Male Penguin Couple Steals Nest of Two Female Penguins

• The “egg-nappers” are a male penguin couple who badly wanted kids of their own.
• Homosexuality is common among penguins, according to the zoo.
• Last year, the couple stole an egg from a same-sex female penguin couple.

Babies getting stolen? Sure, this happens a lot among human beings. It’s unfortunate, definitely. But in this special case, the babies are penguin eggs and the “egg-nappers” are a male penguin couple who badly wanted kids of their own.

The whole thing sounds like a juicy soap opera plot, but this is actually just another day at DierenPark Amersfoort, a zoo in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands.

The same-sex male penguin couple already made headlines last year for stealing an egg from a penguin couple, a heterosexual one. This time, the naughty male pair have stolen the nest of another same-sex couple, a pair of female penguins.

According to a tweet from the zoo, homosexuality is common among penguins and that the two male penguins are taking turns watching over the nest, which holds two eggs.

Zookeeper Sander Drost explained that the male pair is a “dominant couple” among the 17 penguins residing at the zoo.

“After obtaining an egg to hatch last year, they managed to hijack an entire nest this year at an unguarded moment,” Drost said.

He described the male penguin couple as “very determined” in their wish to become fathers. Unfortunately, this may not be realized since the eggs they stole were from a lesbian couple, which means the eggs are not likely fertilized.

The egg that the male couple stole the previous year was also unfertilized. The heterosexual penguin couple whom the egg was from laid another egg after the first one was stolen.

Drost added, “Maybe one day we will welcome a chick that has been hatched by a gay couple. Who knows, they might succeed next year.”

There are many cases of same-sex penguin couples wanting to become parents. At Sea Life Sydney Aquarium in Australia, two male gentoo penguins named Sphen and Magic, hatched a female chick laid by another couple. The baby was named Sphengic.

Also, at at the Oceanogràfic València aquarium in Spain, a couple of female gentoo penguins named Electra and Violet adopted an egg and raised the hatchling.