Abandoned by mother, baby monkey ‘Punch’ finds comfort in stuffed orangutan; charms zoo visitors 

Meet Punch, the baby monkey who finds comfort in a stuffed orangutan, charming visitors at Ichikawa City Zoo.

At a zoo outside Tokyo, the monkey enclosure ​has become a must-see attraction thanks to an inseparable pair: ‌Punch, a baby Japanese macaque, and his stuffed ​orangutan companion.

Punch's mother abandoned the macaque ⁠when he was born seven months ago at the Ichikawa City Zoo and when an onlooker noticed and alerted zookeepers, they ‌swung into action.

Japanese baby macaques typically cling to their mothers to build muscle strength and ‌for a sense of security, so Punch needed ‌a ⁠swift intervention, zookeeper Kosuke Shikano said.

The keepers ⁠experimented with substitutes including rolled-up towels and other stuffed animals before settling on the orange, bug-eyed orangutan, sold by Swedish furniture brand ​IKEA.

“This stuffed animal has ‌relatively long hair and several easy places to hold," Shikano said. "We thought that its resemblance to a monkey might help Punch integrate back into the troop later ‌on, and that’s why we chose it."

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