The topic for today is: Homosexuality in Penguins.
The reason I'm writing about this is because Toronto Zoo is separating a same-sex penguin couple due to mating purposes. [Story url: http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1085094--same-sex-penguins-must-separate-soon?bn=1 ]
Homosexual behavior has been documented by zoos about many animals but penguin homosexuality has reached fame after the news story about the two male chinstrap penguins in Central Park Zoo broke out. The two male penguins were witnessed to trying to hatch a makeshift egg from stone, witnessing this the zoo keepers decided to give the couple a real egg from a heterosexual couple who had trouble hatching their egg before. The heartwarming book, And Tango Makes Three was created from this the story.
Apart from New York other zoos in Japan and Germany have documented such events. Studies Germany have shown that even though they tried separating the penguins for mating purposes, but the bond was too strong between the homosexual males and the process failed. Now the Toronto is trying to do the same thing. They are trying to separate the two males because the they are Africans Penguins, which is part endangered species list. So my question to you readers is: Do you think it's right for them to be separated? Should "love" be split up because of practical reasons?
Hi Angelica,
ReplyDeleteI believe that penguins should never be separated no matter what sexual orientation they are, because love is love. Separating homosexual penguins for the sole purpose of 'mating' is impossible, because mating without love never works.
I am sorry to say, but I think practical reasons trump their love. Even if there is a possibility that the pairs don't mate with each other, there is also a possibility that they will and that out weights their love. At least people are more accepting of this couple than most people are concerning human homosexuals.
ReplyDeleteI never knew that penguins could be homosexual. The book And Tango Makes Three sounds really fascinating.
ReplyDeleteI never knew about penguin homosexuality. I can understand why they would separate them for breeding reasons, but the story of the two penguins trying to hatch an egg from a rock warms my heart. Love is love, I think these penguins should be allowed to be together.
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