The Life of Punch
A dog is a man’s best friend. And an IKEA plushie is one baby monkey’s best—and only— friend. Abandoned at birth and seemingly bullied by his troop, Punch-kun has captured the hearts of millions of people worldwide.
And though you may know the story, you may not know the reason behind all the monkey business going on with Punch and his troop.
Let us go back to July 26, 2025, the day Punch was born. It was the peak of summer, and Ichikawa City Zoo had been facing a heatwave. This, combined with the inexperience of Punch’s mom as a first-time mother, is likely what caused her to abandon him.
Zookeepers waited to see if he would be taken in by another monkey, but after a day without results, they decided to step in and temporarily separate and hand-feed him. Around six months after this, once Punch was strong enough, they reintroduced him into the group.
Though Punch was born healthy and was able to physically develop just fine, there is one important thing he couldn’t develop with his human caretakers—societal awareness.
Monkeys are very social creatures by nature. Like humans, they have several complex methods of communication, both verbal and non-verbal. They do sometimes use vocalizations, but body language, such as facial expressions and hand gestures, is what is truly crucial in navigating monkey society. These are taught to young monkeys, along with certain societal norms and “unspoken rules,” by their mothers as they age.
To get into the specifics, Punch’s genus of monkey—macaque—is one that follows a very strict societal hierarchy called a matriarchy. For them, females are at the center of their power system. They dictate the allocation of resources, such as food and location, and maintain social order within the troop.
Female macaques primarily stay in the troop that they were born into (called their natal group) and inherit their mother’s rank. Meanwhile, males tend to move from group to group, bearing no role in raising their young. Having been abandoned by his mother, Punch was left with no rank, no knowledge of societal norms, and no guidance or protection whatsoever.
Naturally, he was quite lost when he stumbled into society for the first time after six months in human care. “Monkey see, monkey do,” but this little monkey had unfortunately not seen much. His lack of awareness about the norms is what led to all those clips of him seemingly being chased around or bullied by other monkeys. However, several animal behavior experts and Ichikawa’s zoo officials have stated that this is completely normal behavior.
The other macaques were not just monkeying around, bullying, or ostracizing Punch. They were simply scolding him, as is natural for baby monkeys, to teach him how their society works. In macaque societies, correction through chasing and mild aggression is a normal mechanism used to reinforce hierarchy and social order.
In more recent clips, Punch has actually been seen grooming other macaques, which is a common and important part of forming relationships within a troop. He has even received hugs from other macaques. As a result of Punch’s so-called bullying, he is now beginning to successfully reintegrate into his troop and is on track to have a regular monkey life.
What we assumed was monkey business and unfair bullying was actually just the monkeys’ natural business. And although it took Punch a while, this monkey did, in fact, see and is now beginning to do.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBINnZq-_7A
https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c1d6ell32weo
https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Macaca/
https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2026/02/24/punch-the-monkey-adopted-new-family-explained/88841786007/
https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/primate-sociality-and-social-systems-58068905/
