Baby monkey Punch getting used to life without stuffed orang utan ‘mother’ in Japan zoo

CHIBA – Punch the baby Japanese macaque has been spending more time without his surrogate “mother” – a large stuffed orang utan – at a zoo in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture, with visitors watching over him on his journey towards independence.

For the past two months, Punch has been spending more time grooming his peers and leaving his stuffed orang utan in the monkey house.

Although visitors have not been able to see him with his stuffed animal as much, they seem relieved that he is spending more time with the other monkeys.

“I wonder if he’s become independent from his mom,” a visitor said.

Zoo staff gave Punch the stuffed animal after his real mother showed little interest in raising him, and he began dragging it around with him.

Scenes of Punch running back and forth around monkey mountain with his “mother” became popular not only among visitors to the zoo but also worldwide on social media.

As a result, visitors to the zoo increased, with the number reaching 47,000 in February, 2.3 times higher than the same month in 2025.

The city has received many inquiries from people wanting to donate and support the now eight-month-old Punch.

On March 16, the city announced options for people to support the monkey, including bank transfers and the furusato nozei hometown tax donation system, with more than 11 million yen (S$89,000) raised in the week leading up March 22.

The zoo plans to use the donations to address the extreme heat on monkey mountain, which is believed to be one of the reasons mother monkeys have given up raising their infants.

“He still sleeps while hugging the stuffed animal in the monkey house, so he’s not fully independent,” an official of Ichikawa City Zoo said. “We ask visitors to continue to offer their warm support.” THE JAPAN NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK