Primate making new friends at Japan zoo
Clutching a monkey plushie, Eliete Ikeda screamed “Punch!” as she caught sight of the underdog baby macaque still drawing crowds of photo-hungry visitors to a Japanese zoo weeks after he shot to stardom.
Seven-month-old Punch was abandoned by his mother and became an internet sensation after clips of him clinging to a plush orangutan toy for comfort—and seemingly being roughhoused by fellow monkeys—proliferated online last month.
His plight at Ichikawa City Zoo outside Tokyo has since spawned a dedicated fanbase under the hashtag #HangInTherePunch, leading to the local facility being flooded with an unprecedented number of visitors, including foreign tourists.
‘Relatability’
“I think it’s the relatability of it,” 30-year-old Jon Frigillana of the United States told Agence France-Presse (AFP) when asked why the monkey is tugging at the heartstrings of so many.
Hand-raised in an artificial environment immediately after his birth in July, the small, dark-furred macaque is gradually acclimatizing, the zoo said, no longer clutching the plushie all the time. He’s also making a few friends.
“He’s going through a lot, but seeing him come through adversity… It’s nice to see strength in that way,” Frigillana said.
‘Becoming bigger’
But the attention showered on the zoo hasn’t all been positive.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called Punch’s initial predicament a reminder of the cruelty faced by animals in captivity.
In the strictly hierarchical society of Japanese macaques, it is not uncommon for higher-ranked individuals to “discipline and scold” newcomers in behaviors that are “fundamentally different from abuse in human society,” Yasunaga, the zoo official, said.
On AFP’s recent visit, Punch was spotted playing alone with chains and branches on the floor of his enclosure, and occasionally approaching others—only to be ignored—before going back to his plushie.
“We hope he will eventually let go of his stuffed toy and become bigger in size and indistinguishable from others,” Yasunaga said.
