u/Fizzay

The cage is used for cases like Punch's where they reintroduce a macaque back to its troop. This allows them and the troop to interact with each other safely and hopefully, begin to see them as one of their own. It also helps them get used to the noises being made and behaviors. This was originally implemented for Otome's hand rearing; the area behind it opens up into a separate indoor area that they'll put the monkey for a period of time. I think this was Punch at ~3 months. There's pictures of some of the other hand-reared macaques in there as well, and they've put a macaque in the cage with them before if it's shown friendliness to see how it does with direct contact.

I've seen videos of Punch in it as well, but can't find them, and I remember them being very zoomed out so you could only really see his plushy.

This would've likely been late 2025 when they were introducing him to the monkeys outside of the cage for a little while under the supervision of one or both of his keepers, so he was probably around around 3-4 months if I had to guess

Cries when mom takes it away at 33s lol

I think the one he snaps at is the one who has been picking on him lately. It seemed to be grooming him for a bit with Momiage, and then scratches itself in front of him; might be a request for grooming? It went back pretty quickly after scratching itself so I'm not actually sure, but you can see that Punch intentionally looks away once he notices it there, and then returns his gaze once it leaves, so I think he really doesn't like this particular monkey and is trying to avoid conflict by avoiding eye contact, so I don't think he even saw it, if that's what it was doing in the first place.

But again, I'm pretty sure this is one of the young ones that has been picking on Punch along with its mother lately, and that's why Punch doesn't like him. I've never seen him act this way though, usually when he sees a monkey he doesn't like/doesn't like him he avoids them or even gets scared and cries.

Either way, I've never really seen him do something like this. Might be a good sign he's getting a little tougher? Also the fact that he seems to be intentionally avoiding eye contact with monkeys he doesn't like or don't like him is a good thing; he used to intentionally try to look in the eyes of monkeys and it made some of them mad and he'd sometimes get scolded, so it seems he has learned not to do that as well. Momiage and another friend (think she's being called Maru) also help protect him which is always nice to see, but makes me think this is not one of Punch's regular friends if they're all jumping him like that lol.

I was hesitant to post this initially because there's fearmongering about "Punch not grooming" (untrue), but I think it's interesting, and I think there's a combination of potential factors of why he didn't groom it; he did not see it because he is trying to avoid this monkey (I have not seen Punch avoid eye contact like this before, even with older monkeys that don't like him), he doesn't like this monkey so he's definitely not going to groom them (it's still not uncommon for monkeys to groom their bullies sometimes I believe), , the monkey wasn't there long enough for it to register to him, especially since Punch avoided looking at it, the monkey wasn't actually requesting grooming since it left pretty quickly, or he hasn't learned to recognize it yet, the last of which makes complete sense given his age and upbringing; it's something that will take him time, but he's not at an age where it's bad for him to not be recognizing these signals yet.

Their little sounds are so cute, both moms come over to see what's going on

He's dragging a stick with him while doing it, no clue what's going on in his little head but he seems to be having fun

Keeper almost gets away at the end, Punch doesn't even get to jump on him in time, he had to squeeze through the door lol

This is just more proof the keepers are slowly transitioning him into eating outside more during meals and not come in with them all the time without being forceful or making him feel dejected. It's still a process but they know what they're doing, and Punch has been getting better at it.

First time I've heard Momiage vocalize as well, she's so cute

Akira chilling in the background as well