Staff at Birdland Park and Gardens in Gloucestershire were puzzled by a mystery surrounding one of their king penguins, “Maggie”.
Despite displaying courtship behaviour and mating with male penguins in the enclosure, Maggie never laid eggs. The answer to this puzzle revealed a surprising twist: Maggie is not a female penguin, but male—and gay.
Keepers first grew suspicious when Maggie began initiating romantic behaviour with Frank, another male king penguin. To confirm their hunch, the team sent one of Maggie’s feathers for DNA testing.
The results confirmed that Maggie was not a female penguin, but instead male and gay. To honour his identity and heritage, the 10-year-old penguin was renamed Magnus, a nod to his Scandinavian roots.