Humans aren’t the only ones who struggle to conceive.
Two male king penguins at Zoo Berlin tried nurturing objects like a wet rock and slimy fish in hopes of hatching a child of their own.
Spoiler alert: They failed.
The same-sex couple arrived from Hamburg this year. Within weeks, it became clear to zookeepers that Skip and Ping wanted to start a family.
“It is very common that two penguins of the same sex come together. I don’t think it is the majority of penguins, but it is not rare, either,” zoo spokesman Maximilian Jäger told The New York Times. “We are sure they would be good parents because they were so nice to their stone.”
The team decided to give Skipping (my portmanteau for the lovebirds) a shot at fatherhood after 22-year-old female The Orange (named for the color of her wings) laid an egg in July.
She has never hatched a chick of her own, according to the Times.
“We just had to put the egg in front of one of them, and he knew just what to do,” Jäger said. “He took his beak and put the egg on his feet and then put his stomach over tit, which is the normal thing penguins do.”
On Tuesday, zoo visitors, journalists, and a TV crew from Germany’s public international broadcaster gathered to watch Ping incubate the egg.
This feelgood story, however, may not have a happy ending.
It is not clear whether the egg was fertilized, which means it may never hatch.
There’s no way to know for sure until next month, when the wildlife park will welcome a new fluffy member—or not.
Fingers crossed for Zoo Berlin’s first penguin chick since 2002.
“I hope Ping and Skip get a little penguin baby and become the best parents you’ve ever seen,” keeper Anja Seiferth said. “I hope that is what happens, but so far we do not know if it will.”
Last year, two inseparable male gentoo penguins at the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium were given a real egg to foster.
Sphen and Magic, nicknamed “Sphengic,” began their relationship like any two penguins living in captivity: They regularly waddled around and went for swims together in the Penguin Expedition.
As breeding season approached, the pair started collecting “pebbles” to create a nest; gentoo penguin parents keep eggs warm on pebble nesting rings scattered throughout the Macquarie Island exhibit.
Initially given a dummy egg to practice incubating, Sphengic eventually presented a real egg from another couple that had two.
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