|
Gay Marriage Works: It's Good for Families
Quote:
Gay penguin couple adopts abandoned egg in German zoo
Last Updated: Friday, June 5, 2009 | 12:23 PM ET
CBC News
The biological parents "always rolled the egg out of their nest, they kicked it out again and again," zoo veterinarian Joachim Schoene said.
"Then we made the decision not to give it up and instead try to give it two fathers."
So far, the experiment has been a success. The two foster dads incubated the egg for 30 days until it hatched and have continued to care for the newborn chick.
The male penguins, named Z and Vielpunkt, are one of three same-sex pairs of Humboldt penguins at the zoo. That means almost a third of the zoo's 20 penguins who have attempted to mate exhibit homosexual behaviour.
The behaviour is not considered unusual because homosexuality has been well documented in the animal kingdom. Same-sex penguin pairs have also been observed at zoos in Japan and New York.
A similar experiment was performed at New York City's Central Park Zoo in 2004. Two male chinstrap penguins named Roy and Silo incubated an egg together and raised the chick when she hatched.
Z, Vielpunkt and their adopted chick have proven a hit with visitors to the Bremerhaven zoo.
With files from The Associated Press
|
Gay penguin couple adopts abandoned egg in German zoo
__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
|