Gay Penguins Adopt Abandoned Egg In Berlin Zoo, expected to hatch in September

Two Gay penguins were bestowed with the gift of parenthood when they were handed over an abandoned egg to care for.

The couple, Skipper and Ping, living in Berlin Zoo were purportedly in a pursuit to become parents and had long wanted a chick of their own. This had seemingly led them to nurture objects around them like a wet rock or a slimy fish in hope that one day it would hatch into a chick. 

The King Penguins, both of whom were 10-years-old each, were given the egg in July after it was abandoned by the only female King Penguin at the Zoo, who had shown disinterest in her egg. 

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As soon as the egg was handed over to them, their parental instincts are said to have kicked in. They have reportedly been behaving like model parents, taking turns to keep the egg warm. This is the first time ever that the zoo has tried to have a same-sex penguin couple incubate an egg, which, if successful, would mean the first chick born at the zoo since 2002. 

If the egg is successfully fertilised, Skipper and Ping, who moved to the zoo in April from Hamburg's Tierpark Hagenbeck, would be expecting their chick to hatch in early September.

Gay penguins can be found in both the wild and in captivity. At the Central Park Zoo in New York City, same-sex penguin couple Silo and Roy, who raised a penguin baby together, were the inspiration for the children’s book And Tango Makes Three. 

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