Japan’s monkey sensation Punch gets thousands of birthday messages as he turns 1 on Sunday

Punch, the orphaned monkey at a Japanese zoo that stole many people’s hearts by clinging to an orangutan plushie, is marking his first birthday with a flood of well-wishing messages from his fans around the world — even though he now has friends and is no longer holding on to the toy.

ICHIKAWA, Japan — Punch, the orphaned monkey at a Japanese zoo that stole many people’s hearts by clinging to an orangutan plushie, is marking his first birthday with a flood of well-wishing messages from his fans around the world — even though he now has friends and is no longer holding on to the toy.

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Punch was abandoned by his mother after his birth a year ago Sunday, presumably because of exhaustion. Zookeepers nursed him and gave him the toy to develop his gripping ability, something newborn macaques need to survive.

Punch is no longer a plump baby with the plushie and he’s hard to distinguish from other monkeys as he mingles and plays with them at an enclosure at the Ichikawa City Zoological and Botanical Garden.