{"id":289888,"date":"2026-02-18T11:51:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/289888\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T11:51:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:51:13","slug":"viral-monkey-punch-finally-finds-his-pack-at-ichikawa-zoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/289888\/","title":{"rendered":"Viral monkey Punch finally finds his pack at Ichikawa Zoo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/651416_8153133_updates.jpg\" alt=\"Viral monkey Punch finally finds his pack at Ichikawa Zoo\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\" class=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Viral monkey Punch finally finds his pack at Ichikawa Zoo<\/p>\n<p>The story of viral monkey Punch has taken a heartwarming turn at the Ichikawa City Zoo. Punch, the baby macaque who found solace in a plush toy after being rejected by his mother, is finally integrating with his troop.<\/p>\n<p>For months, the seven-month-old Japanese macaque was rarely seen without his stuffed toy orangutan, nicknamed \u201cOra-mama.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Zookeepers provided the toy to comfort the baby as his mother abandoned him shortly after his birth in July 2025. <\/p>\n<p>The videos of the infant monkey playing with the toy went viral and gained global sympathy. Following his videos, a trend with the hashtag \u201ckeep going, Punch\u201d started. <\/p>\n<p>While the initial stages of reintroducing Punch were a bit overwhelming, the zookeepers reported that the ice has finally broken. <\/p>\n<p>According to the updates, Punch has successfully bonded with another monkey, which has started grooming him. <\/p>\n<p>In primates, grooming is a primary indicator of trust, social bonding, and acceptance. Additionally, zookeepers have shared videos of Punch engaging in playful interactions with other young monkeys in the troop.<\/p>\n<p>This moment marks a significant turn in Punch\u2019s young life. After months of relying on a stuffed toy for warmth and comfort, he has now found that same comfort within his own kind.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Viral monkey Punch finally finds his pack at Ichikawa Zoo The story of viral monkey Punch has taken&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-289888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}