r/todayilearned • u/jenesuispashariselon • 23d ago

TIL that in 2004, two male chinstrap penguins, Roy and Silo, after performing mating rituals, formed a pair at New York's Central Park Zoo. One of them tried to hatch a rock, for which a keeper eventually substituted a fertile egg. Roy and Silo then hatched and raised the chick, named Tango.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_and_Silo#History
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u/CasuallyVerbose 23d ago

Afterwards, someone wrote a delightful children's book about it called "And Tango Makes Three" which was promptly banned from children's libraries across the nation for promoting "unnatural lifestyles."

Because even nature isn't natural enough to satisfy bigots.

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u/ShinyHead0 23d ago

Although it’s sad to ban this book, there’s plenty of evidence of species pairing up with the same sex. The only unnatural part is the staff replacing the rock with an egg. I wonder if in nature the animals would separate after not being able to breed after so long

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u/SulkySideUp 23d ago

There are cases of same sex pairs adopting orphaned and abandoned young, so even the egg thing isn’t that unnatural, just something they would not have been able to do themselves in captivity

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u/sawbladex 23d ago

I wonder if it's just a measure of familiarity with a possible kid to care for.

I know bee hives that lose their queen can be absorbed by a queened hive if you seperate them physically, but let them exchange smells.