Two male penguins at a Sydney aquarium have won the hearts of the internet after falling in love and rearing an egg.
Sphen and Magic, who are collectively known as 'Sphenic', started to become close before penguin breeding season, after staff noticed they were often waddling around or swimming together.
However, as the breeding season approached, it was thought that they might find a female mate to breed with.
That didn't happen and, although they can't reproduce, they still found the means to create a nest out of ice pebbles and care for an egg.
Initially, the staff at the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium gave the pair a fake egg to care for in case they weren't capable of looking after a real egg.
When they noticed how good they both were at caring for the egg, they replaced the fake with a real egg that had come from another couple who had one to spare.
Sphen, who is the older of the two has shown to be more skilled at incubating, whereas Magic is still perfecting the art.
According to news.com.au, visitors to the Macquarie Island inspired exhibit can sometimes not see the egg at all, which is a very good sign for penguin breeding.
They are already local hit in Australia, news of Sphen and Magic has since found its way on to Twitter and people are loving it.
I have an essay due in 12 hours but I’m on here reading about gay penguins sharing rocks to profess their love to o… https://t.co/6CmKxQ3mAM— angelina ballerina 🐁🩰 (@angelina ballerina 🐁🩰) 1539321550
The aquarium has also been embracing the social media love with some excellent replies to a handful of tweets.
@JoshButler @jamesjackfruit ok I’m visiting— Kris K (@Kris K) 1539310401
Let's not forget that Parks and Recreation predicted that this would happen years ago.
@JoshButler @anthonysegaert And an episode of Will&Grace well before Parks&Recreation “Birds of a Feather Boa”. Wha… https://t.co/gU3uqyO9yj— 𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕣𝕖𝕫𝕡𝕠𝕟𝕕 🏳️🌈 🏳️🌈 😷 (@𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕣𝕖𝕫𝕡𝕠𝕟𝕕 🏳️🌈 🏳️🌈 😷) 1539313421
Not everyone is happy, though.
Some people are a little puzzled by the pairing of the two penguins' names.
@Sydney_Aquarium I still love them dearly, phlegmy sounding couple name and all xoxox— Mitch Feltscheer (@Mitch Feltscheer) 1539323048
Oh, and there are those folks who are questioning whether the penguins are actually gay or not.
Like, when did everyone become an expert on the sexual orientation of flightless aquatic birds.
Lol someone blocked me over gay penguins and me explaining to them how the zookeepers knew they were gay penguins..… https://t.co/FTkcVUNlTY— Arvu ReBantra (@Arvu ReBantra) 1539340153