gay animals

Toronto Zoo's African penguins - Buddy and Pedro - are bringing their relationship out of the closet. They are often seen touching each other and leave the common space together every night. Keepers have noticed the duo are showing signs of mating behaviour, including braying and defending their territory. Buddy and Pedro’s relationship follows research from the UC, Berkeley in Spring '11, which found birds can form gay relationships for life. Other species of animals exhibit homosexual tendencies. Giraffes, dolphins and monkeys are known to form same-sex bonds.

The journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology published a report giving insight into private lives of zebra finches. The same-sex pairs of these birds are just as monogamous, attached, and faithful to each other as those paired with a member of the opposite sex. Scientists found that same-sex pairs of finches sang to and preened each other just like heterosexual pairs. In same-sex monogamous gulls and albatrosses, some females breed with males but rear the young together. There are many other examples of same-sex pairing in the avian world.

Happy Father's Day to a gay penguin couple in Germany's Bremerhaven Zoo.

The couple has been fostering a chick given to them by zoo handlers, after the egg was rejected several times by its biological parents.

The new dads are one of three same-sex couples in a colony of twenty at the zoo. Scientists originally tried to split-up the couple to encourage breeding, but the they continued to come back to each other.

Since hatching a few days ago, the chick is thriving!

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Despite overwhelming evidence supporting existence of gay animals, NYTimes.com shines light on people who believe it's impossible.

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A lesbian royal albatross couple - on the Otago Peninsula of New Zealand - have become proud parents.

The chick, which hatched last week, is one of 17 birds born this year in the South Island - the only mainland breeding colony of the endangered animal in the world.

A spokesman from the Department of Conservation, Robin Thomas, said while same-sex pairings have occurred before, it's "not common".

A gay couple of male penguins has attempted to steal eggs from straight penguin couples, at the Polar Land zoo in north-east China. In an effort to hide their crime, the couple even placed stones at the feet of parenting penguins before leaving with their eggs.

"One of the responsibilities of being a male adult is looking after the eggs," explains a zookeeper. "Despite this being a biological impossibility for this couple, the natural desire is still there."

In the first exhibit of it's kind, the University of Oslo's Natural History Museum presents 51 species of animals exhibiting homosexuality. The display is called "Against Nature?"

"Homosexuality has been observed in more than 1,500 species, and the phenomenon has been well described for 500 of them," said Petter Bockman, project coordinator of the exhibition.