Can Punch the Monkey Be Something We Can All Can Root For?

[citygator]

If you haven't met Punch the Monkey your internet must have been down all week. And if the story doesn't resonate with you then your heart has been down all week too.

If the internet had eyes, all of them would currently be on the Ichikawa City Zoo in Chiba, Japan, where a rejected baby monkey has become an unlikely sensation.

Why do we care? Checklist: Small animal? Check. Cute and adorable? Check. Heartbreaking circumstances? Check. An underdog plot of a Disney short? Check. Catchy name? Check.

Who Is Punch The Monkey?​

Punch (Punch-kun) is a baby macaque at Ichikawa City Zoo in Chiba, Japan. Born in July 2025, Punch was rejected by his mother, and seemingly, the rest of his macaque tribe.



Bullying, it seems, is not a human invention—clips and images of Punch being attacked by older macaques began to be shared across social media, making commentators emotional (and igniting genuine rage against the offending monkeys).

When it comes to adorable animal clips, it doesn’t take much for the internet to slide into anthropomorphism, but in this case, it’s hard not to relate to Punch’s plight.



The little monkey resembles a furry human toddler, and the fact that he is often seen clutching his stuffed IKEA orangutan, clearly cuddling it for comfort, is genuinely heartbreaking.

 

[sealybobo]

If you haven't met Punch the Monkey your internet must have been down all week. And if the story doesn't resonate with you then your heart has been down all week too.

If the internet had eyes, all of them would currently be on the Ichikawa City Zoo in Chiba, Japan, where a rejected baby monkey has become an unlikely sensation.

Why do we care? Checklist: Small animal? Check. Cute and adorable? Check. Heartbreaking circumstances? Check. An underdog plot of a Disney short? Check. Catchy name? Check.



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Who Is Punch The Monkey?​

Punch (Punch-kun) is a baby macaque at Ichikawa City Zoo in Chiba, Japan. Born in July 2025, Punch was rejected by his mother, and seemingly, the rest of his macaque tribe.



Bullying, it seems, is not a human invention—clips and images of Punch being attacked by older macaques began to be shared across social media, making commentators emotional (and igniting genuine rage against the offending monkeys).

When it comes to adorable animal clips, it doesn’t take much for the internet to slide into anthropomorphism, but in this case, it’s hard not to relate to Punch’s plight.



The little monkey resembles a furry human toddler, and the fact that he is often seen clutching his stuffed IKEA orangutan, clearly cuddling it for comfort, is genuinely heartbreaking.

I hope his new home is suitable for a monkey. I hope the owner is rich and can build a huge enclosure that makes him happy. And other monkeys! Or maybe a cat for him to hang with. Or dog.

I’d love to ultimately set him free but not if he won’t survive.

This story breaks my heart. Wonder why mom rejected him?

 

[1srelluc]

I'm shocked!

 

[Hellokitty]

Wait so humanizing a baby monkey is adorable, but associating human kids as monkeys is racist?
Weird how all the clips gushing over the Punch are white people....

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Not sure how I missed this story.

I've been looking at kids getting sniped in Gaza, IDF soldiers riding their bicycles and playing with their toys and then the Epstein Files

 

[JoeB131]

I'm shocked!

Thanks for reminding us how 1980's music sucked.

 

[1srelluc]

Thanks for reminding us how 1980's music sucked.

But the videos were awesome.

 

[odanny]

Wait so humanizing a baby monkey is adorable, but associating human kids as monkeys is racist?
Weird how all the clips gushing over the Punch are white people....

 

[JoeB131]

But the videos were awesome.

But that was the problem. They became more interested in the videos than the quality of the music.

 

[JoeB131]

Wait so humanizing a baby monkey is adorable, but associating human kids as monkeys is racist?
Weird how all the clips gushing over the Punch are white people....

I think it depends on context.

I call my little nieces and nephews "monkeys" all the time.

But if I said that about a black kid, their parents would want to kick my ass and rightfully so.

 

[1srelluc]

But that was the problem. They became more interested in the videos than the quality of the music.

It was decent entertainment at the time.

 

[citygator]

I hope his new home is suitable for a monkey. I hope the owner is rich and can build a huge enclosure that makes him happy. And other monkeys! Or maybe a cat for him to hang with. Or dog.

I’d love to ultimately set him free but not if he won’t survive.

This story breaks my heart. Wonder why mom rejected him?

Honestly for a first world nation like Japan that zoo enclosure looks like trash even if he wasn’t struggling with the socialization.

 

[citygator]

Wait so humanizing a baby monkey is adorable, but associating human kids as monkeys is racist?
Weird how all the clips gushing over the Punch are white people....

So we can’t just look at a poor little monkey and root for him without trying to make ourselves a victim of something? You righties are unbearable.

 

[citygator]

Not sure how I missed this story.

I've been looking at kids getting sniped in Gaza, IDF soldiers riding their bicycles and playing with their toys and then the Epstein Files

Sadly there are a lot of tragedies vying for attention and some lesser stories like this. Society can be judged on how its strongest treat the weakest. We aren’t excellent.

 

[sealybobo]

Honestly for a first world nation like Japan that zoo enclosure looks like trash even if he wasn’t struggling with the socialization.

I hate most zoos and circuses. I’ve heard of zoos that the animals feel like they are in the wild and you drive thru them. I might not hate a more modernized zoo.

 

[Carl in Michigan]

As you eat veal?

 

[MostBoringManInTheWorld]

I hope his new home is suitable for a monkey. I hope the owner is rich and can build a huge enclosure that makes him happy. And other monkeys! Or maybe a cat for him to hang with. Or dog.

I’d love to ultimately set him free but not if he won’t survive.

This story breaks my heart. Wonder why mom rejected him?

Cuz his mom's a whore.

 

[Captain Creeper]

Kind of reminds me of black families when baby-daddy goes out for smokes and never comes back.

 

[Carl in Michigan]

Society can be judged on how its strongest treat the weakest

And yet you support "a woman's right to choose"

And yet you have no problem with veal

 

[Seymour Flops]

I'll root for this misfit monkey rejected by his mother when you root for an unborn human rejected by his mother.

I do believe that being rejected by mamma is how most liberal men get turned in the wrong direction as kids. They spend the rest of their lives trying to rid themselves of loneliness, despair and feeling of rejection. They seek approval from women by trying to be as muc like one as possible.

But I will say that this monkey should not be subjected to any of the experimentation that Anthony Fouci was fond of funding.