Punch the Monkey Celebrated His First Birthday, and He's Making Other Baby Macaques Feel as Safe as Possible

It feels like it was only yesterday that Punch the monkey made his way to our hearts.

Punch, a Japanese baby macaque who was rejected by his mother, became internet famous earlier this year. It all started when he was captured wandering around his enclosure with a stuffed monkey from IKEA that imitated the mother who abandoned him, followed by videos of Punch struggling to make friends with the other, adult monkeys at the Tokyo zoo. The internet immediately exploded with love and the need to protect little Punch, who only ever wanted a show of compassion from his friends. 

In time, Punch found companionship with other monkeys and began to rely on his devoted zoo keeper, who took it upon themselves to help him adjust as much as they could. Since then, we have not heard much from Punch, which we honestly considered a good thing. No news is good news, right? No one wanted to see any more videos of Punch running away from other monkeys; we wanted him to thrive and grow up in a nurturing and loving environment.

Well, just a few weeks ago, Punch celebrated his first birthday, and the Ichikawa City Zoo received thousands of birthday cards for the beloved macaque, which led to a heartwarming update about Punch the not-so-tiny-anymore monkey and his new, highly important role in his enclosure.