London Zoo's Gay Penguins Join Pride Celebration
A male penguin couple at a London zoo has a chance to show their pride at a Pride-themed "Zoo Night." They've been given a banner emblazoned with a slogan used by a British LGBTQ advocacy group to combat bullying and homophobia, reports the Irish Independent.
ZSL London Zoo will celebrate Pride on Friday, July 5, the zoo's website says. The same-sex penguin pair, two Humboldt penguins named Ronnie and Reggie, have been celebrities ever since they fostered an abandoned egg in 2015. They were noted to be attentive parents to the chick they saved, Kyton.
ZSL Zoo hosts "Zoo Nights" every Friday. The July 5 Zoo Night is slated for a Pride theme. Visitors will have the opportunity to "learn about gender and mating in the animal kingdom at a Pride-themed talk, where they'll discover just how common same-sex pairings are — from penguins and pandas to goats and giraffes," text at the zoo's website says.
Ronnie and Reggie's banner, made by zoo employees, adapts the slogan "Get Over It!," which has been used for several years by advocacy group Stonewall to counter anti-LGBTQ bullying in schools.
The Irish Independent noted that same-sex pairings are not uncommon both among penguins in zoos and penguins in the wild. Indeed, as previously reported at EDGE, more than half the penguins at an aquarium in Dingle, Ireland, have paired up with same-sex partners.
And tales of devoted couples fostering eggs and raising chicks are not uncommon, either, be it the story of Roy and Silo, in New York's Central Park Zoo, who raised a chick named Tango (and inspired a popular children's book), or the more recent example of Sphen and Magic, two Gentoo penguins living at Sydney Aquarium's Sealife attraction, who were given an egg to foster when a fellow penguin couple ended up with two eggs rather than the usual single egg - a situation that, in the wild, usually leads to the death of one chick. In the case of Sphen and Magic, it meant their desire to become parents - obvious from their nesting habits - could be met. The couple (collectively called 'Sphengic') tended their egg with tender devotion and, when their chick hatched, they made headlines all over again.
CNN reports that although Ronnie and Reggie are now empty nesters, with Kyton having grown up and struck out on his own, they remain a devoted couple, and are "often found snuggling in their next box."
According to a BBC report, Ronnie and Reggie are one of three same-sex penguin couples at the zoo. The others are named Naja and Zimmer, and Dev and Martin. The zoo is home to 93 penguins in all.
The BBC quoted the zoo as having explained the use of the slogan by stating, "We loved Stonewall's campaign and wanted to remind people that same-sex relationships happen across the animal kingdom - even here in our penguin colony at ZSL London Zoo."
The "Zoo Night Pride Takeover" is open to visitors 18 and older, but all are welcome at a separate event on July 7, when drag performer Mama G will appear at Rainbow Families to "share positive tales," the zoo's website said.