Male panda turns out to be female

A two-year-old giant panda at a Dutch zoo has caused a stir by turning out to be a female and not a male as initially thought.
The discovery at the Ouwehands Zoo was made during a routine medical check-up on Fan Xing, the first giant panda born in the Netherlands.
The zoo’s manager confirmed the news on national television late on Thursday.
“Fan Xing surprised us,” said Jose Kok, in a statement released by the zoo after the broadcast interview. “For us, the sex was just a fact we wanted to check during the exam under anaesthesia, to be sure.”
The panda underwent a short medical examination a few months after being born, which has to be done quickly so that the baby can be reunited with its mother.
However, Kok said that determining sex is difficult in a young baby not under anaesthetic.
“We were so convinced the baby was male we never doubted it,” she said.
Fan Xing was born on May 1 to two giant pandas – mum Wu Wen and dad Xing Ya – who were loaned to the Netherlands by China in 2017 for 15 years.
Her name was revealed in October.
“Fan” is a reference to the Chinese name for Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh and “Xing” means star, a reference to van Gogh’s famous painting, Starry Night.