Gay Penguins Stay Gay
A zoo has scrapped a plan to break up homosexual penguin couples following protests from gay rights groups.
Keepers at the German zoo only realised that six of the birds were gay after ordering DNA tests to be carried out on the penguins after they had been mating for years without producing any chicks. Bremerhaven Zoo in Northern Germany flew in four female Humboldt penguins from Sweden in a bid to encourage three male couples to reproduce after the males have been observed trying to mate with each other and trying to hatch offspring out of stones. The six homosexual birds, however, showed no interest in their new companions and remained faithful to each other.
Director Heike Kueck, who had initially defended her campaign to mate a group of homosexual male penguins with females, arguing that it is the only way to preserve a dying breed from extinction, changed her mind after being inundated with criticism by gay lobby groups after making public her plan.
Gay groups insisted that penguins had a right to form couples without human interference, she said. "If the penguins really are gay then obviously they can stay gay."
She added: "Nobody here wants to forcibly separate homosexual couples.�
Scientists have found numerous examples of same-sex behaviour in emus, dolphins and pigs, while same-sex couples in other penguin species are also well documented including two male King penguins who live together in Edinburgh Zoo and two chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan. Penguins are believed to mate for life.
Keepers at the German zoo only realised that six of the birds were gay after ordering DNA tests to be carried out on the penguins after they had been mating for years without producing any chicks.
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