Name: 'Punch' the monkey making new friends
Uploaded: 2026-02-27T23:04:01.000Z
Duration: 4 min 14 s
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The seven month old macaque is becoming a global sensation since attaching himself to a stuffed animal after his mother abandoned him.

Fans started growing concerned last week when video showed adult monkeys in the troop getting aggressive with Punch.

But now the Japanese zoo where they all live, says Punch is bonding with the other monkeys.

host of ABC's Wildlife Nation, Jeff Corwin's here to tell us more about Punch and the growing fascination with him.

So a lot of people were calling for the zoo to get Punch out of there when they saw that video of an adult monkey dragging Punch on the floor.

As an expert, what was your reaction when you saw that video?

Absolutely, our hearts were being pulled and tugged and a little broken by that moment, seeing the very difficult social contexts that these primates have to live in.

But truth be told, if you were to take this young macaque, this Japanese macaque, remove him from its setting where he has to learn the social boundaries, he has to learn the hierarchical do's and don'ts in this community that's basically a matrilineal community.

If you'd remove Punch from his community, despite his challenges and conflicts, it would only be worse for him.

And we just showed the video there, Punch immediately runs to his stuffed animal for comfort.

What do you make of how the zoo has used this stuffy as a tool?

Well, this plushie has played a huge role in Punch's life and giving him a sense of comfort.

And of course, we're seeing this in the context of 21st century zoos.

And what a lot of us don't realize was that back in the 1950s and 60s, there was a very infamous but important study done by a professor by the name of Harry Harlo at the University of Wisconsin.

And he took the close cousin of the Japanese maaque, the rhesus maaque, and they did this study.

You might remember this from your college psychology programs, where they pulled baby monkeys away from their parents, from their mom, and

They gave him a choice of a, of a, of a, of a plushy monkey with no milk, which was a toy or a very rough wire monkey that had milk, and

they would actually choose the plushie, no milk.

They choose that comfort mother like, love over substance of food.

So this surrogate moment is critically important.

Just like with our children, we see our little kids with little plushies and they hold them tight it's the same thing here with this baby macaque.

How much of this mirrors how humans socialize and seek comfort?

Are there lessons we can learn about ourselves here?

Those studies from 70 years ago with Harry Harlow at the University of Wisconsin.

We are distant cousins of the Japanese macaques.

These are incredibly intelligent animals that rely on each other to survive.

They groom each other, they comfort each other.

And sisters and aunts and cousins are taking care of each other.

So there's a lot of us that we see and identify in Punch, which is why the whole world has been drawn to this.

But again, it's important to remember that if we took Punch away and raised him in a human care environment where he could no longer interact with his family members, that would be a permanent decision.

And now we see that, that it's been tough for him, but he's learning.

He's learning the rules of the road in this community, and he is adapting.

And the relationships and those lessons he learned now will.

Will play big for him as he becomes an adult within this community.

All right, Jeff Corwin, we appreciate your expertise, as always.