Saturday, August 8, 2009

Edinburgh zoo penguins turn gay for lack of females

Edinburgh zoo penguins turn gay for lack of females

Jul 13 2009 By Chris Musson

LONELY male penguins at Edinburgh Zoo are pairing off with each other - after running out of females to p-p-p-pick up.

And now zoo chiefs are desperately seeking female king penguins to boost their breeding programme.

The zoo has just 10 king penguins - of which only two are female.

They have already chosen their mates for the season, leaving six male penguins looking for love. Some of them have now formed same-sex relationships.

Head penguin keeper Roslin Talbot said yesterday: "They have sometimes tried to physically mate with each other - not very successfully.

"But mainly, they sit together in pairs and display to one another.

"If we had four male king penguins and four female king penguins, this wouldn't be happening. But this year we have just two females, because older females have died.

"The two females have each already paired off for the season. One already has an egg and we hope the other will lay soon.

"But it has obviously left the six other males without a female mate."

Source:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/editors-choice/2009/07/13/edinburgh-zoo-penguins-turn-gay-for-lack-of-females-86908-21516048/

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