Male Penguin Couple Splits Over Female

In San Francisco Zoo, Linda Comes Between Harry and Pepper, Who Were Item for 6 Years

(CBS)  A romantic triangle has led to hurt feelings and a nasty breakup at the San Francisco Zoo.

Its same-sex penguin couple, Harry and Pepper, has split -- over a female, according to CBS station KPIX-TV in the City by the Bay.

The two had been together for six years. They nested together and incubated an egg laid by another penguin.

Zookeepers say, earlier this year, a female penguin named Linda became friends with Harry, after Linda's longtime companion died. That didn't go over well with Pepper, and led to a violent confrontation between Pepper and Harry.

Zoo officials kept the three penguins separated until recently.

They say Harry and Linda are now a happy couple and have successfully nested this year.

[isaac_tech2009]

wow that was a sweet comment redmooseak! i think the universe has just fixed itself like it always does. like i always said before if the universe took 6 billion years to create xy and xx then what makes us thing that in the 80 or 90 years that we are alive we can change that to xx,xx and xy,xy

[PaKo7]

Looking to animal behavior to settle moral questions about human behavior might not be such a good idea.

[rwsmith29456]

IF this shows anything, it could be that in nature (including man)sexuality is not completely black and white, but many shades of grey.

[kommonsense]

Oh, poor Pepper! He must be so lonely and sad...

[Uncle_Eccoli]

Homosexuality is a birth defect.

[Snowhare]

Stupidest stuff I ever heard: If homosexuality is genetic or you are born so,
- it doesn't make people unfit for life
- it doesn't make people in any way strange or unfriendly
- it doesn't give people a nasty look or deformities
- The only thing is that you probably wouldn't reproduce.
Given that the majority of gay-haters cite relitious reasons;
given that many of these are creationists
I would like all creationist gay-haters as well as those who talk about a genetic defect to consider that
- using an animal analogy for human behaviour should be left to those who believe in evolution, otherwise this argument makes no sense.
- a defect is something that disturbs your life and that of others. Apart from being sickened by immagining gay sex involving myself, I do not see why I should be disturbed by other people who are gay. They themselves get along well in life. Why call it a defect? Stupid definition!

[sam-kiley]

taxchurches a dit

bActually, all this story shows is that homosexual behavior is perfectly natural in all species and it is only some frightened humans that make a big deal out of it. It isn't "learned behavior," it's just behavior. The "gay gene" is nonsense.

pourt vous peu etre...moi je dis c'est du n'importe quoi..

[rf35]

I have two male cats (fixed) and a male dog (intact). The cats mount each other all the time to display dominance. The dog just humps his stuffed animals. He has shown no "romantic" interest in the female dogs he has met. Anyway, I would suggest that this has nothing to do with sexuality. Put two or more social animals of the same species and gender together and of course they will spend a lot of time close to each other and might well "get it on," if for no other reason than to work out social positions. This has nothing to do with homosexuality except to those who are so obsessed with it, pro or con, that they read it into virtually everything.

[erasmus111]

Poor Pepper!

[patronejohn]

Wow that Linda is a homewrecker. Maybe the male penquin was drunk?

[liselle3]

redmooseak
You can't possibly be serious...

[Imadinnerjacket]

My puppy dog use to hump my everyone's leg, until he grew up and found a pretty giri dog that wanted puppies. He hasn't humped a leg since!

[feistyjourn]

And I can even top that: I have two female dogs, both spayed. One regularly tries to hump the other. Transsexual, perhaps? The mind reels.

[Yeah-Me]

Maybe Harry is a Bisexual penguin...

[Snowhare]

In this case, my condolences go to poor Pepper who is really gay and finds himself alone now!

Seriously: this whole thing shows that with animals things happen just like they do in life.
There are gay people, there are people who feel good in a gay relationship but may also feel good in hetero-relationships.

Partners come, go, split up...
Like in real life!

[redmooseak]

That must iritate some in SF. If "homosexual" penguins can "go straight" then why can't humans? Mounting evidence points to learned behavior in the absence of any genetic cause, or "homosexual gene" and if you learned it you can re-learn. The penguins seem to agree. Hmmmm.

[God_Loves_You]

Wow, it is absolutely amazing how quite this comment board is after this newsbreak. And I must admit it's NO SURPRISE that abcnews.com has not picked up on it at all, especially with all the coverage it gave to gay penguins. I agree wholeheartedly with you redmooseak.

[taxchurches]

Actually, all this story shows is that homosexual behavior is perfectly natural in all species and it is only some frightened humans that make a big deal out of it. It isn't "learned behavior," it's just behavior. The "gay gene" is nonsense.

[Slrman]

I have seen a lot of stupid comments on here, but yours is easily in the top two or three. Get over yourself. People and penguins are not the same. Or maybe you didn't realize that, neo-con peabrain