The gay penguins at Sydney Sea Life Aquarium that we wrote about earlier this month have welcomed a foster chick into the world and it’s the best news ever.
Sphen and Magic are the aquarium’s first gay penguin couple, and their keepers were so impressed with their parenting skills that they gave them an egg from a penguin who’d had two so that they could foster it. Evidently, they’ve been doing a fantastic job of incubating the little egg, since it’s now hatched!
The aquarium announced the arrival of the new chick on Facebook this morning:
Baby Sphengic was born just last week!
The chick hatched last Friday, and weighs just 91 grams. It doesn’t have a name just yet, but once they work out its gender in two months’ time, they’ll be asking their Facebook fans for help with naming baby Sphengic.
Penguin Department Supervisor Tish Hannan said:
“Baby Sphengic has already stolen our hearts! We love watching the proud parents doting and taking turns caring for their baby chick.”
So small!
Expectant Gentoo parents keep their eggs warm during incubation by using pebble nesting rings. They swap duties daily, so while one is incubating the egg, the other is patrolling the perimeters of the nest, “warding off any potential pebble thieves or over-inquisitive neighbours.”
Representatives for the aquarium have previously said that the pair make an excellent team – Sphen is older and already very good at incubating, while Magic is younger and still learning. They were able to practice on a dummy egg before receiving this egg from another penguin couple.
Leslie Knope would be so proud of Sphen and Magic. They’ve made gay penguin history!
So beautiful.