Penguins in the News

Nov. 20, 2006, 10:25PM
Penguins that survived East Texas crash have chick

Associated Press

GALVESTON — A pair of penguins that survived a truck crash in East Texas have hatched a chick at the aquarium at Moody Gardens.

The baby penguin was born Nov. 12, an aquarium spokeswoman said. It is the first of eight chicks expected to hatch in the coming weeks from the penguins relocated this summer from the Indianapolis Zoo to Moody Gardens.

"We watched them very closely after their arrival," Greg Whittaker of Moody Gardens said in a news release. "Their mating and parenting behavior is a positive sign that they are adjusting to their new environment."

During the relocation in August, the truck transporting two dozen penguins, tropical fish and an octopus rolled into a ditch. The penguins were traveling in heavy tubs that broke open when the truck crashed.

One penguin died in the crash and three more landed in the highway and were killed by oncoming traffic. Another penguin suffered a broken wing.

The octopus survived, but some of the fish died when the bags they were traveling in burst.

On the Web

Moody Gardens: http://www.moodygardens.com
source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/4350250.html
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Gay penguin book gets chilly reception
07:01 AM CST on Friday, November 17, 2006
Associated Press

SHILOH, Ill. - A picture book about two male penguins raising a baby penguin is getting a chilly reception among some parents who worry about the book's availability to children -- and the reluctance of school administrators to restrict access to it.

The concerns are the latest involving "And Tango Makes Three," the illustrated children's book based on a true story of two male penguins in New York City's Central Park Zoo that adopted a fertilized egg and raised the chick as their own.

Complaining about the book's homosexual undertones, some parents of Shiloh Elementary School students believe the book -- available to be checked out of the school's library in this 11,000-resident town 20 miles east of St. Louis -- tackles topics their children aren't ready to handle.

Their request: Move the book to the library's regular shelves and restrict it to a section for mature issues, perhaps even requiring parental permission before a child can check it out.

For now, "And Tango Makes Three" will stay put, said school district Superintendent Jennifer Filyaw, though a panel she appointed suggested the book be moved and require parental permission to be checked out. The district's attorney said moving it might be construed as censorship.

Filyaw considers the book "adorable" and age appropriate, written for children ages 4 to 8.

"My feeling is that a library is to serve an entire population," she said. "It means you represent different families in a society -- different religions, different beliefs."

Lilly Del Pinto thought the book looked charming when her 5-year-old daughter brought it home in September. Del Pinto said she was halfway through reading it to her daughter "when the zookeeper said the two penguins must be in love."

"That's when I ended the story," she said.

Del Pinto said her daughter's teacher told her she was unfamiliar with the book, and the school's librarian directed the mother to Filyaw.

"I wasn't armed with pitchforks or anything. I innocently was seeking answers," Del Pinto said, agreeing with Filyaw's belief that pulling the book from the shelves could constitute censorship.

The book has created similar flaps elsewhere. Earlier this year, two parents voiced concerns about the book with librarians at the Rolling Hills' Consolidated Library's branch in the northwest Missouri town of Savannah.

Barbara Read, Rolling Hills' director, has said she consulted with staff members at the Omaha, Neb., and Kansas City zoos and the University of Oklahoma's zoology department, who told her adoptions aren't unusual in the world of penguins.

She said the book was then moved to the nonfiction section because it was based on actual events. In that section, she said, there was less of a chance that the book would "blindside" someone.

source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/111806dnnatgaypenguinbook.4681104b.html
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Last Updated: Thursday, 19 October 2006, 13:35 GMT 14:35 UK

Oslo gay animal show draws crowds

Penguins regularly form same-sex pairs. Photo: Per Aas/NHM-Oslo
Curators say a Norwegian exhibition on homosexuality among animals has been well received, despite initial indications of strong opposition.
The Oslo Natural History Museum opened the show last week and says it has been well attended, not least by families.

Organisers reported early criticism of the project, and being told by one opponent they would "burn in hell".

But there has been strong interest in an aspect of animal behaviour the museum says is quite common.

It says homosexuality has been observed among 1,500 species, and that in 500 of those it is well documented.

The exhibition - entitled Against Nature? - includes photographs of one male giraffe mounting another, of apes stimulating others of the same sex, and two aroused male right whales rubbing against each other.


We hope to reject the all too well known argument that homosexual behaviour is a crime against nature
Oslo Natural History Museum

"Homosexuality is a common and widespread phenomenon in the animal world," says an exhibition statement.

"Not only short-lived sexual relationships, but even long-lasting partnerships; partnerships that may last a lifetime."

The museum says it is the first exhibition in the world to touch on a subject that has been taboo in the past.

It says sex between animals - as between humans - is often a matter of enjoyment, rather than procreation, and that this applies to animals of the same sex as well as opposite sexes.

'Bisexual species'

While homosexuality would appear to contradict evolutionary imperatives, scientists involved in the exhibition say it appears to do no harm and may actually help in some circumstances.

Sometimes a pair of male birds may rear eggs "donated" by a female.

In the case of flamingos, for instance, "two males can hold a much larger territory than a regular flamingo pair, thus more chicks can grow up", the exhibition states.


Pairs of male flamingos have been known to raise young

In some colonies, as many as one in 10 pairs of penguins may be same-sex, while "in some animals the whole species is bisexual", the exhibition says, giving bonobo chimpanzees as an example.

There has been some hostility to the exhibition. An American commentator said it was an example of "propaganda invading the scientific world".

Petter Bockman, a zoologist who helped put the show together, admitted that "there is a political motive".

In Norway there was a desire among publicly funded museums to be "deliverers of truth" and to "put on display controversial subjects, things that are not said and are swept under the carpet".

The museum says one of its aims is to "help to de-mystify homosexuality among people... we hope to reject the all too well known argument that homosexual behaviour is a crime against nature".

source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6066606.stm