ph6 Sphen, Penguin Whose Gay Love Story Earned Global Fame, Dies
ph6 Sphen, Penguin Whose Gay Love Story Earned Global Fame, Dies
Sphenph6, a male gentoo penguin whose enduring partnership with another male penguin in the colony led them to become international queer icons, has died, according to the Sydney aquarium that housed them. He was 11.
The penguin died earlier this month after his health deteriorated, the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium team said in an email. The aquarium did not give additional information on his ailment but said that it made the difficult decision to euthanize Sphen, “easing him of any pain or discomfort.”
For Sphen and Magic, a summer meet-cute in Sydney sparked their six-year partnership. Sphen, three years older, had come from SeaWorld, while Magic was born in an aquarium in Melbourne. In a colony of young, flirty penguins at Sea Life, the two had eyes only for each other: bowing, singing and bringing each other pebbles for a potential future nest, according to penguin keepers. Young gentoo penguins can take some time to choose their partners, but Sphen and Magic did not waste any.
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENT“They weren’t interested in other birds in the colony,” Tish Hannan, the head of penguin supervision at the aquarium, said in an interview in 2019. “They’ve chosen each other. That’s it. They’re bonded now.”
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The penguin keepers embraced their partnership and gave them a dummy egg to foster. They were later given a real egg after a heterosexual penguin couple appeared to be neglecting their parenting duties. Sphen and Magicph6, who had achieved relative stability with their big nest, diligently nurtured their bundle of joy, swapping shifts to incubate the egg and keep it warm. They hatched a chick, Sphengic, now called Lara, in 2018 and paired up again in 2020 to hatch Clancy.