Punch isn’t just any baby monkey – he’s the internet’s newest furry heartthrob, a 7- month-old Japanese macaque at the Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan who went viral back in summer of 2025 and is going viral again.
🐒 A baby macaque has shot to social media stardom after being abandoned by his mother
Six-month-old Punch became an internet sensation after footage of him clinging forlornly to zookeepers and dragging around a stuffed orangutan toy were widely shared on X. pic.twitter.com/89P5bFDsrj [1]
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 20, 2026 [2]
Born last summer, Punch was abandoned by his monkey mom almost immediately and was hand-raised by zoo staffers. He was placed with other macaques at the zoo in January but struggled with socializing, not having had a mom to show him the ropes.
Punch found solace in the arms of an IKEA orangutan plushie that zookeepers gave him to keep him company. The viral videos of him dragging that fuzzy friend around like a security blanket have produced millions of views.
But then on February 19, a video surfaced of other monkeys in Punch’s habitat roughhousing him. He ran away from them and grabbed his toy for solace, looking very scared.
Arkadaşlarının şiddet uyguladığı Punch, oyuncağının yanına koştu. pic.twitter.com/xxQ8ZAbZr8 [3]
— Pusholder (@pusholder) February 19, 2026 [4]
The good news: another video showed other monkeys appearing to support him and his furry friend.
Everything is getting better for little Punch as the older monkeys came to support him. The monkey that went viral on social media in the past few days is starting to get some company. pic.twitter.com/ba6oVoQ6lU [5]
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) February 20, 2026 [6]
Staffers at the zoo are reminding everyone that baby monkeys do get scolded and shoved around as part of learning their complicated monkey social rules – and that the occasional roughhousing is normal as he tries (and sometimes fails) to make monkey buddies.
One of the zookeepers has said: “Even when scolded, he recovers quickly. He’s mentally strong and steadily learning how to socialize.” They also said that no monkeys have shown serious aggression towards Punch and that challenges are part of the learning process.
But they’re keeping an eye on things. And so are millions of Punch fans across the globe.