1On January 24, #和叶哥狠sister# ranked first on the hot search list. The giant panda "He Ye", who had been called "Brother Gua" by netizens before, turned into "Sister Bear" after Grandpa Tan returned from his "business trip", which shocked many netizens. Why is the gender of giant pandas difficult to identify? How can we tell? Which other giant pandas have also had their genders misidentified? Let’s take a look >>>
Giant panda and Ye changed from "brother" to "sister": experts collected biological samples to investigate Out of gender. Video/Beijing News
It turns out that the "flower and leaf combination" is a sister flower
Video/CCTV News Weibo
In the video released by the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base on January 24, Grandpa Tan is gentle to "Hehua" and "Heye" Crying "Two Sisters". It turns out that the giant panda "He Ye", who has been regarded as a "male bear" before, is actually a girl.
Grandpa Tan said in the video that "He Ye" showed male gender characteristics when he was born. A few months later, because of his high urination, lively personality and tall height, everyone was convinced of the gender of "Brother Gua".
As He Ye grew up, his male characteristics tended to be less obvious, so the base asked panda experts to collect biological samples from He Ye. After identification, it was finally confirmed that He Ye was a female bear!
See After the news, many netizens expressed "so unexpected" in the comment area.
netizen comments. Weibo screenshot
In fact, this situation is relatively common in the panda world
Grandpa Tan said in the video that this situation has happened before. In fact, this is not the first time that giant pandas have had "gender problems."
Can you tell whether I am male or female?
Meilan. Picture/@Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base
"He Ye"'s father "Meilan" was once mistaken for a female bear, and was even arranged to have "blind dates" with several male bears.
On September 6, 2006, giant panda "Meilan" was born at the Atlanta Zoo in the United States. Because she was relatively small and undeveloped during her childhood, and her appearance was too beautiful, she was mistaken for a female panda, so she was named "Meilan".
In 2010, "Meilan" returned to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. The parents carefully selected eight outstanding male bears as dating partners, but "Meilan" didn't like any of them.
In 2011, "Meilan" showed symptoms of the mature male panda. After careful testing, "Meilan" was officially confirmed to be a male bear.
Siblings become siblings
On August 10, 2014, giant panda "Nana" gave birth to a pair of twin siblings "Pu Pu" and "Fa Fa" at the Hetaoping Base in Wolong, Sichuan.
Fafa (left) and Pupu (right). Picture/@Shenyang Forest Zoo
In April 2018, the staff of the Panda Center discovered from the video that "Pu Pu" showed behaviors commonly exhibited by males such as backing up and lifting his legs. They immediately contacted the keeper of Shenyang Forest Zoo to carefully check and verify, and confirmed that "Pu Pu" "Pu Pu" is a male giant panda.
verified according to the statement at the time that "Pu Pu" is male and "Fa Fa" is still male.
Statement on the gender of giant panda Pu Pu. Picture/@Shenyang Forest Zoo
Statement on the gender of giant panda Pu Pu. Picture/@Shenyang Forest Zoo
I didn’t expect things to turn around. In 2023, "Fafa" had a "pseudo-pregnancy" reaction that only occurs in female bears, and "Fafa" was finally confirmed to be a female bear.
They were also misgendered
In 2013, the Atlanta Zoo in the United States issued a statement stating that it had mistaken the gender of three panda cubs, "Mei Lun", "Mei Huan" and "A Bao".
The pandas in Chongqing Zoo have also experienced "gender oolongs". The mother of "Wormhole Top", "Yu Ke" and "Yu Ai", "Er Shun", was considered a male bear when she was a child.
"Er Shun"'s younger sisters "Mang Zai", "Hui Hui" and "Ding Ding" have also been recognized as male bears.
Why do giant pandas have "gender oolongs"?
In the strange animal world, there are many animals whose genders we cannot tell with the naked eye. The giant panda is a typical example, and among many large mammals, it is also the most difficult to distinguish between male and female.
Giant pandas have a unified image, with round heads, chubby bodies, uniform black and white body color, and big dark circles under their eyes. Even if a group of giant pandas are in front of them, people think they are the same, let alone distinguish them. sex.
The reasons why it is difficult to tell the gender of giant pandas are as follows:
Giant panda cubs. Picture / @Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base
① The weight of a newborn giant panda cub is about one thousandth of its mother. Its own development is not complete, and its gender characteristics are not obvious, making it difficult to distinguish between male and female.
②After years of careful care, I have observed that the round bulge under the vulva of female cubs is similar to the shape of the foreskin of male cubs, with only some subtle differences.
③As the cubs grow, their gender characteristics will gradually appear.
The gender of giant pandas can be distinguished in these ways
1. Body size: Male giant pandas are usually larger and heavier than females.
2. Skull shape: The skulls of male giant pandas are usually larger and wider than those of females, and their zygomatic arches are more prominent.
3. Body hair shape: The hair around the face and tail of male giant pandas is thicker and stiffer, while that of female giant pandas is relatively soft.
4. Behavioral performance: Giant pandas will have some obvious behavioral differences during the breeding season. For example, males will have significant sexual impulses and behavioral performance.
But these characteristics are not infallible, especially for younger pandas. Correctly distinguishing the sex of giant pandas still requires professional observation and diagnosis. The most scientific way is to identify the sexes through the genitals during a physical examination. A more rigorous way is to use DNA identification.
What are the wonderful expressions of the gender of thousands of organisms?
Diverse genders
(1) Hermaphroditism
Picture/ic
Hermaphroditism refers to the phenomenon that a creature has glands of both sexes at the same time, with obvious female and male shapes. Land snails are typically hermaphroditic animals, but their heterosexual mating process is full of passion and unique romance. The snail's male reproductive organ contains a small sac filled with "love arrows" that it can fire at any time. When two affectionate snails embrace each other, they shoot arrows into each other's bodies to complete the process of exchanging sperm.
(2) "n-gender creature"
Can you imagine that there are more than 700 genders of creatures? There is such a wonderful creature on display at the Paris Zoo. Its name is Physarum polycephalum, and there is also a " The name of Jianghu is "magic point" (blob). The Magic Spot is a single-celled organism that has lived on Earth for at least a billion years. Its gender is determined by three different positions of the chromosome, and there are many different alleles at each position. After careful research and statistics by experts, it was found that this slime mold has at least 720 different sex chromosome combinations. possibility.
(3) Gender convertible
Some animals will use gender conversion to change their disadvantaged situation in order to achieve greater reproductive success. Animals that can change their gender include gilthead sea bream, clown fish, eels, marine earthworms, etc.
A clownfish swims in the water on December 16, 2012, in Bali, Indonesia. Picture/ic
Clownfish is an animal that can change gender anytime and anywhere. They live in groups, and there is no gender distinction when young. Their gender transition depends on the number of females in the group. When there are not enough females in the group, male clownfish will risk their lives to become females in order to reproduce. If the female clownfish dies, one of the remaining male clownfish in the group will automatically become a female, and the cycle will continue.
Diverse divisions of labor
(1) Male animals that can give birth to offspring
On January 15, 2014, Shanghai Changfeng Ocean World Seahorse Breeding Science Exhibition Center began trial operation. Here, the audience can see more than 50 kinds of seahorses with different images. Picture/ic
Seahorses are the only animals on earth in which males give birth to offspring. The male seahorse has a brood sac on its abdomen, front or side. During mating, the female seahorse releases eggs into the brood sac, and the male is responsible for fertilizing these eggs.Male seahorses keep fertilized eggs in their brood pouches until they are fully developed, then release them into the seawater. Therefore, the seahorse father's pouch only serves as an incubator, and the eggs still come from the mother.
(2) Female animals without fertility
Picture/ic
Worker bees are the most important species in the bee colony, and they are also female bees with imperfectly developed reproductive organs. Most female bees can only eat royal jelly for the first few days during their larval stage, and then switch to ordinary honey. Therefore, they cannot complete the development of their reproductive capabilities and will eventually become worker bees. If they can continue to consume royal jelly, they will eventually become reproductive bees. queen bee.
The morphological structure of worker bees shows many specialized phenomena, such as the appendages are specialized to form pollen brushes or pollen combs, the reproductive organs are specialized to form stingers at the tail end, and there are wax glands on the ventral side. Worker bees in the same hive can be divided into three physiologically different groups of worker bees - nurse bees, nesting bees and collector bees - depending on their age.
Diverse environments
Environment determines gender
Picture/ic
The gender of turtles, crocodiles and some lizards is determined by temperature.
The warmer the environment, the greater the proportion of female turtles born. About 99.8 percent of newly hatched sea turtles on beaches near Australia's Great Barrier Reef are female, affected by global warming; on cooler beaches in the south, 65 percent of hatchlings were female and 35 percent were affected by global warming, according to a new study. of males.
The process of temperature determination of sex does not exist in the entire incubation process, it mainly exists at a specific point in time. In general, the effect of temperature on gender mainly exists during the embryonic development stage. Only at this time will different temperatures lead to differences in gender among these types of animals. In some extreme cases, individuals may even develop into hermaphrodites.
Source of data: CCTV News, Beijing News, Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base, Shenyang Forest Zoo, ipanda Panda Channel, Chengdu Park City Official Account, Peking University Lanyuan Academy Official Account
Editor Ai Zheng Proofreading Yang Xuli
