Red transmission oil, Manual 5spd MUA ?

I drained my TX oil today, 5 Spd manual MUA, '05 and it was a deep red almost dark brown color? It was not what I expected. Since my Haynes and the drivers manual both say to put SAE40 in I expected it to be similar as what came out of the transfer case - Golden and thick. The oil I drained from the Transfer case was the same color as the stuff out of the SAE 40 bottle.
What has your experience been? Could it be that old (95 with 105k mi) and discolored, or was the wrong thing put in there but some lube shop somewhere? It looked and felt lot like ATF fluid.

I put SAE40 in as spec'ed but just want to check with you guys.

Andrew

I think alot of people use ATF in manual transmissions.

I believe the fluid was probably ATF. I just changed the transfer case and MUA tranny on my 95 Passport and found they both were filled with it. I checked my records and the last service on those was done by Jiffy Lube. They seem to put ATF into every orifice they can find, not to mention over-torqueing the plugs. What gets me is that the fill plug says "Engine Oil Fill" on it. What morons! Suffice it to say I will not be taking my car back there.