China’s ‘Gay’ Penguin Couple Adopt Baby
0 If you’ve ever seen the popular documentary, March of the Penguins, you know the hardship that penguins endure to care for their babies. You would also know about the incredible teamwork it takes to care for a child.
From incubation to birth, penguin couples take turns caring for themselves and their offspring. While this effort is usually shared between a female and male penguin, a new-born penguin in northern China’s Harbin Polar Land has been adopted by two male penguins.
China’s “gay” penguin pair were married in a ceremony in 2009. According to Time, the couple have a history of trying to steal the eggs of other penguin couples during hatching season. Recently, a penguin mother gave birth to twins. Because she couldn’t care for both of them, the staff decided to give one twin up to the two male penguins, deemed “Adam and Steve” by the public. The couple are now proud surrogate parents to a baby female chick.
Earlier this month, another gay penguin couple made international news. Pedro and Buddy are African penguins who swim together and share a nest at the Toronto Zoo in Canada. The zoo plans to separate the couple so that they can procreate with female penguins. This separation sparked internet outrage, but the zoo promises to reunite the penguins after mating season. African penguins are endangered, so the zoo insists the mating is necessary to preserve the species.
[image: Reuters]
