A Columbus zoo gorilla thought to be a male has given birth

Employees at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium got two surprises Thursday when a gorilla long believed to be a male gave birth.

A zoo blog post said the gorilla named Sully is 8 years old and arrived at the zoo in 2019. The zoo said the gorilla did not show any visible signs of pregnancy and caretakers only discovered she was not a male when they saw her holding a newborn gorilla Thursday morning.

“It’s hard to tell the sex of younger gorillas. Until about age 8, males and females are about the same size, and they don’t have prominent sex organs. As gorillas age, they become sexually dimorphic, meaning males and females look very different,” the blog post said.

The zoo blog post said both the mother and baby gorilla appear healthy and will remain together.

The zoo said they will perform a DNA test to determine the baby gorilla’s father.