Sea Life Sydney Aquarium
Sphen, a gentoo penguin who became famous worldwide for his long-term same-sex relationship with another man, died earlier this month in Sydney, Australia, at the age of 11.
Sphen and his 9-year-old partner Magic became “international queer icons” after they started building a nest together at the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium in 2018, the New York TimesIsabella Kwai. The couple successfully hatched two chicks together after keepers gave them foster eggs to hatch.
Their relationship was featured in the Netflix series ‘Atypical’ and large, inflatable replicas of the two fathers appeared on a float in Sydney’s 2021 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade. (The real birds couldn’t participate because the temperatures were too high.) Their story is recorded in Australian school textbooks teach children about sexuality, consent and relationships.
“Sphen and Magic’s love story captivated the world,” said Richard Dilly, the aquarium’s general manager, in a statement. Associated press“Rod McGuirk. “Sphen and Magic had a bond that was unlike most other penguin couples; they could even be found together outside the breeding season, which is unique for gentoo penguins.”
As he approached his twelfth birthday, Sphen’s health began to deteriorate. The aquarium euthanized Sphen to relieve him of any discomfort or pain. After Sphen died, the caretakers brought Magic to see the body so that he would understand that his companion would not return.
When Magic saw Sphen’s body, he immediately started singing. Other members of the gentoo colony soon joined him for a “beautiful broadcast,” Renee Howell, a penguin keeper at the aquarium, told the Guardianby Emily Wind.
“The air was just filled with their singing,” Howell adds.
Now keepers will turn their attention to Magic as he prepares for his first breeding season without his partner.
“We will continue to monitor Magic because this is new and it is difficult to comment on how he is doing,” aquarium spokeswoman Rachel Anker told the newspaper. Washingtonpostby Rachel Pannett.
Sphen and magic‘s relationship began in the summer of 2018. Sphen had been transferred to Sea Life Sydney Aquarium from SeaWorld, while Magic arrived from Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium.
When the two brave birds first crossed paths, it was actually love at first sight. Their meet-cute followed the same predictable pattern as male-female donkey partnerships. First they bowed to each other. Then they brought each other pebbles and admired their gifts. From there they stood close together and sang together. Neither bird showed interest in other members of the colony.
It was clear to the goalkeepers what was going on: Sphen and Magic had chosen each other. The penguins soon began collecting pebbles and stones to build a nest.
Sphen and Magic were talented architects: they built the largest nest of the entire colony. While the other young penguins milled about, Sphen and Magic sat dutifully on top of their nest and prepared for an egg.
The keepers decided to give them a dummy egg to make them feel like they were participating in the breeding season. The two fathers do such a good job that the keepers gave them a real egg from a male-female pair who had neglected their nest. Sphen and Magic officially became parents with the birth of their first foster chick, Lara (formerly named Shengic). That year, Lara was the only chick to hatch from all the eggs in the entire colony.
Sphen and Magic dutifully raised Lara, nourished, protected, and sang to her. They received another foster egg in 2020 and successfully hatched a chick named Clancy.
In the wild, gentoo penguins have an average lifespan of 15 to 20 years. They live on the Antarctic Peninsula, but also on islands in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. They have tuxedo-like plumage: white feathers on their chest and belly, and black feathers on their back, head and neck. Their beaks and feet are bright orange and they have a small white patch of feathers above each eye.
Gentoo penguins are typically about 2 feet tall and weigh 12 pounds, making them the third largest of all penguin species. They are fast swimmers that glide through the water to avoid predators or search for food such as krill, small fish, crustaceans and cephalopods.
During the Southern Hemisphere spring (October and November), the penguins find dry patches of ground and begin building nests with small stones and feathers, creating huge colonies of nesting donkeys. Each monogamous breeding pair typically lays two eggs, which the parents take turns keeping warm for just over a month. When the chicks hatch, they are covered in fluffy gray feathers.
Same-sex partnerships are not uncommon in the animal kingdom. Elmer and Lima, two male Humboldt penguins at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York, became a couple in 2021 and released their first foster chick early 2022. In January 2022, photographers captured images of two male humpback whales copulating off the coast of Maui.
Scientists have recorded sexual activity between people of the same sex more than 1,500 species– a figure that is probable underestimated the prevalence of the behavior, because researchers are often not specifically looking for it.
