Despite claims by religious fundamentalists that being gay is a choice and that homosexuality only exists in humans, it seems that penguins can also "bat for the other team" and even swing both ways.
At the San Francisco Zoo (where else?) two male penguins, Pepper and Harry, have been sharing a pool as partners for over six years. During that time, both appear to have been faithful and been the very model of gay penguins. Alas, it seems that Harry is not gay but bisexual and has decided to leave Pepper for a female penguin, Linda.
Linda herself has had her fair share of tragedy in that she was happily paired with a male penguin until recently, when her partner died, leaving Linda with a broken heart and ne'er a beak to cry on. Enter Harry, a compassionate and caring soul who took her under his wing - literally - and has now become her new partner.
Pepper has been unavailable to squawk but curator Harrison Edell revealed that following her widowhood, Linda was left with two nests and lots of space within the penguin community. She was, in fact, something of a penguin real estate mogul! As Edell says, "For penguins, real estate means a lot. So as far as penguins go, she was a pretty attractive prospect."
Sometimes, it's tragic to find out just how much the animal kingdom can mimic the human condition.
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