Punch, the Lonely Baby Monkey, Is Doing Great

Image Credit: Daiei Onoguchi Via Wikimedia Commons

An inhabitant of the Japanese Ichikawa City Zoo, Punch went viral earlier this year for a heartbreaking reason: he is the world’s loneliest monkey.

The baby macaque was abandoned by his mother shortly after birth. According to the zookeepers, this (not unusual) dynamic can be explained by the traumatic labour, especially when combined with the heatwave surrounding it. The lack of motherly guidance became a vital obstacle for the monkey’s integration into the troop. Thus, Punch became a misfit.

With zookeepers as his only friends, Punch was seen being pushed away by the adults in the enclosure, continuously failing to connect with his peers. The workers’ concern led them to hand the baby macaque a friend - an orangutan plushie from IKEA. The toy exceeded the monkey in size. Still, the two immediately grew inseparable.

Although heartwarming, the new bond did not relieve the hostility towards Punch. The public’s woes over the 7-month-old continued as subsequent videos showed him still playing by himself and, following the unsuccessful attempts at socialization, running to the plushie for comfort.

Punch has amassed a significant fan base online. The supporters were relieved to learn that, with time, several of the high-ranking, aggressive monkeys had been displaced from the enclosure. Today, the baby macaque  is thriving, the zookeepers reveal. Users have been resharing videos of Punch sitting with his peers, being groomed (a crucial part of macaque friendships), carried, and even hugged. ‘He has a proactive, fearless personality’ and will ‘proactively try to communicate with other monkeys’, shares the Ichikawa Zoo Lead.

A natural extrovert, Punch has been significantly less reliant on his plushie. Still, the director notes that the monkey continues to sleep with his toy every night.