![\"KIM](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/web1_2026-02-20T080910Z_1637384939_RC2UOJATA1ZI_RTRMADP_3_JAPAN-MONKEY.JPG\")
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KIM KYUNG-HOON \/ REUTERS<\/p>\n
A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa City Zoo, in Ichikawa, Japan, on Thursday.<\/p>\n
ICHIKAWA, Japan >> At a zoo outside Tokyo, the monkey enclosure has become a must-see attraction thanks to an inseparable pair: Punch, a baby Japanese macaque, and his stuffed orangutan companion. Punch\u2019s mother abandoned the macaque when he was born seven months ago at the Ichikawa City Zoo and when an onlooker noticed and alerted zookeepers, they swung into action.<\/p>\n
Japanese baby macaques typically cling to their mothers to build muscle strength and for a sense of security, so Punch needed a swift intervention, zookeeper Kosuke Shikano said. The keepers experimented with substitutes, including rolled-up towels and other stuffed animals before settling on the orange, bug-eyed orangutan, sold by Swedish furniture brand IKEA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis stuffed animal has relatively long hair and several easy places to hold,\u201d Shikano said. \u201cWe thought that its resemblance to a monkey might help Punch integrate back into the troop later on, and that\u2019s why we chose it.\u201d Punch has rarely been seen without it since, dragging the cuddly toy everywhere even though it is bigger than him, and delighting fans who have flocked to the zoo since videos of the two went viral.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing Punch on social media, abandoned by his parents but still trying so hard, really moved me,\u201d said 26-year-old nurse Miyu Igarashi. \u201cSo when I got the chance to meet up with a friend today, I suggested we go see Punch together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shikano thinks Punch\u2019s mother abandoned him because of the extreme heat in July when she gave birth.<\/p>\n
Punch has had some differences with the other monkeys as he has tried to communicate with them, but zookeepers say that is part of the learning process and he is steadily integrating with the troop.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think there will come a day when he no longer needs his stuffed toy,\u201d Shikano said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KIM KYUNG-HOON \/ REUTERS A baby Japanese macaque named Punch sits next to a stuffed orangutan at Ichikawa…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482108,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201,965],"class_list":["post-482107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482107\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}