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There are pop stars. There are influencers. And then there is Punch.
Punch is a baby monkey with a plush orangutan, a complicated childhood, and the ability to summon 900 people before lunch on a weekday.
According to reports from Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, the zoo in Chiba Prefecture drew more than four times its usual number of visitors on a recent Thursday morning. Around 900 people streamed through the gates. The reason was not a new attraction or seasonal event. It was a small primate with a story that has quietly travelled the globe.
A Rough Start, A Soft Toy
Punch was abandoned by his mother shortly after birth in July last year. Zookeepers stepped in, raising him through careful bottle-feeding. To give him comfort, they introduced a stuffed orangutan as a surrogate companion.
He…