Chengdu's star panda twin 'brother' turns out to be a sister
Giant panda He Ye and He Hua are seen in this file photo.
Giant panda He Ye, who had been considered the younger "brother" of Chengdu's star panda twins since his birth three years ago, is actually a "girl!"
He Ye and He Hua have been hugely popular with China's panda fans.
On Wednesday officials revealed that the giant panda He Ye, initially thought to be male at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, is actually female.
Tan, the keeper who has been taking care of them, explained: "Because the gender of the panda is a little bit complicated, and there have been cases in the past where the gender of the panda was mistaken."
Tan mentioned that when He Ye was born, her sex characteristics favored "male." After a few months of feeding, she was identified as a "male" due to her habit of urinating at height, active behavior, and larger size, and there seemed to be no further doubts about her sex.
"Now, as she grew bigger, her male features became less obvious, and then we asked an expert to come and collect biological samples, finding out that she was indeed a female," Tan added.
Hearing the news, Internet users expressed surprise and urged a gender test for He Ye's sister, He Hua. They also had fun getting creative with photos of the two sisters.
One internet user suggests that the sisters could wear princess dresses together.
Why so tricky to tell if giant pandas are boys or girls?
Out of many large mammals, giant pandas are the most challenging to distinguish between males and females.
Usually, rare animals don't go through DNA tests to determine their gender. Keepers would instead look at their secondary sexual characteristics and genitals.
But the external sex organs of young giant pandas are small and cryptic, so it is difficult to determine their gender without a DNA test.
