A six-month-old baby, who has already begun to interact with other monkeys, finally seemed to have found a friend.
However, soon an incident occurred: an adult monkey attacked Punch while he was peacefully snacking.
The adult grabbed him and dragged him along the ground, but the little one managed to break free and hurried to his beloved plush orangutan, which the zoo staff had given him instead of a mother. Holding his toy, Punch calmed down a bit.
Punch was born at the Itikawa Zoo in Japan, but shortly after his birth, his mother rejected him, and the zoo staff began to care for him. The soft orangutan became a substitute for maternal warmth and a sense of security. When Punch was transferred to the general enclosure, he faced aggression from other monkeys, but gradually some of them began to show him care. Research shows that maternal rejection of infants is a fairly common phenomenon: between 7% and 8% of Japanese macaques abandon their babies. This most often happens with first-time mothers who cannot cope with stress or inexperience. The likelihood of rejection also increases for macaques with low status in the hierarchy. The attacks from peers on Punch are likely due to the absence of a mother capable of protecting him.
