The first day
He’s born at Ichikawa City Zoo. His mother abandons him. Caretakers decide to hand-rear him.
The real story
Who is Punch
This is Punch — the real baby Japanese macaque whose story went viral and inspired a community on Solana.
Abandoned at birth
Punch was born in July at Ichikawa City Zoo (Chiba, Japan). His mother abandoned him, possibly because it was her first birth. Zoo caretakers hand-reared him for months.
The stuffed toy that saved him
To comfort him, they gave him blankets and stuffed toys. He adopted an orangutan plush as a maternal figure. When other monkeys scold him, he uses the plush as a shield and finds comfort hugging it.
Back to the troop
When introduced to the zoo’s macaque troop, Punch didn’t fit in at first with monkey society. He’s being gradually reintroduced. His caretaker Kosuke Kano hopes he “stays healthy and lives with the group.”