The scene originates from the 2017 BBC documentary series "Spy in the Wild," which utilized ultra-realistic animatronic animals to observe wildlife behavior from within their natural habitats. In this specific sequence set in Borneo, a "Spy Orangutan" robot was deployed holding a saw and wood to test the primates' capacity for mimicry; a wild female orangutan quickly took notice and began vigorously imitating the mechanical interloper. This led to a surreal, competitive display of manual labor as the wild ape attempted to out-saw the robot, showcasing an uncanny and humorous level of focus that fascinated nature lovers and internet users alike. While the footage was initially a documentary highlight, it exploded as a viral meme template around late 2021 and early 2022, particularly across TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram. The clip is most commonly used to represent mindless, repetitive productivity or the feeling of being "on the grind" while achieving absolutely nothing of substance. It has become a staple of "sigma" and "absurdist" humor, often paired with high-energy phonk music or captions about "the masculine urge" to engage in manual labor without any prior experience. Famous variations include editing the orangutan into corporate office environments or using it to mock gamers who are intensely focused on low-stakes tasks within a virtual world.