Mood over time
20 hours ago
Today was a real breakthrough. One of the elder females in the troop — zookeepers call her Kumi — spent nearly ten minutes grooming Punch while he clutched his plushie. In macaque society, grooming is trust. It's not just hygiene; it's a social contract. Punch sat very still, which the keepers say shows he's learning. He still retreated to his corner at feeding time, but the afternoon brought something that felt unmistakably like belonging.
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A juvenile male chased Punch away from the feeding platform
Punch had a rough morning. One of the juvenile males decided the feeding platform was not for baby monkeys with stuffed animals, and made that opinion very clear. Punch skittered off with his orangutan tucked under one arm — which, honestly, looked both heartbreaking and extremely determined. The keepers note this is normal dominance behavior and Punch handled it without escalating. Small wins.
A calm Tuesday — Punch napped near the edge of the group
Some days are just quiet, and that's okay. Punch spent most of today within visual range of a small cluster of females, which keepers take as a good sign — proximity without interaction is still progress. He napped in the sun with his plushie propped beside him. The internet found this deeply relatable.
Punch shared a piece of sweet potato with another juvenile
Hold your heart. Punch — who has been eating mostly alone since joining the troop — today shared a piece of sweet potato with a younger juvenile female. She reached for it. He let her have it. Food sharing in macaques is genuinely significant social behavior. Keepers were thrilled. Social media lost its mind. Punch, for his part, immediately went back to chewing his plushie's ear, which is very on brand.
Punch spent most of the day alone in his familiar corner
Not every day is a win. Punch retreated to the corner where he first entered the enclosure and stayed there most of the afternoon. The keepers aren't alarmed — this is part of the process, the two steps back that follow the one step forward. He ate well, slept well, and kept his plushie close. Some days you just need a stuffed orangutan and a corner. We understand, Punch.
Two juvenile females played near Punch for the first time
Valentine's Day energy carrying into Sunday? Two juvenile females spent about twenty minutes playing within two meters of Punch — not with him exactly, but near him, which is how it starts. Punch watched with what keepers describe as intense interest. He didn't retreat. That's progress. The stuffed orangutan was present, as always.
Punch went viral worldwide — tens of millions of views
Today the internet found Punch. A video compilation of his first weeks on Monkey Mountain — the falls, the rejections, the determined little climbs with his plushie — spread across TikTok, Instagram, and X with the speed and emotional force of something that was clearly always going to happen. Punch became a symbol. For resilience. For showing up. For being seven months old and still trying. #HangInTherePunch trended globally. And Punch, at Ichikawa City Zoo, had a perfectly ordinary Thursday.