A same-sex penguin couple have become parents after adopting an egg. Electra and Viola are part of a colony of 25 Gentoo penguins at the Oceanogràfic aquarium in Valencia, Spain.
And when keepers saw they were broody, they gave them an egg from another couple to take care of. Now that egg has hatched – although the aquarium is yet to name the chick.
The pair join opposite-sex penguin couples Navi and Aquela and Bolo and Melibea who have also raised chicks this breeding season.
But the aquarium called Electra and Viola an ‘exceptional pair’. It added: ‘Electra and Viola are female and have been able to adopt, hatch and raise an egg from another couple, something that’s happened for the first time at the Oceanogràfic.’ Before getting the egg,