Skip and Ping really wanted to start a family; the two male penguins at the Berlin zoo scrounged for rocks and fish they could nurture, in classic penguin courting fashion.
The zoo decided to give the eager parentsa shot at fatherhood, and gave the couple an egg from a female penguin named The Orange, who had never successfully raised a chick of her own.
Naturalist and author Sy Montgomery told Boston Public Radio on Wednesday that homosexuality is a naturally occurring phenomenon across the animal kingdom.
"This is actually very common for penguins," she said. "There was another celebrated couple of chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo. This was a few years ago and they hatched a darling baby named Tango. Most people just loved this and thought it was terrific."
Last year, Sphen and Magic became proud dads of a penguin chick after adopting an egg from another pair of penguins that had hatched two.
Montgomery is a journalist, naturalist and BPR contributor. Her latest book is "The Magnificent Migration: On Safari With Africa's Latest Great Herds."
