A baby monkey named Punch at Ichikawa City Zoo in Chiba Prefecture drew global attention after a visitor filmed him being dragged by an adult female in February 2026, and the video went viral. But behind the footage lies a longer story that raises questions about captive environments, climate change, and their impact on Japanese macaques.

Punch, a Japanese macaque — also known as a snow monkey — was born on July 26, 2025 at Ichikawa City Zoological and Botanical Garden in Chiba Prefecture, but his mother did not care for him and keepers began hand-rearing him the following day.

As a surrogate to cling to, keepers provided an orangutan plush toy commonly referred to as “Oran-Mama.”

For an infant macaque, clinging to its mother provides not only warmth and comfort but also the primary platform through which young animals observe, imitate and begin acquiring the behavioral repertoire of their community. A plush toy provides contact, but not smell, movement, sound or the contingent responsiveness of a living caregiver.

Tetsuro Matsuzawa, former director of Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute and former president of the International Primatological Society, told Anadolu that the zoo has faced a similar situation before.

In June 2008, a newborn female named Otome was also abandoned and hand-reared after clinging to a yellow bear plush toy before gradually being reintroduced to the troop. By nine months old she had been accepted by the troop, and she later gave birth and remains in the troop today, according to the Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun.

Punch’s reintegration “has progressed in almost the same way,” according to Matsuzawa. After being abandoned at birth, Punch was introduced first from outside the enclosure, then through cage mesh and later directly into the troop beginning in January 2026.

The zoo responded to the viral video by clarifying that such interactions are normal within macaque social dynamics.

“Punch has nowhere else to go — he cannot be released into the wild, and there is no ‘sanctuary’ available for Japanese macaques,” Matsuzawa said.

However, several questions surrounding Punch’s case remain unanswered.

Matsuzawa emphasized that the zoo has not disclosed the identity of Punch’s mother or her reproductive history. It also remains unknown whether Otome — now 18 years old and still part of the troop — showed any behavior toward Punch, who was raised under similar circumstances. Unlike Otome, who had two same-age peers during reintegration, the number of infants born alongside Punch in 2025 has not been made public.

According to Matsuzawa, maternal abandonment is virtually absent in wild Japanese macaques and wild chimpanzees but occurs with some regularity in captivity, especially among first-time mothers.

Though the zoo has not disclosed the mother’s identity, “a first-time mother may stumble in her initial attempt at maternal care,” he said.

He identified three compounding factors behind Punch’s abandonment. The first is maternal inexperience. The second is the poverty of the captive environment.

“Japanese macaques live in forests, moving freely on the ground and in the trees. A concrete enclosure without vegetation, soil, shade, or structural complexity is fundamentally incompatible with their natural needs — especially under today's increasingly extreme summer temperatures,” Matsuzawa said, adding that alopecia visible across the Ichikawa troop points to chronic stress levels rarely seen in wild populations.

From 2009 to 2026, no structural changes to the enclosure are visible, Matsuzawa reported.

“The poverty of the captive environment is something that even dedicated keepers cannot compensate for,” he said.

The third factor is climate. On July 26, 2025 — the day Punch was born — Ichikawa recorded a high of 33.4C (92.1F) and a low of 27.8C (82F), reflecting tropical-night conditions linked to a strong Pacific high-pressure system covering the wider Kanto region.

For a species adapted to cool forest environments, the heat-reflective concrete enclosure would have created severe thermal stress conditions for a first-time mother with a newborn, Matsuzawa said.

He outlined several recommendations for enclosure reform, including three-dimensional climbing structures, natural soil substrate, running water access, improved shade and tree planting to create a natural canopy.

“Creating natural shade through real vegetation is essential for both thermal comfort and psychological well-being,” he said.

Climate toll on Japan’s captive macaques

The thermal dimension of Punch’s story is also supported by field research.

Goro Hanya, a professor at Kyoto University's Center for Ecological Research and a co-author of research measuring energy expenditure in wild Japanese macaques, told Anadolu that the species spends only 5 to 8 percent more energy in winter than in summer — reflecting long evolutionary adaptation to cold forest environments.

Heat exposure, however, remains less studied. The thermoneutral zone for captive macaques ranges between 10C and 30C (50F and 86F). On the day Punch was born, temperatures reached 33.4C (92.1F).

"By observing wild macaques, it is obvious that temperature is a significant factor affecting their activity," Hanya said.

He also noted that psychological stress independently increases energy expenditure, suggesting that thermal and behavioral pressures affecting Punch’s troop may be compounding rather than separate factors.

“Even in a simple captive environment, some degree of behavioral thermoregulation is possible,” Hanya said.

In the wild, macaques sunbathe, huddle and select microhabitats to regulate temperature — adaptations shaped primarily by winter conditions rather than summer heatwaves. In an unshaded concrete enclosure on a 33C day, the most basic protective option — shade — was absent.

“We are still not sure how the recent very hot summer in Japan affects wild Japanese macaques,” Hanya said.

The forest environment acts as a thermal buffer, making impacts harder to observe in the wild. In captive environments without that protection, the consequences may already be visible.

The zoo has recently established a system to accept external donations, according to an official announcement posted on US social media company X.

“If we hope to improve the environment—not only in Ichikawa but potentially in other zoos as well—this may be the right moment for people to contribute and help bring about meaningful change,” Matsuzawa said.