Tokyo, Feb. 21 -- The heartbreaking and inspiring story of Punch, the baby macaque who taught the world that the need for love is universal.

A Life That Began in Silence On July 26, 2025, a tiny macaque was born at Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan. He weighed just 500 grams - barely more than a can of soup. The zoo staff named him Punch. And from his very first breath, life asked more of him than it should have asked of something so small.

His mother, a first-time parent, rejected him immediately after birth. No one can say exactly why - animal behavior rarely offers clean explanations. What we know is this: in the moment when Punch needed warmth the most, he was left alone in the cold. The bond that every infant primate is born needing, that...