Punch, the abandoned baby macaque at 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 his mother at birth and raised by zoo staff, according to the zoo’s website. The stuffed animal was given to Punch to serve as a surrogate mother and provide comfort for the now seven-month-old macaque.
More recently, a video taken by TikTok user @tate_punch shows the monkey being dragged across the ground by a larger macaque on Thursday. After the interaction, Punch ran to his plushie and hugged it while a few other macaques came to check on him.
This photo taken on Feb. 19, 2026 shows a seven-month-old male macaque monkey named Punch, who was abandoned by his mother shortly after birth, spending time with a stuffed orangutan toy at Ichikawa City Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Chiba Prefecture.
JIJI PRESS / AFP via Getty Images
After the footage circulated online, the Ichikawa City Zoo said in a statement on Friday that when Punch approached another baby monkey from the troop in an attempt to communicate, the other baby monkey avoided him.
When Punch sat down and gave up 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 with whom Punch tried to communicate. She probably felt that her baby was annoyed by Punch and got upset, 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 how to socialize with them.”
“In the video, Punch runs to his stuffed orangutan toy after being dragged. However, as usual, he left the stuffed toy after a short while and was communicating with other monkeys,” the statement continued. “The video was probably recorded on the morning of February 19. During feeding time at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m., Punch acted no differently than on any other day.”
The zoo said that in order to integrate Punch into the other Japanese monkey troops, they anticipated that this kind of challenge might arise.
“Although Punch has been scolded many times by other monkeys, no single monkey has shown serious aggression towards him,” the zoo said.
“While Punch is scolded, he shows resilience and mental strength. When you observe these disciplinary behaviors from other troop members toward Punch when he tries to communicate with them, we would like you to support Punch’s effort rather than feel sorry for him.”
Punch was born on July 26, 2025 and has been living with the troop since Jan. 19, according to a post on X from the zoo.
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