What the Sydney Zoo has in mind with a penguin with gay parents

"Baby Sphengic" is a strange name. That's the name of a penguin who lives in a zoo in Sydney. But it is not just any penguin.

His parents are stars in the net: Sphen and Magic. The two penguin gentlemen are inseparable. When the breeding season began in October 2018, the two did what all the other couples in their enclosure did, collecting stones to make a nest. Eventually, the two had collected more stones than any other couple.

Therefore, the zoo staff decided to give the couple a real egg in their nest. This came from another pair that had previously laid two eggs. Sphen and Magic did not notice the exchange - and brooded the egg. The offspring was born on 19 October 2018.

The penguin baby is called "Baby Sphengic" by CNN and is female. It was not easy to figure that out: the zoo staff needed months and a blood test to determine the gender. Male and female penguins resemble each other.

"Baby Sphengic" weighed 90 grams at birth - and is now five kilos. Right now she's getting swimming lessons. One of the most important things, nurse Laetitia Hannan told CNN, was that baby penguins learned to keep their heads submerged while swimming. "Only then can you see."

By the way, "Baby Sphengic" is more of a nickname. The zoo wanted to think of another name. The animal is also said to be an ambassador to a species threatened by global warming and plastic waste, Hannan said.

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Gay couples with a family wish are not uncommon in the animal kingdom. The zoo in Odense, Denmark reported a pair of gay penguins stealing another's egg. In 2016, two gay griffon vultures hatched an egg in Tierpark Nordhorn; In 2010, two gay storks attacked a hetero-stork family and took over their nest in Meßkirch, Upper Swabia.