When a gay penguin died, his partner led their colony in song

Sphen, of Magic and Sphen, a pair of gay gentoo penguins known around the world for their love story, tragically passed away earlier this month. To mourn his beloved partner, Magic led their penguin community in a tribute song. 

Sphen died just before his 12th birthday, the Sydney Life Aquarium said. In a statement, the aquarium’s general manager, Richard Dilly, said, “The loss of Sphen is heartbreaking to the penguin colony, the team, and everyone who has been inspired or positively impacted by Sphen and Magic’s story.”

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Magic was taken to see Sphen’s body so the penguin “could understand his partner wouldn’t return,” said Dilly. 

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When he saw his partner’s body, Dilly said that Magic began singing. “He immediately started singing, which was beautifully reciprocated by the colony.”

In 2018, the whole world learned about Sphen and Magic’s love story when Sphen gave Magic a stone that zookeepers said was “equivalent to proposing in the love language of penguins.” 

The two penguins began to make a nest together out of pebbles and were given a real egg from a pair of penguins that had two eggs. 

“[They] are constantly seen waddling around and going for swims together in the Penguin Expedition,” the aquarium said in a statement when they gave the couple the egg.

Sphen and Magic became co-parents to two chicks, Lara in 2018 and Clancy in 2020. 

“It was a beautiful example of co-parenting as a same-sex couple,” Vincent Savolainen, a professor of organismic biology at Imperial College London, told NBC News.

The pair captured hearts around the world and became famous throughout their long partnership, which lasted nearly six years – half a lifetime for a penguin. 

The couple’s fame was noted in a statement released by the Sydney Life Aquarium about Sphen’s death, which read that Sphen and Magic “inspired a Mardi Gras float, have been included in the NSW education syllabus, and even featured in the Netflix series Atypical. Countless books speak of their love story, even documentaries on same-sex animal couples have featured Sphen and Magic.”

The two “shared a bond unlike most other penguin couples – they could even be found together outside of the breeding season, which is unique for gentoo penguins.”

“Sphen and Magic are more than just a beautiful love story – their impact around the world as a symbol of equality is immeasurable.”

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