Gay penguins become fathers at German zoo after hatching egg
Last updated 04/06/2009 17:27:54
Gay penguins become fathers at German zoo after hatching egg
They may not be the most likely of couples - but two 'gay' penguins have scored a triumph for equality by hatching a chick and rearing it as its adoptive parents at a German zoo.
The adult males - Z and Vielpunkt - became fathers after the zoo, in Bremerhaven, northern Germany, gave them an egg which was rejected by its biological parents.
The pair are now happily rearing the chick, four weeks after it hatched. "Since the chick arrived, they have been behaving just as you would expect a heterosexual couple to do," the zoo explained. "The two happy fathers spend theirdays attentively protecting, caring for and feeding their adopted offspring."
It's not the first time that the zoo has made headlines over sexuality. In 2005 three pairs of male penguins had been seen attempting to mate with each other and trying to hatch offspring from stones.
The zoo flew in four females in a bid to get the endangered birds to reproduce - but dropped the scheme after outrage among gay rights activists, who accused it of interfering in the animals' behaviour. The six 'gay' penguins remained at the zoo, among them Z and Vielpunkt.
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