Same-Sex Penguins Hatch, Raise Baby Chick in Win for At-Risk Species

A male couple of Humboldt penguins, Scampi and Flounder, have successfully hatched an egg and are now fostering a baby chick in a happy family story that's also good news for an at-risk species.

The adoption took place at Chester Zoo in England after another pair of Humboldt penguins, Wotsit and Peach, laid two eggs, Avery Journal reported.

Typically, penguin couples only nurture one egg at a time. By allowing Scampi and Flounder to foster the second egg, keepers at the zoo boosted the chances of the chick – and of the species. "Humboldt penguins are one of the most at-risk of the world's 17 species of penguins," CBS News noted, "and are listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature."

Following the hatching of all 10 eggs laid by Humboldt penguins at the zoo this season, "There are now 63 penguins in the colony at the zoo," CBS News noted.

Chester Zoo's Zoe Sweetman called the successful hatching of the Humboldt penguins eggs "fantastic news for the species and a brilliant success for the international conservation breeding program." The chicks are reportedly doing well and "are said to be just 'days away' from their first swimming lessons," Avery Journal shared.

Same-sex penguin couples fostering eggs and then raising the chicks that hatch from them are hardly unknown. Avery Journal recalled the celebrated couple Sphen and Magic, Gentoo penguins at the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, who raised two adopted chicks in 2020.

Another same-sex Humboldt penguin couple, Elmer and Lima – called "exemplary in every aspect of egg care" by keepers at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo – hatched and raised a chick in 2022, the same year in which Diego and Zorro, a gay penguin couple at the Oceanarium in Bournemouth, England welcomed a chick of their own, Ponyo.

Same-sex penguin couples in zoos and aquariums around the world have been hatching and caring for chicks for decades, and have proven to be excellent parents. Roy and Silo, two chinstrap penguins who lived at the Central Park Zoo in New York, are perhaps the world's most celebrated penguin family, having hatched and cared for a chick named Tango. Their story was told in 2005 in the best-selling (and perennially challenged) children's book "And Tango Makes Three."