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.”
(Photo above) Two male Humboldt penguins cautiously guards the entrence to their cave in the “Zoo am Meer” zoological park in Bremerhaven, northern Germany, on Wednesday, June 3, 2009, where they are fostering a six weeks old penguin chick. After a penguin egg had been abandoned by its biological parents, it was placed in the male penguins’ nest, who then adopted and hatched it. The gender of the penguin chick has not yet been determined. Bremerhaven zoo veterinarian 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. (AP Photo/Focke Strangmann)