Footage of Punch-kun, a Japanese macaque at the Ichikawa City Zoological and Botanical Garden in Chiba Prefecture, has been spreading widely on social media.

Punch-kun was born in July 2025, but was then abandoned by his mother, so the keepers raised him by bottle-feeding milk. When they gave him an orangutan plushie (oran-mama), he began snuggling up to it. When it’s time for the keepers to bring food, he sometimes ignores the food and instead clings tightly to the keeper’s leg, refusing to let go. He’s also incredibly adorable when he walks on two legs while dragging Oran-mama along in one hand. Some of you may have already seen videos of him like that.

There is a well-known psychology study on attachment. Researchers prepared two “mothers” for baby monkeys. One was made of wire, with a baby bottle attached to its chest. The other had the same shape, but its body was covered in soft cloth, and this one had no milk.

When the baby monkeys were hungry, they would go to the wire mother and drink milk from the bottle. But as soon as they finished, they moved away and spent most of their time clinging to the cloth mother instead. In other words, for emotional stability, it’s not only the nutrition needed to survive that matters, but the warmth of touch and the feeling of being protected are also extremely important.

For Punch-kun, Oran-mama is probably just like that “cloth mother”. And now, he also has companions nearby, monkeys named Moe-chan and Momiage-kun. As the number of comforting, warm presences around him grows from one to two, then three, Punch-kun’s world is expanding more and more.

Having his life sustained by keepers feeding him milk, cuddling a plushie, and then meeting friends, Punch-kun’s gradual adjustment to monkey society feels natural and strong. Watching him can give us courage, too, and it really warms my heart.

Punch-kun, I hope you grow up healthy and energetic, in a safe place, and surrounded by good companions. I’ll always be cheering for you.