The pointing orangutan meme is a TikTok trend around an orangutan named Amber, who likes to point at objects to make humans interact with them. The behavior has encouraged people in the area near the Louisville Zoo to visit her more often—and even bring along toys like Play-Doh so that Amber can point out what she wants humans to do with them.
This soon grew into a meme in which TikTokers will play the role of Amber, pointing at objects so that the person filming will respond just like in the Amber videos.
Who is Amber the pointing orangutan?
Amber is a 36-year-old orangutan who has been with the Louisville Zoo in Kentucky since 1996. The zoo’s website describes her as playful and curious, and she already had a reputation for interacting with guests before the TikTok trend began.
@tay.walk We made a new friend today! #orangatang#louisvillezoo ♬ Chill Vibes – Tollan Kim
“She enjoys interacting with guests and may tap the glass to grab the attention of those nearby, pointing out sparkling accessories, brightly colored fingernails, or gesturing towards a purse or backpack to see what’s inside,” her profile reads.
Amber has been in the news a few times over the years as a heartwarming story about how locals will come to the zoo just to see and play with her through the glass. In 2022, videos of patrons engaging in a (non-rigged) shell game with her or letting the orangutan pick out their nail polish colors went viral.
Pointing orangutan TikTok meme origins
On May 9, 2023, a video of Amber pointing to a patron’s bag to get her to open specific pockets and show what’s inside went viral on TikTok, gaining over 18.3 million views. Similar posts soon followed along the same theme, often sped up and showing how Amber gently jabs or wiggles her finger at the item she wants the person to interact with until they do.
@pointingorangutan Orangutan points at everything #orangutan #zoo #animal #funny #fyp ♬ original sound – pointingorangutan
About a year later, another user created the @pointingorangutan account dedicated to Amber and how she liked to play with zoo patrons. The first post from this account appeared on May 27, 2024 and included the same pointing theme.
Not long after the account began earning what is now hundreds of thousands of followers, TikTokers became so enamored with Amber that they began imitating her in their own videos.
@iristoyryla @pointingorangutan #orangutan ♬ original sound – Animal Crossing Nostalgia
On August 3, 2023, user @iristoyryla posted an entry showing herself at a table outside a restaurant pointing at a bottle of water and then her glass to get someone to fill it up, then to the glass and her mouth so that they would hold it up for her to drink. This was sped up to the same pace as many of the Amber videos.
Pointing orangutan meme examples
As of the date of this article’s posting, the #orangutan tag has over 53,000 entries on TikTok and is flooded with footage of Amber or humans acting like her. Many of them use the same sound with the silly music from the video posted in early August.
Meanwhile, some users have appropriated the meme to make fun of customers or other people slow to understand simple communication.
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