Thought To Be A Female For Two Years, This Monkey In Japan Turns Out To Be Male

Black-handed spider monkey. (Wikimedia Commons/Eric Kilby)

JAKARTA - A zoo in Japan suddenly went into a commotion, after one of its occupants was found to have 'changed gender', which was discovered after two years had passed.

This incident happened to a black-handed spider monkey, which was initially believed to be female but turned out to be male. This condition was discovered after the monkey's first health check in April.

The monkey was born in the Sendai Yagiyama Zoological Park in Miyagi Prefecture, east of Japan in July 2019. From birth, this monkey spends most of its time with its mother. Zoo officials also had difficulty identifying the presence of male sexual organs.

So the zoo considers this monkey as a female. A poll was conducted to name this monkey. Until finally the name 'Karin' was chosen after a general public vote.

Black-handed spider monkey. (Unsplash/Makm Photography

However, after finding out that Karin was actually male, the zoo immediately contacted the four people who gave the name 'Karin' to make changes, because the name was considered feminine. The gender sign outside the cage was also revised by the zoo.

"Karin lives in a group with her parents and older sister, and has just been weaned from her mother. Her name will remain the same," the zoo said, as reported by Kyodonews.

To note, young black-armed spider monkeys are completely dependent on their mother for about ten weeks, as quoted by Nationalgeographic.

After that, the young monkeys will learn to explore on their own while playing. Meanwhile, mothers continue to care for their young during their first year of life, and often move around with their young clinging to their backs.