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A celebrated Australian penguin famous for raising chicks as part of an unlikely same-sex couple has died, a Sydney aquarium said on Thursday.

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penguin 08222024

Agence France-Presse

<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=476&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fsydneyaquarium%2Fvideos%2F2284400325242223%2F&amp;show_text=false&amp;width=267&amp;t=0" width="267" height="476" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><p>SYDNEY - A celebrated Australian penguin famous for raising chicks as part of an unlikely same-sex couple has died, a Sydney aquarium said on Thursday.</p><p>Male gentoo penguins Sphen and Magic caught the attention of zookeepers, and then the world, when they built a nest of pebbles together in 2018.</p><p>They were eventually given live eggs to incubate from other penguin couples, hatching chick Sphengic in 2018 and Clancy two years later.</p><p>Sealife Aquarium said Sphen -- the older partner in the &quot;same-sex&quot; penguin &quot;power couple&quot; -- had died just shy of turning 12, considered a long life in captivity.</p><p>Sphen and Magic were adopted as gay icons in Australia and further abroad, inspiring a float at the Sydney Mardi Gras parade and featuring in the Netflix sitcom Atypical.</p><p>But they also had their critics, with some in conservative circles saying the penguins were unwittingly being used to push a political agenda.</p><p>Unlike many mammal species, male and female penguins take on the same parenting roles, and share parental duties 50-50.</p><p>Same-sex couples between both males and females are not unheard of, although they are often short-lived in the wild.</p><p>It was not the first time same-sex penguin couples had adopted eggs in captivity, with a handful of zoos worldwide reporting similar cases.</p><p>In 2009, two male penguins -- Z and Vielpunkt -- successfully hatched and reared a chick that was rejected by its heterosexual parents at a zoo in Berlin.</p><p>Before them came Roy and Silo, two male chinstrap penguins at a zoo in New York who were spotted frequently trying to mate with each other.</p><p>sft/arb/ssy</p><p>© Agence France-Presse</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZfMOIF0XfJk?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>A celebrated Australian penguin famous for raising chicks as part of an unlikely same-sex couple has died, a Sydney aquarium said on Thursday.</p>

Australian penguin dies, ending famous 'same-sex power couple'

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Australian penguin dies, ending famous 'same-sex power couple'

Agence France-Presse

Published Aug 22, 2024 10:49 AM PHT

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gentoo penguin

sealife aquarium

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