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Family happiness with the pelicans in the Berlin Zoo
Photo: Berlin Zoo / dpa
Two male marine pelicans in the Berlin zoo have become adoptive fathers - at least that's how you could put it in a slightly humanized way: The birds named "Charlie Brown" and "Halle" look after a small spotted-billed pelican chick that was born on January 23rd , as a spokeswoman for the zoo said.
The egg of a pair of Spot-billed Pelicans had fallen out of the nest and was no longer cared for by its parents.
It initially went into an incubator.
According to the zoo, the male sea pelican couple wanted to breed anyway and had even had a dummy egg placed in the nest.
According to the spokeswoman, this was exchanged for the fertilized egg shortly before hatching.
The couple hatched it successfully.
The chick, which does not yet have a name, is now growing up in the care of its two caring adoptive fathers.
»The pair had already bred in previous years, but separately with female sea pelicans.
This season is the first time these two have come together as a same-sex couple," said the spokesperson.
According to the information, marine pelicans are very social birds; during the breeding season they build a nest out of different materials, such as twigs, feathers or grass.
Young animals hatch after about 30 days of incubation and are fed by both parents.
bbr/dpa