Punch, the Japanese monkey that went viral after clinging to an orangutan plushie when he was abandoned by his mother, celebrated his first birthday on Sunday at a zoo near Tokyo.
Ichikawa City Zoo said Punch received more than 2,500 birthday messages from people in Japan and overseas. The messages, including some from Britain and Canada, were displayed in a special corner at the zoo in Chiba Prefecture.
The zoo said Punch has now adjusted to living with a group of monkeys. He has recently started spending time with other baby monkeys and has also been seen lying on his back.
“He is acquiring sociability and finding his own place within the troop,” zoo official Takashi Yasunaga said.
The zoo did not hold a birthday celebration for Punch as it follows a policy of treating all animals equally. Instead, it invited members of the public to send birthday messages, many of which included words of encouragement and hand-drawn illustrations.
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