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Rights Group Slams Treatment of Viral Japanese Monkey 

This photo taken on February 19, 2026 shows a seven month-old male macaque monkey named Punch, who was abandoned by his mother shortly after birth, sitting with a stuffed orangutan toy at Ichikawa City Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Chiba Prefecture. (AFP/Jiji Press)
This photo taken on February 19, 2026 shows a seven month-old male macaque monkey named Punch, who was abandoned by his mother shortly after birth, sitting with a stuffed orangutan toy at Ichikawa City Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Chiba Prefecture. (AFP/Jiji Press)
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Rights Group Slams Treatment of Viral Japanese Monkey 

This photo taken on February 19, 2026 shows a seven month-old male macaque monkey named Punch, who was abandoned by his mother shortly after birth, sitting with a stuffed orangutan toy at Ichikawa City Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Chiba Prefecture. (AFP/Jiji Press)
This photo taken on February 19, 2026 shows a seven month-old male macaque monkey named Punch, who was abandoned by his mother shortly after birth, sitting with a stuffed orangutan toy at Ichikawa City Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Chiba Prefecture. (AFP/Jiji Press)

The plight of a baby monkey in Japan who has become an internet sensation shows the cruelty of zoos, an animal rights group said, as sales of the plush IKEA orangutan the animal clings to boomed.

Punch, a baby macaque abandoned by its mother, shot to stardom after being pictured getting bullied by other monkeys and seeking comfort from the orangutan toy at Ichikawa City Zoo outside Tokyo.

"Zoos are not sanctuaries -- they are places where animals are confined, deprived of autonomy, and denied the complex environments and social lives they would have in the wild," said People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

"What some are calling 'cute' is actually a glimpse into the trauma of a young, highly social primate coping with isolation and loss," the group's Asia director, Jason Baker, said in a statement.

"Until facilities stop treating sentient beings as attractions, animals like Punch will continue to suffer in captivity," Baker said, calling for Punch to be moved to a "reputable sanctuary, where he could live in a more natural environment".

Spurned by its mother, Punch was raised in an artificial environment after being born in July, and began training to rejoin his troop last month.

Punch's predicament sparked huge interest online, spawning a devoted fanbase under the hashtag #HangInTherePunch, as large crowds thronged the zoo.

Meanwhile, Swedish interior furnishings giant IKEA, the maker of the orangutan soft toy, said it was seeing "unprecedented" interest and "significantly" higher sales than usual.

"As a result, the product is currently out of stock in some markets, including Japan and the United States," Ingka Group, the holding company controlling most of IKEA's stores, told AFP by email.

Over a long holiday weekend in Japan, fans queued for up to an hour to catch a glimpse of Punch, the Ichikawa zoo said in a post on X, with more than 5,000 visitors recorded on Monday.

The zoo said it had set up a "restricted zone" around part of the monkey enclosure to reduce stress for the animals.

A large number of people have asked how they can donate cash or goods, it added.

In an update on Punch's plight on Sunday, the zoo said he "was meticulously groomed by two monkeys and is steadily fitting into the group".

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Varieties

Saudi Arabia Establishes Royal Institute of Anthropology to Study Social Change

The establishment of the institute provides a scientific platform for documenting heritage and deepening awareness of local culture through anthropological research. (SPA)
The establishment of the institute provides a scientific platform for documenting heritage and deepening awareness of local culture through anthropological research. (SPA)
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Saudi Arabia Establishes Royal Institute of Anthropology to Study Social Change

The establishment of the institute provides a scientific platform for documenting heritage and deepening awareness of local culture through anthropological research. (SPA)
The establishment of the institute provides a scientific platform for documenting heritage and deepening awareness of local culture through anthropological research. (SPA)

Saudi Arabia has approved the establishment of the Royal Institute of Anthropology and Cultural Studies, marking a significant step toward expanding research on Saudi society and documenting its social transformations.

The institute, approved by the Saudi Cabinet on Tuesday, is expected to strengthen scholarly work related to the study of Saudi communities through rigorous scientific methods.

Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al Saud welcomed the decision and thanked the Kingdom’s leadership for supporting the initiative.

He said the institute would serve as “a trusted narrator of our culture and a beacon of inspiration in studies that seek to understand humanity.”

Prince Badr added that the institute would provide a scientific platform for documenting Saudi heritage and deepening awareness of local culture through anthropological research. He noted that its work would help generate meaningful cultural insights and encourage cultural exchange with the wider world.

Saudi Arabia holds particular significance in anthropology and cultural studies because of its deep historical and civilizational heritage, which stretches back centuries.

The Kingdom is also characterized by wide cultural, social and regional diversity reflected in lifestyles, customs and traditions, language and oral expression, as well as literature, performing arts, architecture, visual arts, culinary traditions and fashion. Together, these elements provide rich material for academic study, analysis and documentation.

The institute will develop both academic and applied research in anthropology and cultural studies. Its work will include examining local communities, patterns of daily life, symbolic systems, social transformations and forms of cultural expression across the Kingdom.

It will also document both tangible and intangible cultural heritage within their social and historical contexts, including the knowledge systems, practices and values associated with them. The aim is to provide a comprehensive scientific understanding of cultural elements as part of the living human experience.

Observers and academics say the decision also reflects a shift in attitudes toward anthropology in Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Hamza bin Qablan Al-Mozainy said the institute’s establishment demonstrates growing recognition of the field’s importance. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, he noted that anthropology once faced strong resistance in academic circles.

He cited the experience of Dr. Saad Al-Sowayan, one of the Kingdom’s pioneering anthropologists, who encountered opposition when he attempted to introduce the discipline in universities. As a result, Al-Sowayan carried out much of his research outside academic institutions, producing influential studies on Saudi society.

Al-Mozainy said Saudi society remains insufficiently studied, making it a rich field for future anthropological research. He added that the discipline helps societies better understand themselves and address both their strengths and their challenges.

Varieties

Kenya Arrests Man Trying to Smuggle Over 2,000 Live Ants in his Luggage

People arriving at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), in Nairobi, Kenya, on 06 March 2026. EPA/DANIEL IRUNGU
People arriving at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), in Nairobi, Kenya, on 06 March 2026. EPA/DANIEL IRUNGU
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Kenya Arrests Man Trying to Smuggle Over 2,000 Live Ants in his Luggage

People arriving at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), in Nairobi, Kenya, on 06 March 2026. EPA/DANIEL IRUNGU
People arriving at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), in Nairobi, Kenya, on 06 March 2026. EPA/DANIEL IRUNGU

A man was arrested with more than 2,200 live garden ants in his luggage at Nairobi's main airport this week amid a rise in cases of smuggling of the insects in Kenya.

Chinese national Zhang Kequn, 27, was arrested at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Tuesday while he was trying to leave the country, court filings seen by Reuters on Thursday showed. Immigration officials flagged a "stop order" on Zhang's passport after he ⁠evaded arrest in ⁠Kenya last year.

Ant aficionados pay large sums to maintain colonies in large transparent vessels known as formicariums, which offer a literal window into the species' complex social structures and behaviors.

Last year four men were fined $7,700 each ⁠for trying to traffic thousands of ants valuable to Kenya's ecosystem in a case that experts said signaled a shift in biopiracy from trophies like elephant ivory to lesser-known species.

Investigators said a search of Zhang's luggage recovered 2,238 ants, including 1,948 packed in test tubes and the rest in three rolls of "soft tissue papers".

They said Zhang had been in Kenya for ⁠two ⁠weeks and had mentioned three accomplices who supplied him with the ants.

The Kenya Wildlife Service told the court that it needed more time to complete investigations, including examining an iPhone and a MacBook recovered from Zhang.

The wildlife service said a similar consignment of ants had been seized in Bangkok on Tuesday that originated from Kenya, indicating the existence of a widespread and organized ant-smuggling network.

Varieties

King Penguins Are the Rare Species Benefiting from Warming World. But that Could Change

In this photo provided by Gaël Bardon, part of the king penguin colony is visible at La Baie du Marin, Possession Island, Crozet Archipelago, Jan. 16, 2026. (Gaël Bardon/CSM/CNRS/IPEV via AP)
In this photo provided by Gaël Bardon, part of the king penguin colony is visible at La Baie du Marin, Possession Island, Crozet Archipelago, Jan. 16, 2026. (Gaël Bardon/CSM/CNRS/IPEV via AP)
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King Penguins Are the Rare Species Benefiting from Warming World. But that Could Change

In this photo provided by Gaël Bardon, part of the king penguin colony is visible at La Baie du Marin, Possession Island, Crozet Archipelago, Jan. 16, 2026. (Gaël Bardon/CSM/CNRS/IPEV via AP)
In this photo provided by Gaël Bardon, part of the king penguin colony is visible at La Baie du Marin, Possession Island, Crozet Archipelago, Jan. 16, 2026. (Gaël Bardon/CSM/CNRS/IPEV via AP)

The warming world has disrupted the timing for plant and animal reproduction, and it's usually bad news for species that depend on each other — like flowers blooming too early and pollinating bees arriving too late. But researchers have found the rare critter that's getting a boost from the change: King penguins.

A new study of 19,000 king penguins in a sub-Antarctic island chain found their breeding is starting 19 days earlier than it did in 2000. Mating earlier has increased the breeding success rate by 40%, according to a study in Wednesday's journal Science Advances.

The study of timing in nature is called phenology. It's been a major concern for biologists because predators and prey and pollinators and plants are mostly adapting to warmer climates at different rates. And that means crucial mismatches in timing.

It's especially common in birds and pollinating species such as bees. Most birds, especially in North America, aren't keeping pace with changes in phenology, according to Clemson University biological sciences professor Casey Youngflesh, who wasn't part of the study.

Having a species like the king penguin adapt so well to seasonal shifts and timing changes “is unprecedented,” said study co-author Celine Le Bohec, a seabird ecologist at the French science agency CNRS. “It's quite striking.”

Unlike other penguins — which are threatened with dwindling numbers because of earlier breeding — the king penguin has the ability to breed from late October to March. And they are taking advantage of that flexibility, Le Bohec said.

They are succeeding even though the water is warming and the food web that they rely on is changing with it, said Le Bohec and study lead author Gaël Bardon, a seabird ecologist at the Scientific Centre of Monaco.

“They can adjust really well their foraging behavior,” Bardon said. “We know that some birds are going directly to the south, to the polar front. Some are going to the north. Some are staying around the colony and so they can adjust their behavior and that’s what makes king penguins cope really well with such changes for the moment.”

Le Bohec added that it may only be a temporary adjustment to an environment that is changing quickly. "So that’s why for the moment the species is able to cope with this change, but till when? This, we don’t know, because it’s going very, very fast.”

Other penguins that have limited diets are more threatened by changes coming from a warming ocean and the makeup of the food chain. But king penguins — which are so abundant they are considered a species of least concern — can eat other prey besides the lanternfish that makes up their primary diet, researchers said.

“The king penguin may have a bit of flexibility as a trick up its sleeve, and may be in a good position to adapt as their environment changes,” said Michelle LaRue, a professor of Antarctic marine science at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand who was not part of the study. But she said she wonders what happens after breeding because king penguins live 20 or more years in the wild and this study looks at only a small part of their lifespan.

Outside scientists are just as cautious as Le Bohec and Bardon over whether to declare the king penguins a rare good-news climate change story.

“Winning for this species might mean losing for another species if they are competing for resources,” The Associated Press quoted Clemson's Youngflesh as saying.

Ignacio Juarez Martinez, a biologist at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, who conducted a study of different penguins with earlier breeding, said: “This study shows that king penguins might be a winner for now, which is excellent news, but climate change is ongoing and future changes to currents, precipitation or temperatures can undo these gains.”