Gay Penguins are Dads

Z and Vielpunkt are a pair of Humboldt penguins living at the Bremerhaven Zoo in northern Germany. They are among a group of 20 penguins living there and, like two other couples, Z and Vielpunkt are gay.

A few years ago the zoo provoked protests from the gay community when several female penguins were brought in to tempt the gay penguins to go straight. The gay penguins however remained faithful to their mates.

Z and Vielpunkt have now started a family and are the proud parents of a young chick.

When zoo keepers noticed that an egg from a pair of penguins was being thrown out of the nest they tried repeatedly to return it, only to have the parents throw it out again. After a few unsuccessful attempts the zoo keepers thought that they would try to give the egg to Z and Vielpunkt. The gay pair accepted the abandoned egg and incubated it for 30 days until the baby was born.  They continue to care for it as if they were the natural parents.

A statement from the zoo confirms that the chick – now four weeks old – is happy with it’s adoptive parents:

“Since the chick arrived, they have been behaving just as you would expect a heterosexual couple to do. The two happy fathers spend their days attentively protecting, caring for and feeding their adoptive offspring.”

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