Punch the Baby Monkey Begins Abandoning His Orangutan Plush Toy – What’s Happening?

Punch, a baby monkey at Ichikawa Zoo in Japan that went viral, is growing up and no longer relies on his beloved orangutan plush toy. The plush has provided him comfort and protection after he was rejected by his mother. A video of Punch dragging a larger plush has drawn worldwide attention. When other monkeys chased the infant, Punch hurried back to the orangutan plush, embracing it for comfort. However, AP News’s latest report says he is using the toy less often. Recently, Punch was seen climbing onto the back of another monkey, sitting with an adult monkey, and at times being groomed or cuddled by other monkeys. ‘Nice to see him growing, and I feel relieved,’ said Sanae Izumi, a 61-year-old Punch admirer from Osaka who visited the zoo worried about the baby monkey. ‘He’s adorable!’ Punch, a seven-month-old male, has been cared for by zookeepers after being abandoned by his mother following a difficult birth. His mother is exhausted after giving birth to her first infant in the heat of the summer sun. It is suspected that this is why she showed no signs of wanting to care for her baby. Zookeepers have cared for Punch and gave him the orangutan plush to train him to grip it—a skill needed by neonatal primates to survive. ‘When Punch no longer needs the toy, that will encourage his independence, and that is what we hope,’ said the zoo’s director Shigekazu Mizushina. Punch still sleeps with the plush each night, but Mizushina said the next expectation for zookeepers is for Punch to sleep with the other monkeys.