THE PUNCH LINE

TMS explores why thousands of people are identifying with a baby Japanese macaque that has emerged as the internet’s darling

- KRISHNA P S

PUNCH was just days old when his mother abandoned him last July. Help-Jess and alone, the baby Japanese macaque was saved from death by staffers of the Ichikawa Zoo in Japan.

One of them gave him a stuffed orangutan toy to keep him company. Over the past few days, the little one, clutching the doll for reassurance, has straggled into the hearts of millions across the world.

What drew the world’s attention first was the video of little Punch hugging his orangutan toy, even as other monkeys in the zoo enclosure rejected him. Every time he got bullied or pushed away, he would cling to the doll for solace.

Photos and videos of him, sleeping with or walking while dragging the doll, more than double his size, hit like a punch to the stomach.

When Punch slept hugging the orangutan doll for warmth, netizens from across the globe united to quietly cheer him. They celebrated in relief, as days later, he was hugged by a fellow macaque, and when he finally got another little one to play with. People are now praying that he assimilates with the tribe.

But, why?

There are many animal videos that go viral. But the Punch story has been unique. Here, it isn’t just about cuteness, or quirkiness. There is something poignant. People, apparently, connect with him emotionally. In fact, many identify with the baby macaque.

For Nithya Mariam John, poet and assistant professor of literature at BCM College in Kottayam, Punch’s struggles were “very relatable”.

"We were all born with that sense of rejection, as we were ejected from the womb. That, I believe, stays with us throughout our lives, as we enter new spaces and try to blend in. Perhaps that’s what we are seeing through Punch,” she says.