GIANT panda He Ye, who had been considered the younger “brother” of Chengdu’s star panda twins since its birth three years ago, is actually a “girl!”

He Ye and He Hua have been hugely popular with China’s panda fans.

Officials revealed Wednesday that the giant panda He Ye, initially thought to be male at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, is actually female.

Tan Jintao, the keeper who has been taking care of them, explained: “Because the gender of the panda is a little bit complicated, 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.(Shine.cn)