When a penguin egg was rejected by its parents at a German zoo, two homosexual penguins stepped up to the plate and hatched the egg as their own. The proud parents are now proudly rearing the chick, the German zoo housing the couple said last week.
“Z and Vielpunkt, both males, gladly accepted their ‘Easter present’ and began straight away with hatching the egg,” the zoo in Bremerhaven in northern Germany said.
“Since the chick arrived they are behaving in the same way as one would expect a heterosexual couple to do. Both happy fathers are now diligently handling the everyday care ... of their adopted offspring,” the zoo said.
Z and Vielpunkt are part of a six-strong gay community among the zoo’s collection of endangered Humboldt penguins who rose to fame in 2005 when four Swedish females were brought in in an unsuccessful attempt to “cure” them.
“Homosexuality is nothing unusual among animals,” the zoo said. “Sex and coupling up in our world do not necessarily have anything to do with reproduction.”
The Humboldt penguin is normally found on the coast of Chile and Peru, but numbers have dropped to between 12,000 and 20,000 as industrial fishing methods have led to dwindling stocks of the anchovies on which they feed.(AFP)
德國某動物園有一對企鵝父母拋棄了牠們的企鵝蛋，結果一對同性戀企鵝挺身而出，肩負起孵化企鵝蛋的工作。飼養這對同性戀企鵝的德國動物園上週表示，這對值得驕傲的企鵝爸爸現在正得意洋洋地照料這隻小企鵝。
這家位於德國北部不萊梅的動物園表示：「齊和維爾龐這兩隻公企鵝開心地接受了牠們的『復活節彩蛋』，並馬上就開始孵蛋。」
園方說：「這隻小企鵝出生以來，牠們就表現得跟一般異性戀企鵝父母一樣。這兩隻企鵝爸爸現在每天都勤奮地照料…牠們收養的這隻企鵝寶寶。」
這家動物園飼養了一群瀕臨絕種的漢波德企鵝，當中有「六壯士」是同性戀，齊和維爾龐正是其中一對；二ＯＯ五年園方利用四隻瑞典母企鵝意圖「矯正」其性向的計畫失敗後，「六壯士」聲名大噪。
園方表示：「同性戀在動物界並不稀奇。性和交配在我們的世界未必是為了繁殖後代。」
漢波德企鵝通常出沒在智利和秘魯沿海地區，但因為工業捕魚技術發展，導致牠們主要捕食的鯷魚數量減少，牠們的數量也減少至一萬兩千隻到兩萬隻。（法新社╱翻譯：袁星塵）
Ed: I’ve just read an article about global warming. I had no idea how serious it was.
Daniel: Yeah, it’s a big problem. But what are you going to do about it?
Ed: I’ve already written a letter to my representative and I’m going to organize a car pool at work.
Daniel: That’s a good start. Well done for stepping up to the plate.
Ed: Thanks. We all have to take responsibility for this.
艾德：我剛剛讀了一篇講全球暖化的文章。我原本根本不知道這個的嚴重性。
丹尼爾：是啊，這是一個嚴重的問題。但你打算怎麼做呢？
艾德：我已經寫了一封信給本區的議員，並打算在公司發起共乘活動。
丹尼爾：這是一個好的開始。你跳出來負責的精神真令人佩服。
艾德：謝啦。生態環保，人人有責。
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