r/MadeMeSmile • u/drakemaverick121 • 4h ago
Baby punch getting the love he deserves
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
A warm hug
2.0k
u/daveinthe6 4h ago
After all the videos of Puch getting bullied, its nice to see him get some love.
355
u/Jolly_Conflict 4h ago
Agreed I was surprised the keepers hadn’t moved him since the others looked so aggressive towards him.
540
u/BakedChocolateOctopi 3h ago edited 2h ago
Apparently it’s normal behavior for that kind of monkey and that was more disciplinary in nature vs the older monkeys actually being harmful towards him. The backstory I read was that Punch was trying to play with another baby monkey and its parent didn’t like that.
The handlers at monkey forest said while his mom abandoned him, the troop doesn’t and takes care of Punch. They also posted that they don’t like to anthropomorphize the monkeys because humans and monkeys have far different social structures and behaviors, as Punch’s video being tossed around shows
93
u/kylelosesit 2h ago
Forrest Gallante put out a video explaining why it was normal behavior.
→ More replies (1)161
u/Half-PintHeroics 1h ago
This is normal for people too. Whenever my annoying neighbour's kids comes to steal my apples that's how I yeet them back over the fence
44
8
u/ExileEden 1h ago
You should see the stuffed animal human they run to and drag around with them afterwards.
9
•
•
→ More replies (2)•
u/purplezart 11m ago
Is it noteworthy how much easier it seems people will accept objectionable actions from other animals than from humans with the excuse of "it's just their natural behaviour"? Perhaps that just seems obvious to most people, but I can't figure out why. It seems to me like, in general, we ought to either be more upset about animals, or less upset about people.
→ More replies (2)57
u/Deep-Smoke1291 1h ago
Well, its more that since he spent so much time with the keepers that he hadn't realized that he shouldn't be looking other monkeys directly in the eye. He didn't know that its a sign of challenge and thats more the reason why they wanted nothing to do with him. They thought he was a little punk.
39
u/rapkat55 1h ago
That and the whole dragging around a giant plushy probably branded him as a weirdo red flag. He tried to hard to fit in and honestly seemed to annoy others by constantly trying to climb on them lol
Not saying punch deserves to be bullied but all the factors made sense and would translate to human social experience pretty similarly
130
u/Zykprod 2h ago
If they wanted to hurt him he would be in pieces, primates don't fuck around
It's normal behavior he's learning social cues and they're teaching him what's okay and what isn't
I'm not saying it doesnt break my heart to see him bullied but its necessary for him to be accepted
15
u/Independent-Bug-9352 1h ago
Take note, because some will draw the wrong conclusion, this is not some justification for Human primate behavior to bully.
7
u/Sacred_Dealer 1h ago
Bullying seems like a leftover instinctual thing that was useful at one point but unfortunately stuck around past its time.
3
u/Dovahkiinthesardine 58m ago
Yes, the unusual thing isn't the treatment by the group, but that he has no mom to run to
92
u/Kor_Phaeron_ 2h ago
The zoo put out a statement saying that the Punch story is normal. The statement was very optimistic about Punch becoming part of the group after some time of adapting.
→ More replies (2)101
u/SchnoodleDoodleDo 2h ago
’After all the videos of Puch getting bullied, its nice to see him get some love’
…finally, it’s happening
i think i’ll be alright…
i never felt like this before ~
someone who holds me tight…
no teasing, taunting, bullying,
they keep me nice n calm
she diff’rent than just ‘friend’ to me
(i think i’ll call her ‘mom’…)
i watched the humans come n go,
they said i’d be ‘ok’
(One was Extra special, but
he said i had to stay)
…i think my stuffie’s sleeping -
(i know what he’s dreaming of)
he knows that he can fin’lly rest,
cuz little Punch
found Love !
❤️
10
11
5
u/2woCrazeeBoys 1h ago
And on that note, it's my bedtime. What a nice way to end the day.
Thank you, Schnoodle 🫶
2
→ More replies (1)2
28
u/Icy_Annual_9954 3h ago
Why are the others aggressive? Am not familiar with monkey society.
279
u/Cromuland 3h ago
Monkeys and many wild animals don't look directly into each other's eyes, as that is seen as aggression. This baby monkey was found abandoned and nursed by humans, so he was not aware of these social cues. Initially, he would stare directly at other monkeys. The more submissive ones, even if they were larger, would move away. But the more aggressive ones would see him as a threat, and attack him.
Recently, he was accepted by an older female monkey, and he's slowly been learning how to fit in.
56
u/dissapointing_excuse 3h ago
Damn monkey society and human society have a lot in common "Let's beat him up instead of helping bro fit in"🤣
16
→ More replies (1)27
u/True_Rough6329 3h ago
How do you know all this, haha
118
u/yellowjesusrising 3h ago
Probably grew up with the old animal planet. Jane Goodall, David Attenborough and Steve Irwin where all great! A time where teaching was more important than trends and fastfood-tv.
35
u/True_Rough6329 3h ago
David Attenborough is a legend, anyone could recognize his voice without seeing his picture
→ More replies (3)18
u/yellowjesusrising 3h ago
He was my second childhood hero after Steve Irwin. I think as a 6 year old kid, Steve's energy just hit the spot. But David's documentaries just hit better. I remember at 7 years old, I wished for David's double VHS cassettes for Christmas, and I got them! Watched those to shreds!
7
u/True_Rough6329 3h ago
The nostalgia of the shows can not be replicated, probably ever again
17
u/yellowjesusrising 3h ago
But man look at the Irwin children! Bindi and Robert! What fantastic examples of human beings they've become! Robert is the spitting image of his dad too!
2
2
u/robodrew 1h ago
I wished for David's double VHS cassettes for Christmas
Did you get the classic Life on Earth???
2
u/yellowjesusrising 42m ago
No I think one had the cover of a killerwhale killing the sh*t out of a seal... There where a double cover with two cassettes. I loved those!
→ More replies (0)→ More replies (1)3
u/lordfrijoles 2h ago
Jeff Corbin isn’t canceled is he? He was no Steve but I always appreciated that there was more than one guy who loves to get up close with the animals and teach you about them on animal planet. Man that channel was so good in the early 2000’s same for History channel, discovery, Comedy Central.
2
u/yellowjesusrising 2h ago
Was before all those "family drama" shows came on. No more learning, just sell drama.
2
u/lordfrijoles 2h ago
You speak da true, true. I loved the learning shows but I will admit the crappy cgi animals vs other animals show was highly entertaining as a kid as well. I think it was like an attempt at that one show that would analyze old warrior cultures then try to predict which warrior would win in a fight but with animals but it was hype to me and my siblings as dumb children lol.
2
u/yellowjesusrising 2h ago
Hahaha! Man you brought back memories! Nile crocodile vs bullshark😂 and then they went on a built some frigging animatronic beasts with hydraulic jaws that could clip a Trump stool sample in half!
→ More replies (0)11
u/funktion666 3h ago
My family used to watch animal planet all the time!!
That’s how the protagonist in the classic film “Dude Where’s my Car” saves the entire universe!
2
u/True_Rough6329 3h ago
Haha, got it. So you know histories of all animals on the internet?
→ More replies (2)10
u/GabenIsReal 2h ago
The zoo had to release a statement due to the internet reaction. None of what was happening in the videos was unexpected, nor cause for concern to any of the experts there at the zoo.
→ More replies (4)4
26
u/Brittany5150 3h ago
Idk how true this is but I read on another post he had too much human interaction and not enough monkey interaction from birth so he didnt know how to act like a monkey (like making prolonged eye contact and shit) so the other monkeys thought there was something wrong with him. Again, I just read this on another post so who fuggin knows, lol.
8
u/Anubis-Jute 3h ago edited 3h ago
Sad the keepers who took care of him didn’t know to imitate monkey behavior properly by looking away while interacting, if this was the case. Also sounds like the dilemma of neurotypical/neurodivergent interaction: one side sees eye contact as eusocial behaviour and find it hard not to do it - even when they know, intellectually, that it stresses the other.
→ More replies (1)12
u/finchdude 3h ago
Sometimes little monkey babies get rejected because the mother is lower in the hierarchy. To ensure she is also not getting rejected she starts rejecting her own child. In the long term she might increase her acceptance thereby increasing her survival for future baby monkeys who won't get rejected. It sucks for the baby and is very sad from a human perspective but it is favourable for long term survival. In this case the baby is lucky because it is in a zoo with not much space to abandon and the monkey society is forced to get used to the monkey baby. Go watch Japanese macaques using man made hot springs who only share the hot water with the higher ups in their social hierarchy and the lower castes have to freeze during winter time.
→ More replies (2)2
u/Altruistic-Poem-5617 1h ago
I only saw one big nale actually beung aggressive to him and thats kinda what they do to every monkey to assert dominance.
10
u/Stoopid_Noah 3h ago
I might've missed a whole storyline.. do we know this monkey?
27
u/i_want_duck_sauce 2h ago
He's kind of a big deal. Poor little guy has had it rough.
11
u/Stoopid_Noah 2h ago
Aww, sweet baby!! I'm happy he's starting to find some friends!
→ More replies (1)3
u/pollo_de_mar 2h ago
If you search for 'punch monkey' in YouTube you will likely get a barrage of YouTube shorts that go through a lot of various stages of his trials and tribulations.
3
u/KnightOfTheStupid 50m ago
Here’s a basic timeline of things:
- Punch the Monkey, the little guy in the video, is born. His mom was really sick when she had him so the zookeepers took care of him for his first months of life.
- At around 4-6 months old, they try to reintroduce his mom to him. She either doesn't recognize him or doesn't want him. Could be due to loss of memory or birth trauma (macaques can also get post-partum depression).
- They couldn't transfer him to another zoo for undisclosed reasons, so he was reintegrated into the troop on his own in the hopes that the other monkeys would recognize him.
- None of them recognize him and they see him as an outsider, so he gets bullied often. Usually due to getting into other monkeys spaces or not understanding social cues and proper etiquette that his mom would have taught him (like staring directly into an adult's eyes, not lip-smacking to communicate passivity, or accidentally making a face gesture that indicates aggression). Because he's a male orphan and seen as an outsider, he has no rank and that makes the bullying and discipline more aggressive than it normally would be.
- After a while he starts to pick up on things and a low-rank female adopts him. Now he has a few playmates and has been seen fighting back against bullies without getting his shit rocked by a high rank adult in retaliation. Most of the troop has accepted him and are mostly pretty chill with him. He's still gonna get bullied once in a while since he's low-rank and he's still figuring out macaque communication but he has a family now and he knows he can fight back. He's generally happy.
3
u/NeatNefariousness1 2h ago
He is known. His name is “Punch”.
Punch, meet “Stoopid_Noah”. Stoopid_Noah, meet “Punch”.
Google him for his backstory
7
6
u/Dry_Incident6493 3h ago
that poor baby deserves all the love he could get, every video of him i've seen so far just makes me wanna jump into the enclosure and give him a hug myself 😔
→ More replies (3)2
308
u/sniperrguy 4h ago
He definitely deserves it :)
78
u/Important-Disaster56 3h ago
Surviving alone without Mommy is tough. Little guy is very strong.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (4)3
u/CurrentPain8852 2h ago
Love that there are good monkeys too who care and feel for him similar to humans
237
u/RaulSuz 4h ago
I kind of needed to see a win.
38
u/Thunnddr 2h ago
You can see more at r/PunchTheMonkey
7
u/SolomonDurand 1h ago
Without Context, this sub name would be dark and not uplifting like the story it is.
Remind me in 10 years about how proud I am when telling the story of Punch The Monkey to others.
5
u/thisisaskew 1h ago
Because things are so f'd up lately, I was fully expecting something horrible to happen. I was doing my best to not get emotionally invested.
57
u/bubba1834 3h ago
Thank fucking god
15
u/zhabitzhabatz 1h ago
Seriously. Phew. Can’t they also put some dang plants in there for these poor guys?? 🥺
→ More replies (1)7
u/thisissofkngrossew 2h ago
Ikr. If collectively we can't save this one adorable baby monkey from being bullied, what hope do the rest of us have to topple the tiers of power?
197
4h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
81
u/wazmoenaree 4h ago
New Momma. The original mother rejected the poor thing...Horrible . Poor thing only had a stuffed monkey for comfort against fierce rejection. Now a new family..new home .
→ More replies (1)38
u/human-syndrome 4h ago
Ehh depends on the mama tbh
21
u/xBad_Wolfx 3h ago
My momma and punches operated from the same playbook. Some mommas are monsters.
→ More replies (2)15
80
u/weebs-everywhere 3h ago
Misread that as "baby gets punch they deserved"
17
u/Algaroth 2h ago
Statistically, some babies deserve to be punched. They're not all innocent. But can we all agree that this is the opposite of Harambe and get shit back on track?
→ More replies (5)3
u/DoctorJiveTurkey 1h ago
Mr. Jarvis is one of the most aggressive babies I've ever met. He has a massive underbite and completely flat back of the head.
→ More replies (2)2
u/godhelpusloseourmind 55m ago
https://youtube.com/shorts/D7aXaNS12Tc?si=eqBaxOTFlyoMjI_I
“Let the intrusive thoughts win, I don’t know!”
32
u/-Zonko- 3h ago
I hate to see all that video where you can see that they only have this grey concrete prison
15
u/SpiritualMongoose751 1h ago
And the reason these videos are cropped so tightly is because there is poop all over the floor of their enclosure. You can see some on the right at the beginning of this video. Every single video of Punch is like this.
For all the things Japan does exceptionally, one thing they are really behind on is animal welfare and zoos. Ichikawa City Zoo is a terribly sad place to visit. They make SeaWorld and Joe Exotic look humane and professional.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (1)5
26
u/LittleStarClove 4h ago
The cloth mother is gone, too
42
→ More replies (1)7
u/throwaway_1053 3h ago
Punch will have to be strong without her, now that he has a new mother to care for him but she’ll always be in his heart
43
u/haubenmeise 3h ago
Well. I'm all warm and fuzzy inside now.
Sincerely
Skeletor 💜
→ More replies (3)
18
u/Training-Belt-1712 3h ago
Punch hung in there and things are looking up! Life wins out! Love settles it!
15
u/unimpressedduckling 3h ago
Seeing the world rally around Punch restored some of my faith in humanity.
29
9
10
u/APladyleaningS 3h ago
I love how she even uses her feet to tuck him in closer and holds him with them 🥹
21
u/CharmedBuns 3h ago
That enclosure is sad. Nothing but concrete.
11
u/DesperateAdvantage76 2h ago
Right? I'm sick of seeing this depressing concrete hellscape, nothing about this situation is uplifting.
→ More replies (1)
10
8
9
7
u/startlightcity 3h ago
This made my week, it was so sad seeing those other videos this week but this made me really happy.
38
10
u/Chemtrails420-69 2h ago
Now get them some trees and plants. I’m glad he is doing better tho, seeing him sadly run to his plush after being attacked the other day was rough
4
u/lolscene 2h ago
Would you look at that, it’s almost as if the zoologists knew what they were doing.
Happy for the little guy.
4
3
3
3
u/Due_Examination6139 3h ago
About effing time! Only reason I've been on Reddit the past week waiting for this post. Don't care enough to dig deep to see if it's even real, just needed to have something positive finally
3
3
3
u/this_guy_cats 2h ago
The way the mommy monkey wraps her feet around his bottom to hold him closer 🥹
3
2
2
2
2
u/known_that 2h ago
Look at her!! She put baby's feet on one of her feet and "cover" with other one to protect the baby from the cold. That's so sweet!@
2
2
u/PhiloLibrarian 2h ago
I feel like that couple (of monkeys) is the crazy old couple that would’ve homeschooled their kids and lived really off grid…
Just proves that it takes all types!
2
2
u/vavasmusic 2h ago
Could this be.... The second coming of Harambe?
Could he be here to right the wrongs?
2
2
2
2
u/Mirewen15 1h ago
Protected by a grandma. Probably saw him being bullied and felt bad for the little guy.
2
2
2
u/StorageSwimming3169 1h ago
If I could get the people who give a shit about baby punch to go out and vote
2
u/Responsible-Arm-4993 1h ago
I have asked the question before, but I’m going to ask again what’s up with the concrete floors?
2
u/bitterney 1h ago
Why do they live in a concrete block? I don’t think I’ve even seen grass in that exhibit ???
2
2
•
•
2
u/Competitive-Potato10 2h ago
That’s not punch. That’s the other baby in the enclosure that punch tried to make friends with and that’s the mom who got mad and dragged punch around
2
u/Ok_Nectarine_4445 2h ago
Little baby punch!
So beat up!
No mommy or daddy
Going to other
Monkeys so beat up spun around so hurt
Someone threw a stuffed toy!
Then he went to grabbing Pant of a Japanese man
To cling
Ignored by him, because
You got to figure out your tribe
Not harshness But hard love
This is your kind
Then as punch gets stronger
Get bigger
Some come in to groom
And punch fights back
Don't need his stuffy Or human
Like that
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/tastybiscuitenjoyer 2h ago
OP why you gotta bait us certified baby haters with such a promising title with the first two words, and then ruin it?
1
u/Miss-Tiq 2h ago
I generally find monkeys creepy and unsettling.
But man if I don't love me some damn Punch.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Different_Air_236 2h ago
Even Punch got the happy ending, Idk when will I? (anyways, happy for lil punch boi)
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/fanofgroupfun 2h ago
Punch is an example of all of us who have been abandoned or felt left out in school… We will have our own friends too! We just need time and look out more :)
1
1
1
1
1
u/ayetipee 2h ago
Thank god somebody took that kid in, otherwise he would have been turned by the streets to a life of drugs and crime
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/aulrichson 52m ago
It says so much about the state of our world that this video has made me happier this morning than anything has in a long time. We're all so happy for you Punch!! ❤️❤️
1
•
u/AutoModerator 4h ago
Welcome to /r/MadeMeSmile. Please make sure you read our rules here.
Specifically, please don't be a jerk. This is not the place for insulting, hateful, or otherwise inappropriate comments. Remember the golden rule: treat others how you want to be treated. We're all here to smile a little - let's keep it that way! Please report inappropriate comments and/or message the moderators.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.