Japanese Zoo Found Out a Male Hippo Was Female All Along!

Gender bender in the wild! How could a hippo living in a Japanese zoo for 7 years turn out to be a female hippo all along? This surprising discovery has left both zookeepers and visitors baffled.

The sex of animals can be difficult to determine, especially in species like hippos where males and females may have similar physical characteristics.

In the case of this hippo in Japan, it took 7 years before a routine health check revealed the true gender of the animal.

Japanese Zoo Discovers That They Had a Female Hippo for 7 Years

In Japan, a zoo made a surprising discovery about one of its residents, a hippopotamus named Gen-chan. For seven years, Gen-chan was believed to be male, but zookeepers noticed that the hippo didn’t behave like a typical male hippo.

To confirm their suspicions, they conducted a DNA test which revealed that Gen-chan was actually female. This revelation came after Gen-chan arrived in Osaka from Mexico in 2017, with customs documents stating that she was male.

The Osaka Tennoji Zoo has pledged to continue providing a comfortable environment for Gen-chan, the hippopotamus whose true sex was recently confirmed as female.

The zoo made this announcement on its website last week, revealing that Gen-chan arrived from Mexico’s Africam Safari animal park when she was five years old, with documentation stating she was male. The zoo attributed the oversight to Gen-chan’s young age at the time and expressed their commitment to her well-being.

How Did They Find Out That the Animal Was a Female Hippo?

As Gen-chan matured, zookeepers became suspicious because they couldn’t visually identify male reproductive organs. The Osaka Tennoji Zoo spokeswoman explained that Gen-chan didn’t display typical male hippo behaviors like courtship calls to females or scattering feces with a propeller-like tail motion for marking territory. These observations raised doubts about Gen-chan’s gender.

The Mainichi newspaper reported that the zoo’s vice director, Kiyoshi Yasufuku, emphasized the importance of confirming the sex of animals and ensuring that such mistakes won’t occur again. Despite the confirmation of Gen-chan’s true sex, the zoo stated that there would be no name change for her.

They mentioned: “We recognize the importance of reconfirming the sex of introduced animals and will take precautions to ensure that this does not happen again. We will continue to strive to provide a comfortable environment for Gen-chan.”

Could you have figured it out earlier than this Japanese zoo? What makes you realize that it is a female hippo?

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