The world can be a cruel and unforgiving place at times. With freezing temperatures on their way and a huge skull-shaped comet heading straight for us (kind of), it seems like it’s only ones left to remind us that everything is going to be okay are animals.
The most recent everything-is-ok show took place in Denmark, where a gay king penguin couple rescued a neglected chick that was cast aside by its birth parents. Anyone up for a collective ‘aww’?
The incredible show of affection took place at Odense Zoo, and staff told the Danish broadcaster DR that the penguin couple took the chick ‘under their wing’ after noticing that the parents were ignoring it.
Animal keeper Sandie Hedegård Munck said:
“I think the female has been out to get her bath, and then it has been the male’s turn to care for the chick.
He may have left that, and that couple has thought, ‘it’s a pity, we’ll get it’.”
The dad seemingly didn’t even notice that the chick had gone, but the mother was visibly distressed, so staff had to eventually return the baby back to its parents.
However, the adoptive parents were visibly pissed at having to give up their newfound baby, particularly since they stepped up when the chick was most in need.
Penguin expert Dyan de Napoli says:
“In the wild, the natural behavior is that up until a certain age, one of the parents will always be with the chick.”
What it means is that the chick should not have been alone, but the gay penguins took matters into their own hands, and they decided to save it and look after it. The couple, however, had been reportedly given an egg of their own, so not all was lost for them after all.