In a zoo located in Madrid, a pair of very close male penguins has been entrusted with their own egg to nurture.
Inca and Rayas, the Gentoo penguins, have dedicated themselves to building a nest for the past six years in hopes of starting a family and have now finally been given the opportunity with an egg.
Taking on their new parental roles, Inca has embraced the ‘female’ responsibility of incubating the egg, a duty he performs diligently throughout the day.
On the other hand, Rayas has been busy eating.
This preparation is to ensure he can fulfill the traditional male role of providing nourishment for their young through regurgitated fish.
Yolanda Martin, who looks after the penguins at Spain’s Faunia Park, explained: ‘We wanted to give them something to bond over – hence, we provided them with an egg. Otherwise, there was a chance they could have become depressed.’
While she acknowledged the incredibly close bond between the pair, she clarified that they were not actually gay but merely the best of companions.
This isn’t the first instance of male penguins receiving an egg to care for; staff at a zoo in China gave the penguin couple Steve and Adam a chick to look after just last year.
