwin and he is a five-month-old rhesus macaque.

    2. Owner Yasmin Nakhuda is a Toronto real estate lawyer. As she explained to the Star, she first encountered the monkey when she agreed to watch the animal for someone else. “It was a babysitting experience that turned into a fatal attraction and put me where I am,” she told the paper. Turns out the monkey wouldn’t leave her side.

    3. In posts that accompany YouTube videos of her charge, Nakhuda describes caring for her monkey-baby: “He has to be with me all the time which means he goes with me to the office, sleeps with me, eats with me, showers with me, goes shopping with me . . .”

    In this YouTube video, Darwin is captured exploring Nakhuda’s office. (“Hey, I am a working mom,” Nakhuda explains. “Do you own a monkey too? I’d love to have tips for helping Darwin to be a happy monkey. Feel free to share.”)

    In this video, Darwin shows off his Halloween costume:

    Here, he gets ready for bed:

    4. Darwin’s new home is Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Sunderland, Ont., where he has been paired with a “motherly” monkey. “We were relieved that he was coming to a place where his needs are going to be met first,” sanctuary founder Sherri Delaney told the National Post.

    5. Darwin’s former owners have been fined $240 for owning an exotic pet.

     

     

     

    tags:#IkeaMonkey