Punch and Ora-mama: Japanese zoo’s abandoned baby monkey finds comfort in plushie ‘mom’

Punch, a baby macaque abandoned by his mother at birth, went viral for clinging to a stuffed orangutan toy, named 'Ora-mama', for comfort at Japan’s Ichikawa City Zoo. Videos of him with his "surrogate mother" have melted hearts online.

Ichikawa: An abandoned baby monkey has melted hearts worldwide after being seen clinging to a stuffed orangutan toy. Punch, a young Japanese macaque born on July 26, 2025, at the Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan, was rejected by his first-time mother shortly after birth.

Weighing just 500 grams, the fragile newborn needed round-the-clock care. Zookeepers Kosuke Shikano and Shumpei Miyakoshi stepped in to hand-raise him, ensuring he remained exposed to the sounds and scents of other monkeys to prepare him for eventual reintegration into the troop.

Punch the monkey and Ora-mama

～お知らせ～ 現在、サル山の中にぬいぐるみを持った子ザルがいます。 2025年7月26日に生まれ、放置されていたところから人工哺育で育ち、今年の1月19日から群れで過ごしています。 名前は「パンチ」という男の子です！........

© News9Live