News

Gay flamingos hatch egg in San Diego

This is the future that liberals want.

Means Happy

Oct 2, 2024 — 4 min read

It's not the first time that it's happened but it doesn't happen very often - two male flamingos have successful co-parented an orphaned egg, hatching a chick that they will now raise together.

Both birds are in their 40s. In the wild, they're found in sub-Saharan Africa and western India, but this pair live in the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

Zoo staff were confident that the same-sex couple were up to the task because they'd tested them out first by giving them a dummy egg to look after - demonstrating that they could alternate brooding responsibilities and give the egg the attention that it needed to successfully hatch.

Which are the gayest animals?

Same-sex sexual behaviour has been observed in more than 1,500 animal species. Here are some of the gayest.

Penguins

It’s quite common for penguins to form same-sex couples, both in the wild and in captivity. Roy and Silo of New York City’s Central Park Zoo are among the most famous gay penguins – the Chinstrap Penguins successfully hatched an egg in 1999, their chick was called Tango.

Other notable same-sex penguin couples include Sphen and Magic in Sydney, and Skipper and Ping in Berlin.

It’s relatively common for zoos around the world to report same-sex penguin couples getting together during breeding season.

Giraffes

Male giraffes often display at lot of intimate affection towards each other. Researchers have observed same-sex necking, licking, nuzzling and mounting between male giraffes, as well as genital stimulation.

As a species, giraffes don’t form couples of any kind. Adult females live together in herds, and only mate with the transient males who manage to be dominant enough, or surreptitious enough, to visit them at the right time.

Humpback Whales

Same-sex encounters have previously been observed in orca and dolphins, but it's only recently that Humpback Whales have been confirmed to have been getting in on the action.

Documented off the coast of Hawaii and written up in a recent scientific journal, the encounter was observed in January 2022. Two whales - both confirmed to be male - approached the boat of the researchers, circled, and then began to engage in sexual activity while just a few metres below the boat. They were close enough to get pretty clear photos of everything.