GAY PENGUINS ARE “BEST PARENTS”
Jumbs and Kermit protect their month-old adoptive chick (Pic: Wingham Wildlife Park)
A same-sex penguin couple in the UK are reportedly the best penguin parents in the zoo.
According to BBC News, the two male Humboldt penguins, named Jumbs and Kermit, stepped in to incubate an egg after the biological father refused to do so.
The healthy chick hatched on April 12 and the two dads, who first got together in 2012, have turned out to be stellar adoptive care-takers.
Tony Binskin, owner of the Wingham Wildlife Park in Kent said that, “These two have so far proven to be two of the best penguin parents we have had yet.”
He added: “We are still very much starting our breeding efforts with this species, and this is only our second year of breeding, but having such good surrogate parents available should we need them is a huge bonus for us.”
There have been numerous instances of same-sex penguin couples taking on a surrogate parenting role, and many instances of same-sex couples have been documented in the animal kingdom.
In 2011, a male penguin couple in northern China raised a newly-hatched chick, while in 2009, a gay penguin couple at the East London Aquarium in South Africa also raised a chick after it was rejected by its biological parents.
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