Sydney’s gay penguin couple have adopted another egg together
Image: A pair of Gentoo penguins nesting with a chick in the Palmer Archipelago. Photo: Liam Quinn.
A pair of male gentoo penguins at Sea Life Sydney Aquarium who made the news last year when they successfully hatched and raised a chick together are nesting together again this year.
Sphen and Magic’s first adopted chick, Sphengic, only just turned one, but the keepers at Sea Life Sydney noticed that the pair had already begun constructing a new nest for this breeding season.
“They have the neatest and largest nest in the colony and when we noticed that another couple were struggling to incubate two eggs at the same time, we made the decision to foster the second egg to the power couple of the colony,” penguin supervisor Tish Hannan told 10Daily last week.
“Baby Sphengic … had an excellent start to life under their care and while she’s still a bundle of energy and very loud, she’s matured nicely but still quite unsure as to what all the adults are doing this breeding season.
”Sphengic may or may not have a little brother or sister in a few weeks, we’re yet to confirm if the egg is fertile.”
Sphen and Magic are not the only gentoo penguins that have been observed engaging in same-sex parenting in captivity.
Two female gentoos hatched a chick at Sea Life London Aquarium earlier this year.
