Japan's monkey star Punch is growing and thriving

Punch recently became famous after footage from the zoo showed him being abandoned by his mother after birth and finding solace with a toy orangutan.

According to the zoo, he has recently been following an older animal in the small monkey enclosure, which he snuggles up to. Whether this is Punch's "new girlfriend", as can be read on social media, was not confirmed by a zoo spokesperson when asked. The zoo would not disclose the gender or name the monkeys Punch was interacting with. But regardless of whether it is a female or a male: Both get along great, the zoo writes.

Punch eats like a barnstormer

Punch has been looking in the same direction as the other animal more often recently, following it and snuggling up to it. "There are more and more scenes that make you smile involuntarily," it said on X, along with the happy message to all Punch fans that he had once again eaten like a barnyard dog. Millions will remember the early heartbreaking footage of little Punch being pushed away by the other macaques before running behind a rock and clinging to his stuffed animal.

Since then, millions of people around the world have been moved to tears by the fate of the little Japanese macaque, who was born in July last year. In countless memes, he has become a symbol of the crises of our time, of loneliness, but also of resilience.