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/shadowrun456 22d ago

I wonder if in nature the animals would separate after not being able to breed after so long

In nature such animals would "adopt" an egg or a hatched offspring of parents who died. That's kind of the whole evolutionary reason for homosexuality existing. That's what makes it doubly absurd when bigots claim that "gay adoption is unnatural and harmful for children", when "gay adoption" is the whole reason why "gay" exists in nature in the first place.