Homosexuality in Penguins

The assumption that homosexual behavior is rare or “unnatural” is contradicted by ample evidence of same-sex sexual activity in more than 450 nonhuman species. These young male penguins at a zoo in Germany entwine their necks, kiss, call to each other, and have sex—and they firmly reject females. Another male pair in another zoo, Silo and Roy, seemed so desperate to incubate an egg together that they put a rock in their nest and sat on it. Their human keeper was so touched that he gave them a fertile egg to hatch. Silo and Roy sat on it for the necessary 34 days until their chick, Tango, was born, and then they raised Tango beautifully. “They did a great job,” said the zookeeper.