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Social media monkey - 30th March 2026

This monkey lives in Japan. His name's Punch. He lives in a zoo.

Last year, Punch was a baby. But he didn't have a mother. Zoo workers gave him milk.

Punch didn't have any friends. Zoo workers gave him a toy.

It's a toy monkey. Punch takes it everywhere. People took videos of them.

Now, Punch is famous. The zoo has more visitors.

Jon Frigillana: "We didn't fly to Japan all the way just for Punch. But, you know, he's been making the headlines. His story is cute, and we just wanted to see him."

Now, Punch has some friends.

He has one special friend. Her name's Momo-Chan.

This gives people hope. Viviane Oliveira's from Brazil.

Viviane Oliveira: "Yeah, I think he really represents, like, the sense of hope. Because it doesn't matter where you are, you know, there's always hope. You know, he was facing a hard time. But it doesn't mean - when you're facing hard time, it doesn't mean that we're going to be like that forever."