A tiny monkey cuddling an orange stuffed orangutan,tugging it along as he wanders his enclosure, seeking attention from other monkeys, only to be tossed around and screeched at. These visuals have taken over social media with people identifying with his loneliness and taking to the comments to ‘aww’ at the baby, jokingly (or not) plan to kidnap him from his misery and wonder how zookeepers could let the seven-month-old Japanese macaque, Punch, be ‘bullied’ this way.
Experts watching the events unfold say that at least a part of this can be explained by our tendency to anthropomorphise animals, pointing out that macaques’ behaviours and social rules are different. “Monkeys live in a hierarchical social system that is xenophobic.They do not tolerate any other monkey coming into their group; the immediate tendency is to attack,” says Mewa Singh,a wildlife biologist and professor at Mysore University.
Punch’s ostracisation canpartially be explained by his mother’s abandonment, with this bond being crucial to macaques’ social development. Asmita Sen Gupta, a research fellow, SM Sehgal Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation, ATREE, explains, “Infants spend about two months in constant maternal contact, where they absorb lessons about social cues and interactions. As they begin to explore their surroundings, their mother’s supervision helps minimise the risks of erroneous behaviours. By the time they become juveniles, this equips them with the skills needed to navigate complex relationships.” In the absence of this guidance, Punch has to figure everything out all on his own. There seems to be some hope for him yet, as a recent video showed him being hugged by another monkey. Some point out that there might be something about Punch’sappearance, odour or behaviour that may be irking others.
But why would Punch’s mother abandon him in the first place? While the zoo has said that part of the reason might be the high temperature when Punch was born last July, causing stress, experts point out that the answer may be complex and influenced by captivity, as wild macaques rarely abandon their young except in cases of death or forced separation. Primatologist Anindya Sinha says, “Often, you see these parental problems during early reproductive stages. Since this is her first child, she is depending entirely on her innate behavioural urges to make decisions.”
Alongside hand-rearing the baby, giving him a stuffed toy for emotional comfort too, is not unusual; it’s a longstanding part of caring for abandoned animals. Explaining the science behind giving Punch the toy, Sinha explains, “In the 1930s, primatologist Harry Harlow conducted experiments in which he forcibly removed infant macaques from their mothers. When they were offered a choice between a wire monkey ‘mother’ (with food) and a soft one (without food), they chose the soft one because the abandoned infant was looking for asubstitute for the softness [and comfort] it would have been close to.”
Will this virality have any positive outcomes for macaque conservation? Robin Darius Conz, a wildlife photographer who has worked on several documentaries for international wildlife channels, says ‘no’. “I don’t see much coming out of this in the long term, except people finding Punch cute and him becoming an attraction for the zoo. Japanese macaque areas are also highly tourist-populated. Even the macaques we have in India are habituated to people. We don’t have a goodtrack record of coexisting with animals, so I am worried someone may try to replicate the phenomenon and throw stuffed toys into enclosures.”
While India does not have Japanese macaques, several other species are found here, macaques being the most common non-human species of primates in India. “Bonnet macaques are found across South India and Rhesus Macaques in the North – these are the common ones we see at temples or on the roads. There are also Lion-Tailed Macaques found in the Western Ghats, which are an endangered species.” AV Surya Sen, the Executive Director of Bannerghatta Biological Park, points out. If anyone is curious to learn more about macaques, the biological park has a pair of Lion-Tailed Macaques open for visitors to see.Recently,however, they’ve been seeing instances of macaques kept as pets inBengaluru, rescued and brought to the biological park for rehabilitation.