Modern Family

The Modern Penguin Family

Roy, Silo and Tango made news in 1999 as the first known “modern penguin family”. Roy and Silo were male chinstrap penguins. They lived at New York City's Central Park Zoo. In 1998 the zoo staff saw them performing mating rituals together. In 1999 they attempted to hatch a rock as if it were an egg.

The zoo keepers took away the rock and gave them a viable egg. The egg had come from a straight pair of penguins who could not hatch it. The egg was carefully attended to by Roy and Silo. This resulted in the hatching of a chick. The zoo keepers named the female chick Tango.

As Tango matured she also paired up in a same sex bond. Roy and Silo drifted apart after several years. After Roy, Silo paired with a female penguin called Scrappy.

The practice of allowing same sex penguin couples to adopt eggs has been repeated in other zoos around the world. The practice of hatching penguin eggs has clearly benefitted from open minds.