A supposedly male gorilla suddenly gives birth to baby

A big surprise in a US zoo. A supposedly male gorilla suddenly held a baby in his arms. Two big surprises for keepers at an Ohio zoo.

It is particularly curious that the zoo staff had mistaken the gorilla, by the name Sully, for a male for years. Suddenly, Sully held the offspring in his arms, according to a statement written by the staff of the zoo, only now has it become clear that the eight-year-old gorilla (Sully) is a female.

Determining the sex of younger gorillas is difficult because males and females are the same size and have no protruding sex organs until about eight years of age. Significant differences only develop with increasing age. Males, for example, do not develop their characteristic size, silver back, and large head humps until they are twelve years old or later.

The veterinaries at the zoo where the gorilla Sully was born had held back, as Sully was considered a healthy baby who was well cared for by his mother. It was later determined that it was a male. Upon arrival at the Columbus Zoo, gorilla Sully was a young and healthy animal that did not require any interventions that would have required restraint.

This complicated the discovery of her female gender at an earlier date. Curiously, you often don't see a pregnancy in a gorilla. The keepers didn't know anything about the pregnancy either. The pregnancy period of gorillas is 8.5 months. Since baby monkeys are smaller than human babies, but the mother's bellies are much larger, gorillas generally show few outward signs of pregnancy.