Two Gay Penguins Are Incubating an Egg Together at the Sydney Aquarium

Magic and Sphen, who have been given the couple name Sphengic, are having their own little chick at Australia's Sea Life Sydney Aquarium.

The same-sex couple had always seemed to be more than friends, and then as breeding season approached, the couple started collecting pebbles to create a nest, as is typical among Gentoo penguin parents who alternate the jobs of incubating eggs and standing guard daily.

Sphen even gave Magic a “special stone” which, according to the aquarium, “is the equivalent to proposing in the love language of penguins.”

The aquarium then decided to give Sphengic a “dummy egg” to see if the couple was interested and would be good at incubation. Upon receiving the fake egg, they “immediately knew exactly what it was and started incubating it,” Tish Hannan, supervisor of the aquarium’s penguin department, said.

Thus, the aquarium gave them a real egg (taken from an opposite-sex couple who had two) that the couple is currently incubating!

“The pair make a great team,” the aquarium reported. “And there are often days where the egg can not be seen (which is really good for penguin breeding!).”