Last week we reported the heartrending story that Buddy and Pedro, a “gay penguin” couple at the Toronto Zoo, were being forced to separate to help propagate their species with fewer than 250,000 African Penguins in existence.

But now it looks as though Buddy, 20, and Pedro, 10, who “pair bonded” at the zoo, will be reunited in the spring once they’ve done their duty on behalf of the African Penguin population.

The zoo’s bird curator said that if the couple wished to get back together at the end of the mating period, “they will be welcome to do so,” according to The Daily Beast.

Buddy and Pedro came from Toledo, Ohio where they were members of an all-male flock. When it comes to describing sexual orientation in animals, scientists do not use the terms gay or straight, so in zoo-speak, their relationship is called “pair bonding,” and has not changed since arriving in Toronto.

The mating behaviors that Buddy and Pedro exhibit include making a “braying” sound, similar to a donkey, as a mating call. They stand alone together, defend their territory and groom each other.

The zookeepers are hesitant to discuss the issue of their relationship with the public, but they have all noticed the penguin pair’s bond. “It’s a complicated issue, but they seem to be in a loving relationship of some sort,’’ Joe Torzsok, chair of the Toronto zoo board, told The Star.

It is not unusual for some animal species to show signs of homosexuality as giraffes, monkeys and dolphins have all been known to bond with the same sex.

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