A same-sex penguin couple have become a New York zoo’s first set of gay parents.
Elmer and Lima have become the first same-sex penguin parents at a New York zoo
The males Elmer and Lima - a two of the 55 Humboldt penguins who live at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse - have become the proud foster parents - of an egg - whose birth parents were deemed too likely to break their egg - after proved themselves to be “exemplary” at parenting.
Ted Fox, the zoo’s director said in the announcement: "Some pairs, when given a dummy egg, will sit on the nest but leave the egg to the side and not incubate it correctly, or they'll fight for who is going to sit on it when. That's how we evaluate who will be good foster parents, and Elmer and Lima were exemplary in every aspect of egg care.”
The type of bird is considered to be vulnerable in the wild hence the special effort to maintain a Species Survival Plan, which includes breeding and the importance of Elmer and Lima’s “success”.
Ted continued: "Elmer and Lima's success at fostering is one more story that our zoo can share to help people of all ages and backgrounds relate to animals.”