Kicker: It’s a boy! It’s a … gorilla?

NICK EICHER, HOST: What you see is not always what you get.

A baby gorilla appeared on the scene at the Columbus Zoo last week. Zookeepers were shocked when they found out who the mother was.

Because as it turns out the Columbus Zoo misgendered her! Seriously. They’d even given her the name Sully and called her a he.

In all seriousness, it is difficult to figure out the sex of Western lowland gorillas. In their first eight years, males and females are about the same size and don’t have many outward differences. And gorillas have naturally large abdomens, so you can’t really tell when a gorilla’s preggo. So no one noticed Sully’s pregnancy. And by the way: change her name. Sally. This is easy!

As far as zookeepers can tell, the baby seems to be female, too, but …

Mary: Have to get back to you on that.

Probably in about eight years.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.