Two male king penguins at Berlin Zoo have been given their first adopted egg after attempting to hatch stones and fish between their feet. What’s more, the complete spiel about the penguin duo is a total love story.
The romance between penguins Skipper and Ping was obvious from when they first arrived at Berlin in April, according to a zoo spokesman. They originally came from a zoo in Hamburg.
Their adopted egg, given by the zookeepers, was laid by a female king penguin who had never hatched any of her eggs in the past. Apparently, the boys have taken to it well which should make anyone let out an audible “aww.”
Okay, so maybe we’re humanising these penguins just a tad. They are, after all, animals who probably have the natural urge to hatch eggs. But we’re choosing to ignore science just this once and instead believe they’ve been trying to hatch anything insight because they’re in LOVE.
While Skipper and Ping aren’t the first queer animal couple to make their way into the public eye they’re just as worthy of our attention. Stories like these are not only completely adorable but they delegitimise the botched homophobic belief that homosexuality is not “natural.” What the hell is more natural than nature itself?
But incase the bigots aren’t convinced, apparently close to 1,000 species in the animal kingdom exhibit same-sex behaviour.
The queer animal kingdom even has its own saucy tale. Lest we forget the saga of male chinstrap penguins Silo and Roy from Central Park Zoo… it’s just too real. They fell in love in 1998, together hatched a baby penguin named Tango and devastatingly split in 2005 when Silo left Roy for a female penguin named Scrappy.
It’s yet to be confirmed whether Skipper and Ping’s egg is fertilised or not but we’re crossing our fingers. We hope these two follow in the footsteps of Sydney Sea Life Aquarium’s Sphen and Magic, a gay penguin couple who hatched a foster chick together earlier this year. Also, how heckin’ cute would the pics be?
Stay tuned, guys. Apparently, incubation takes around 55 days but whether the egg is fertilised or not, who cares. We’re just happy we live in a world where zookeepers understand that love is love.