Two Gay Penguins And A Chick: German Zoo Pair Raising Baby

BERLIN — A German zoo says a pair of gay male penguins are raising a chick from an egg abandoned by its parents.

Bremerhaven zoo veterinarian Joachim Schoene says the egg was placed in the male penguins' nest after its parents rejected it in late April. The males incubated it for some 30 days before it hatched and have continued to care for it. The chick's gender is not yet known.

Schoene said the male birds, named Z and Vielpunkt, are one of three same-sex pairs among the zoo's 20 Humboldt penguins that have attempted to mate.

Homosexual behavior has been documented in many animal species.

The zoo said in a statement on its Web site Thursday that "sex and coupling in our world don't always have something to do with reproduction."

Comments

[DSOTM]

If only penguins lived in the arctic, then they could thumb their wing tips at Sarah, though if Sarah had her way, she would have open clubbing of gay penguins.

[HotheadPaisen]

WOw- I wonder what kind of music is played at Gay Penguin Clubs? Chillout?

[onepotatotwopotato]

Do they have "gay marriage" in Germany?

[IDIOTA]

Tennessee Tuxedo was always fond of Chumley, so...

[Tommygun264]

Chumley was a walrus, and back in those days even some of the most flamboyant penguins discriminated against cross-species couples, so he and Tennessee had to keep it on the down-low.

[HotheadPaisen]

But those tusks we're FABULOUS!

[Logout]

Watch "March of the Penguins". The female shares duty to take care of the eggs with their male partners. They are monogamous too. The female treks long distance for food and the male takes over the egg/chick duty.

If and when the young egg/chick dies in the cold, the male penguin tries to steal anothers egg/chick.

So these two male penguins taking care of the egg is very normal.

[Tommygun264]

While it is not unusual for one male to try to steal an egg from another male after his own has been lost, while waiting for the female to return, it is unusual for two male penguins who do not have female mates to live together as mates and share the egg between themselves as partners.

[StephenJK]

It's also unusual for penguins to live in captivity.

[Logout]

Its the job of the male Penguins to take care of the eggs unlike most other bird species.

So nothing unusual here.

[klandish]

Right, but the two males are bonded... get it. And they have engaged in sexual overtures with each other. What do you people need a map?

[lostintheBronx]

I remember reading a few years ago about a pair of male penguins in the Central Park Zoo that bonded as mates and set up house together for some time. They were "exclusive" and very devoted to one another, and then suddenly one day one of the partners paired off with a female. There were reports that the mate who had been left was extremely depressed after being left. The people who are commenting on the absurdity of homosexual behavior among animals seem a little defensive.

[crazylikeafox]

Nature will use anyone and anything to keep life moving forward.

I really can't believe that is any surprise.

Above all, the species needs to renew itself and then live in order to not go extinct.

[gbiz71]

Gay Penguins!!! Too much spare time. I am with sfirx's suggestion. Throw a female in the mix and see how long it takes for one of those two "Gay" Penguins to go alarmingly straight. The chick is pobably female and the only reason that the two penguins are raising it, is so they can get at her. Sad...but it is the way of nature and mad gay german scientists who torture poor animals in cages because they can.

[Tom Joad]

These penguins are not isolated from others. The article says there are 20 penguins of which 3 pairs are same sex. One presumes the other 14 penguins include females.

[crispee]

are you a natural idiot or does it come with practice?

[SurrealPumpkin]

needs more practice.

[wilray]

That's like saying throw a female in between a couple of gay guys and see how straight they become. Read the article again. This pair is not on each other because of a lack of females. Homosexuality in the animal kingdom, including birds, is well documented. Some species tend to be more homosexual than others - among giraffes homosexuality is actually the norm. Amongst black swans a full quarter of the families are parented by homosexual couples. These families have are evolutionarily advantageous to families parented by heterosexual couples.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_and_Silo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_displaying_homosexual_behavior
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15750604/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan

[ohbeehave]

And nature has no fuddy duddy laws interfering with homosexual parenting. Must be nice to be free. Maybe I'll come back as a giraffe next time.

[Jay818]

scotty knows? nothing.

[RButler]

Penguins aren't born gay. They 'chose' that lifestyle. I can hear the right wingers saying that now because they are so stupid.

[Tommygun264]

So has this undermined the sanctity of all the pairings of heterosexual penguins in the zoo?

[SurrealPumpkin]

you betcha, also

[juxtapose]

go penguins! nature takes care of itself...loving parents adopting an otherwise forgotten child. We should be so lucky ourselves, but we endlessly complicate things with judgments on each other.

[StephenJK]

And projection into the animal kingdom.

[HotheadPaisen]

Which is what YOU are doing Stevo. You are projecting these penguins to be 'straight' no matter what zoo officials and biologists say.

[Tom Joad]

The Christian evangelical penguins are going to organize and pass some laws preventing this...

[sfirx]

Animals can be sexually disabled too. They have said that these two birds have tried to mate with each other, gay people don't try they make it happen. I wonder what would happen if these evil humans would put a female in that cage with those two males. That would be the true test. Dogs, who are in heat, try to have sex with pillows, humans legs and anything else they can find. It's torture not to allow your dog to mate.

[klandish]

These two penguins have no interest in the females except for their eggs. Get used to it.

[SurrealPumpkin]

Almost human :)

[StephenJK]

Why are you so seemingly offended that these penguins might not be defined as "homosexual"?? What is your deal?

[brocko]

How stupid of them to call the animals gay!

[Tommygun264]

It's two penguins of the same sex in a monogamous relationship as mates. How stupid of you to refuse to recognize this proof that same-sex (gay) relationships occur in nature which, by the very definition of the term, means same-sex relationships, or being gay is "natural"; contrary to the claims of the intolerant and bigoted.

[Tommygun264]

It's two penguins of the same sex living together monogamously as mates. That is a gay relationship. And the fact that gay relationships occur in nature means that by the very definition of the term, being gay is a "natural" state of being.

[Andaesha K'Treva]

Thank you to the posters who are literate, delightful and engaging. I have enjoyed reading the commentary, and delight in the gentle humor found within.