Learning from Punch the monkey: How S’pore experts help abandoned baby animals get back on their feet

SINGAPORE – Punch, the baby monkey in a Japanese zoo, has captured hearts all over the world with his adoration for a stuffed orang utan toy after he was abandoned by his mother. 

But abandonment cases like his are not unusual in zoos or in the wild, and can happen due to factors such as environmental stress and parents’ inexperience, experts told The Straits Times.

In some cases, rehabilitation of these young animals also involves the use of stuffed animals. 

Wildlife rescue group Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) uses them to provide baby animals, such as birds and common palm civets, with warmth.

“The stuffed toys also help to keep them calm because they may think it is their mum,” said ACRES chief executive Kalaivanan Balakrishnan.

Meanwhile, zookeepers at Mandai Wildlife Group also use tools such as plush toys and blankets with hot water bottles to reduce stress, provide sensory stimulation and mimic aspects of maternal care such as warmth or tactile comfort, said Dr Cheng Wen-Haur, deputy chief executive of life sciences at Mandai Wildlife Group. 

Abandonment in zoos

Parental abandonment of their young can happen due to first-time motherhood, illness or environmental stress, said Dr Cheng.

When such instances are observed, Mandai’s animal care and veterinary teams will step in to provide species-specific support, such as enrichment and health monitoring, Dr Cheng added. 

For instance, Mandai’s Bird Paradise welcomed two gentoo penguin chicks in 2024. However, zookeepers noticed the first-time penguin parents struggling to meet the demands of feeding two chicks.

The first baby developed well under its parents’ care, but the second chick appeared underfed.

The penguin care team made the decision to temporarily retrieve one chick for hand-raising, to give both the best chance of survival.

The hand-reared chick was fed a diet of krill and small herring fillets, and its keepers provided stuffed toys as an extra source of warmth and comfort. It grew steadily and eventually rejoined its parents in the exhibit less than two months later. 

“While hand-raising can provide critical support, we recognise that it cannot fully replace the social and behavioural lessons a mother and her social group provide,” said Dr Cheng. 

“Whenever possible, we try to reintegrate hand-reared young with their mothers or social groups to learn these skills at a natural pace, though outcomes can vary depending on species and social dynamics.”

In some cases, adults of the same species are also observed to help care for another’s young, a process also known as cross-fostering. 

Dr Cheng said: “Among our manatees and orang utans, we have observed mothers caring for and suckling foster infants, reflecting the cooperative behaviour in our social species.”

In primates, some troops may have complex social structures with hierarchies that are essential for thriving in their social groups, and young animals can develop motor and social skills from what may appear as rough behaviour to humans, he added. 

In Punch’s case, Japanese macaque mothers may occasionally abandon their young due to reasons such as inexperience in caring for their first baby, or abnormality in the offspring, said primate expert Michael Gumert from Nanyang Technological University’s School of Social Sciences. 

“Speaking humanely, it’s a terrible thing from our perspective. But in wild animals, a parent trying to care for a youngster they cannot care for, may not only lead to a dead offspring, but could also lead to the parents’ own early death, and even the loss of other offspring,” he said. 

He also noted that the aggressive and targeted mobbing towards Punch in viral videos represented typical behaviour seen in monkey species such as macaques and baboons.

He added: “A good lesson here is that the zookeepers knew what to do and (intervened in this case of parental abandonment) successfully. As I understand the story, Punch is now integrating into the group, which is really the primary concern for him in a zoo environment.”

Orphans in the wild

Wild animals which care for their young, such as mammals, may prioritise their own survival or the survival of other offspring, resulting in them abandoning their young, wildlife experts told ST. 

However, true abandonment tends to be quite rare, said local primatologist Andie Ang.

“Our perceived ‘abandonment’ may be a misunderstood natural behaviour – parents may leave the young temporarily while foraging, or the young may simply wander off,” she added. 

“In actual cases of abandonment, they may be a response to extreme stress,” Dr Ang explained, noting common human-driven causes such as habitat disturbance from development and vehicle collisions.

“When an animal’s environment becomes unpredictable due to human activity, natural parenting behaviours break down,” said Dr Ang, who is also the head of primate conservation and Singapore programmes at Mandai Nature. “Human actions are fundamentally reshaping wildlife experiences.”

She added that rehabilitation of abandoned wild animals typically focuses on minimising human imprinting, a process where young animals form a rapid bond with a human it views as a parent.

Another priority would be maximising survival skills, while ensuring the young animals receive nutrition and physical care. “Whenever possible, the goal is to release the wild animals back into their natural habitat,” she added.

ACRES’ Mr Kalaivanan also added that urbanisation and human activities, such as tree pruning that destroys nests or trapping animals, can also result in young animals becoming stranded or separated from their parents.

ACRES has encountered situations where baby animals appear to be deliberately abandoned by their parents. “This has been noted in common palm civets, and it can also occur among birds, where a runt of the nest may be pushed out,” he added.

In such situations, the wildlife rescue group would assess the status of the animal and hand-raise it where possible.

Australian wildlife veterinarian Chloe Buiting, who garnered attention on Instagram through her post about other animal abandonment cases she had encountered, told ST that the mortality rates of baby animals abandoned by their parents are extremely high, as they are exposed to predation, dehydration and malnutrition. 

Dr Buiting, who has engaged in wildlife veterinary work globally and is currently the chief veterinary officer of conservation organisation The Global Protagonists, said that many rehabilitation centres and veterinary teams around the world are seeing an increase in orphaned wildlife. “This does not necessarily mean parental abandonment as a behavioural choice is increasing. It means mortality pressures are increasing,” she added. 

However, rehabilitation can be resource intensive, ethically complex and is not a substitute for intact ecosystems, she said. 

“The bottom line, and often uncomfortable truth, is that the best survival strategy for young animals is a living, healthy parent in a functioning habitat.”

What should you do if you encounter an abandoned animal?

Punch’s popularity can raise awareness about conservation and animal welfare, but social media can also create problematic engagement, noted Dr Ang. 

By portraying wild monkeys as vulnerable and needing care in unnatural settings, without fully understanding their behaviours, human desire to own such creatures as pets may increase, which can drive illegal wildlife trade, she added. 

“When we see primates behaving in a similar way to humans, whether that’s clinging on to a stuffed toy or wearing clothes, we stop seeing them as wild animals,” said Dr Ang. “Seeing primates exhibiting unnatural behaviours, such as bonding to a stuffed toy, normalises it.” 

“These unnatural behaviours are no longer seen as red flags, and that is dangerous.”

Mr Kalaivanan added that ACRES has observed young animals, which had most likely been hand-raised by members of the public, showing signs of emaciation, weakness and an inability to survive in the wild. 

“If members of the public encounter young animals, we urge them not to feed the animal or bring it home. These are the two most common mistakes people make,” he said.

The public can call the ACRES Wildlife Rescue Hotline on 9783-7782, or send a photo and video for them to assess the situation. They can also contact the NParks’ Animal Response Centre on 1800-476-1600 for reports of wildlife in distress, or any inquiries and feedback on animal-related matters.