Punch, the baby macaque abandoned at the Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan, stole the hearts of many after a video showed him dragging a stuffed orangutan around his enclosure.
The baby monkey was abandoned by its mother at birth and raised by zoo staff, according to zoo website. The stuffed animal was given to Punch to serve as a surrogate mother and provide comfort to the now seven-month-old macaque.
More recently, a video taken by TikTok user @tate_punch shows the monkey being dragged along the ground by a larger macaque on Thursday. After the interaction, Punch ran over to his stuffed animal and hugged it while some other macaques came to check on him.
This photo taken on February 19, 2026 shows a 7-month-old male macaque monkey named Punch, who was abandoned by his mother shortly after birth, spending time with a stuffed orangutan at the Ichikawa City Zoo and Botanical Garden in Chiba Prefecture.
JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images
After images circulated online, Ichikawa City Zoo said in a statement Friday that when Punch approached another baby monkey in the troop in an attempt to communicate, the other baby monkey avoided him.
When Punch sat down and stopped trying to play with the monkey, he was “scolded and dragged by an adult monkey,” the zoo said.
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“The adult monkey that dragged Punch is probably the mother of the monkey that Punch tried to communicate with. She probably sensed that Punch was bothering her baby and became angry, expressing ‘don’t be mean,'” the statement continued.
The zoo said Punch has been “scolded by other monkeys many times in the past and has learned to socialize with them.”
“In the video, Punch runs towards his stuffed orangutan after being dragged away. However, as usual, he put down the stuffed animal after a while and was communicating with other monkeys,” the statement continued. “The video was probably recorded on the morning of February 19. During lunchtime at 12pm and 3pm, Punch acted no different than on any other day.”
The zoo said that in order to integrate Punch into the other Japanese monkey troops, they anticipated this type of challenge might arise.
“Although Punch has been scolded many times by other monkeys, no monkey has shown serious aggression toward him,” the zoo said.
“Although Punch is scolded, he shows resilience and mental strength. When you see these disciplinary behaviors of other troop members towards Punch when he tries to communicate with them, we would like you to support Punch’s effort instead of feeling sorry for him.”
Punch was born on July 26, 2025 and has been living with the troops since January 19, according to a post on X from the zoo.
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