Abandoned baby monkey finds comfort in plush toy

A rescued six-month-old macaque in Japan has found fame online because of his attachment to a monkey plush toy. Staff at the Ichikawa City Zoo gave the plushie to Punch as a surrogate mother after initially hand-rearing the animal who had been abandoned in the wild. The cuddly toy helped Punch cope as he joined other monkeys in a larger enclosure in January 2026.