Same-sex penguin couple become parents for a second time

A same-sex penguin couple have become the heroes a zoo in Australia needed after adopting a second neglected chick.

The male-male couple first hit the headlines back in 2018 for their parenting skills, which were first noticed by keepers at Sea Life Sydney who saw them building a nest during the breeding season.

However, the pair weren't going to be able to produce a chick of their own, so staff at the zoo gave them a dummy egg to see if they could potentially be adoptive parents and the pair were naturals.

After that, the dummy egg was replaced with a real one that had been neglected by its parents.

Watch the announcement of the couple's second chick below: 

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Sphen and Magic went on to give the egg all the care and attention it needed and their first chick Lara was born in 2018.

Now, the family has welcomed its second chick after the same-sex pair were given another neglected egg from the most recent breeding season, which went on to hatch at the aquarium's Sub-Antarctic Zone over the past month.

In an interview with Sydney's Star Observer, a spokesperson for the zoo explained that penguins can sometimes have too many eggs, or they are simply not very good at looking after them.

When this happens, staff will sometimes "foster these eggs out to other pairs like Sphen and Magic", adding that the same-sex pair have " proven to be good parents in the past", which is why they were entrusted with another egg.

Kerrie Dixon, Sea Life Sydney Aquarium's Penguin Supervisor, said of this year's chicks: "We are beyond excited to welcome the new penguin chicks to our colony. They are doing really well and gaining weight. They started at around 95 grams, now our oldest is almost 2kg and the youngest is sitting at around 399 grams."

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Penguins are one of many animal species where same-sex couples exist and the zoo said that they are "fortunate to have our own male-male pair."

The spokesperson continued: "Just like our other Gentoo parents, Sphen and Magic are attentive and incredibly caring and we feel privileged to have such an amazing duo in our colony."

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Sphen and Magic's first chick Lara continues to thrive at the age of two, and according to keepers, she surprises them by "every day with how independent she is."

In fact, Lara is now so grown up that she tried to hatch an egg of her own after setting up a nest with a partner this year, but she was unsuccessful and will likely try again next year and hopefully give Sphen and Magic "a little grand penguin chick."