The world has gone bananas for a baby monkey named Darwin caught frolicking around the parking lot of a Toronto Ikea store.
Pictures and videos of the stylish simian, who let himself out of a parked car and wandered outside the store, have popped up in news outlets ranging from the Mediterranean island of Malta to Melbourne, Australia, and beyond.
And the five-month-old rhesus monkey - decked out in a tiny tan coat - is soaking up his 15 minutes of fame on social media, where the Twit-terverse pounced on shots of the puzzled-looking animal.
By Monday, Darwin had earned at least two mock Twitter accounts and his own hashtag, in addition to countless Photoshopped images.
Darwin was taken to the Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Sunderland, Ont., Monday after being kept overnight at a shelter following his seizure Sunday afternoon by Toronto Animal Services officers.
Sanctuary president Sherri Delaney said he would be paired up with a "motherly" monkey and get some company when two female rhesus monkeys arrive in the coming weeks at the sanctuary, which currently holds 22 primates.
Animal-services spokeswoman Mary Lou Leiher said Darwin was in good shape after being captured.
"He's a baby. He's a little bit sensitive," Leiher told reporters Monday.
The owners of the Montreal-born monkey - whose identities have not been made public - have been fined $240 for breaking the city's prohibited-animal bylaw, said Leiher.
