The Sea Life Sydney Aquarium is mourning the passing of one of its most famous residents, a male gentoo penguin named Sphen, who was euthanized last month at age 11 due to declining health.
Sphen was half of the “same-sex power couple” Sphengic, along with another male gentoo penguin named Magic. The pair got together in the summer of 2018 when they both arrived at Sea Life Sydney from other aquariums. Almost immediately, the two birds became a couple, engaging in the same behaviors typically seen in monogamous male-female gentoo partnerships: bowing, bringing each other pebbles, singing together, and building a nest of rocks and feathers.
It didn’t escape their keepers’ notice that Sphen and Magic built the biggest and neatest nest in the entire colony, then sat on it to await an egg. As that was biologically impossible, the keepers gave them a dummy egg, which they dutifully incubated. This was soon swapped for a real penguin egg from another couple that had been neglecting it (most breeding pairs typically lay two eggs). For about a month, Sphen and Magic took turns keeping the egg warm, with the other partner on guard duty.
The foster egg hatched in October 2018, making Sphen and Magic first-time parents. In fact, their egg was the only one to hatch that breeding season. Originally dubbed “Baby Sphengic,” the female chick was later renamed Lara and was ably fed and protected by her dads. A second foster egg followed in 2020, which hatched a male chick named Clancy.
A penguin power couple:
- Unbeknownst to Sphen and Magic, who were concentrating on the demands of fatherhood and maintaining their strong bond by swimming and singing together (even outside of breeding season, which is unusual for gentoos), the two penguins gained a measure of international fame.
- Sphen and Magic have been featured in children’s books (including in the New South Wales school curriculum) and were depicted on a float at the 2021 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Grad parade in Sydney. They were also mentioned in the Netflix series Atypical, whose main character, Sam, is a teenager on the autism spectrum with a love of penguins.
- After Sphen’s passing, aquarium staff took Magic to see Sphen’s body, to help him understand Sphen’s absence and prepare him for being without a mate in the next breeding season. According to the staff, Magic immediately started singing, with the other penguins in the colony joining in.
