Yuji won’t let go of his toy dog after his mum rejected him at Mexico zoo | News World

Meet Yuji, the child monkey that has already stolen your heart.

The six-week old patas monkey wakes up every single day clinging to a stuffed dog after his own mother rejected him in Guadalajara Zoo, in Mexico.

The bond together with his recent best friend, who also acts as a surrogate mum, has captured the globe’s attention after drawing parallels to Punch , the Japanese macaque that was being bullied by his clan and sought refuge with a stuffed orangutan.

Yuji, weighing just 1.4 kilos, is simply too small to be introduced to other monkeys so lives inside a monkey crate where he’s under round the clock care of 12 vets.

No date has been set for Yuji’s transfer to a habitat shared by 12 other adult patas monkeys and three other infants.

That may rely upon when he’s weaned from a milk-only eating regimen and starts an adult eating regimen complete with fruit and veggies, said veterinarian Iván Reynoso Ruiz, head of the primate section on the Guadalajara Zoo.

That might occur when Yuji is around 6 months old, he said.

Yuji rejected

Just hours after giving birth on March 3 Yuji’s mother Kamaria began exhibiting irregular behavior. She struggled to carry her firstborn appropriately, leaving the infant unable to secure a grip on its mother.

After noticing an issue, keepers separated the mother from her newborn, who weighed just 443 grams (lower than a pound) and required immediate placement in an incubator at CIMBA to stabilize his temperature and safeguard his health, Reynoso Ruiz said.

This was the beginning of the infant’s assisted rearing, a process often utilized by zoos to guard the health and development of at-risk offspring. A caregiver named him Yuji after a well-liked Japanese manga character.

During his first few weeks, Yuji was under round the clock supervision and was bottle-fed fortified milk.

From the beginning, Yuji was given a stuffed animal for comfort. Reynoso Ruiz explained that the toy fulfills the role of a mother by serving as his primary source of security. To keep up hygiene, staff rotate the unique stuffed dog with two other toys — a bear and a monkey — to make sure he at all times has a clean companion.

To stimulate his development, caregivers outfitted Yuji’s crate with a small hammock and ropes. As he began gaining weight and sleeping for longer intervals, his team adjusted his feeding schedule. Yuji now receives the primary of his 4 day by day bottles at 7:00 a.m.

While the stories of Punch and Yuji have been popular on social media, some animal rights advocates oppose the practice of assisted rearing.

Diana Valencia, an animal rights activist, argues that there isn’t any substitute for a natural habitat, and that animals ‘have the correct to be born, grow, develop, and die where they belong.’