Succeeding Grumpy Cat, Boo the pomeranian, Doug the Pug and so many others, the internet has crowned a new animal icon. His name is Punch, and he is a monkey.
The now 7-month-old Japanese macaque, or ‘snow monkey,’ was born at the Ichikawa City Zoo in July 2025. He was abandoned by his mother shortly after being born. To cope with the loss, the zoo gave him a stuffed orangutan plushie to serve as a stand-in mother, allowing him cuddles and affection whenever he wanted.
Recently, a viral video surfaced on social media showing Punch cradling the plush orangutan in one hand and being pushed around by the other monkeys in the enclosure.
The internet was floored. Comment sections on TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms were flooded with reactions demanding justice for Punch and even relating to his struggle.
“Poor baby. So brave,” said one Instagram commenter.
Another commented, “It’s 8 a.m., and I do not need to be crying like this.”
Overnight, Punch became an internet sensation with tens of thousands of viewers from all across the globe tuning in to watch the under 2-foot doe-eyed monkey walk around his enclosure and play all alone with his stuffed plushy.
“I felt kind of sad,” said Sascha Sanchez, 18, of Los Angeles. “He’s such a tiny monkey!”
Like many other viewers, Sanchez, who studies public health, found Punch cute. How could such a cute monkey be harassed like that? Why was the zoo allowing it?
“We love to anthropize other species,” said Freddy Tran Nager, a clinical associate professor of communication in the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. “The pandemic confined most of us to our homes, and many people are still struggling to develop close relationships with other humans. That’s exacerbated by our political divisiveness. So amidst all the social dysfunction and doomscrolling, here comes Punch to our emotional rescue.”
The one thing social media doesn’t do is give background information. For example, the viral video of Punch lacked information in relation to the animal world and how survival works in certain mammals.
A mother macaque abandoning her baby can happen, and is mostly influenced by age, health and inexperience. Experts believe there are two possible natural reasons for abandonment. One was that Punch was born during an extreme heat wave in Japan, so the stress of environmental changes could have played a part. The second circumstance would occur as a result of Punch’s mother being a first-time mother whose inexperience could be a major reason for leaving Punch.
The reasoning for Punch’s abandonment remains unclear.,
When scrolling and stumbling upon poor Punch getting tossed around and poked at by the surrounding monkeys in the enclosure, the immediate reaction was to ask why the zoo wasn’t doing anything about it.
“Obiviosuly it was really sad,” said neuroscience major Jacqueliae Zhai, 21, of New York. “I’m surprised [the zoo] didn’t do anything about it right away.”
However, this behaviour is not uncommon within mammal groups. The problem: people don’t know that.
Punch lies within a matrilineal social hierarchy. Within these domains, there are dominant and subordinate families. Because Punch was left by his mother, he only has the group to teach him the ways, whether that appears like bullying or not. Macaques teach through aggression as a normal social behavior.
While the internet remains concerned, zoologists and professionals consider the monkeys’ behaviour a rite of passage and the norm.
In response to the uproar, the zoo decided to remove some — but not all — of Punch’s fellow macaques within his ecosystem. Total removal would be an actual danger to Punch because it could risk him living in total isolation for the rest of his life.
The zoo has taken advantage of the noise, putting an emphasis on marketing and social media throughout the Punch craze. It’s a strategy that Nager feels every zoo should pounce on when they have the opportunity.
“Zoos worldwide are struggling,” he said. “So when a zoo happens to have a feel-good story, whether it’s the birth of a panda or rare-species rescue, they can and should make the most of it.
The zoo has taken advantage of the noise, putting an emphasis on marketing and social media throughout the Punch craze. It’s a strategy that Nager feels every zoo should pounce on when they have the opportunity.
“Zoos worldwide are struggling,” he said. “So when a zoo happens to have a feel-good story, whether it’s the birth of a panda or rare-species rescue, they can and should make the most of it.
Sold-out tickets to the zoo are the product of what Nager refers to as “influencer marketing.”
“If only all influencers were as universally appealing as Punch,” he said.
As Punch continues to make headlines, false claims and misinterpretations about mammal hierarchies will be spread. With social media’s lack of proven or factual information, not all of Punch’s story is really clear.
“There needs to be more information out there about how [mammals live],” said Zhai, “If it happens a lot, I feel like this is our first time seeing this.”
Holden Graff contributed to the reporting in this article.