Same-sex penguin parents have been much in the news of late—and the flamingos aren’t far behind.
I’ve been following stories of same-sex penguin parents for quite some time now; here’s an update on a few pairs, along with some flamingo news:
- ZSL London Zoo held special Pride celebrations, with their same-sex penguin dads Ronnie and Reggie and other same-sex penguin couples—along with one-year-old Rainbow, who hatched during last year’s Pride—as the stars. Photo of Ronnie and Reggie below; also check out the awesome promotional image they made for the celebration.
- Marama and Rocky, a female pair of Gentoo penguins at Sea Life London, have hatched their first adopted chick, reports the Independent, telling us, “The new parents have built the biggest nest in the colony and share parenting and feeding responsibilities equally.” The egg was given to them when another penguin laid two eggs. Keepers say that giving one to another couple to raise means both eggs have the best chance of survival.
- The same-sex penguin pair Eduardo and Rio are the go-to foster parents for the San Francisco Zoo. “Anytime we have an egg, that’s really valuable for the species survival plan, we automatically put it with our foster same-sex couple, because they’re fantastic parents,” Anthony Augello, the zoo’s Assistant Curator of Birds and Reptiles, told CBS 5/KPIX. The couple have incubated three eggs and raised the three chicks together.
- The Denver Zoo said that a same-sex flamingo couple there, named Lance Bass and Freddie Mercury, could act as surrogate parents if a breeding pair was unable to raise their chick. They wouldn’t be the first of their species: flamingos Carlos and Fernanado of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire did so back in 2007; and two same-sex pairs did so at the Edinburgh Zoo in 2014. Bonus fun fact: A group of flamingos is called a “flamboyance.”