An Australian penguin renowned for forming part of a famous same-sex penguin couple has passed away, according to a statement from the Sydney Aquarium on Thursday.
The male gentoo penguins, Sphen and Magic, first gained international attention in 2018 when they constructed a nest from pebbles together. Recognized for their unique bond, they were given fertilized eggs from other penguin pairs to incubate, successfully hatching chick Sphengic in 2018 and another named Clancy two years later.
Sphen, the older of the two, died just before age 12, a notable lifespan for a penguin in captivity. The pair became symbols of the LGBTQ+ community in Australia and worldwide, inspiring a float in the Sydney Mardi Gras parade and featured in the Netflix sitcom “Atypical.”
Despite their popularity, the pair faced criticism from conservative groups who argued that the penguins were being used to promote a political agenda. In the world of penguins, where male and female roles in parenting are indistinguishable and shared equally, same-sex pairings like that of Sphen and Magic are not uncommon, though they tend to be more transient in the wild.
This occurrence is not isolated to Sphen and Magic. Other zoos around the world reported similar cases of same-sex penguin couples adopting eggs, such as Z and Vielpunkt at a Berlin zoo in 2009, and earlier, Roy and Silo at a New York zoo, who were also male penguins observed engaging in mating behaviours with each other.
