Berlin Zoo Moves Gay Penguin Couple to New Home So They Can Settle Down Together

These two lovebirds are getting a chance to live freely as their true selves.

April 15, 2016, 7:03 PM
A combination picture shows the homosexual king penguins Stan, left, and Olli standing in their enclosure in the Tierpark Hagenbeck zoo in Hamburg, Germany, April 12, 2016.
A combination picture shows the homosexual king penguins Stan, left, and Olli standing in their enclosure in the Tierpark Hagenbeck zoo in Hamburg, Germany, April 12, 2016.
Lukas Schulze/dpa/AP Images

— -- The Berlin Zoo has moved a gay penguin couple to a male-only penguin sanctuary in Hamburg, Germany, so the two lovebirds can live together as their true selves.

Stan and Olli, two king penguins, originally came to the German capital's zoo as part of the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP) to procreate and ensure the survival of their species, the German news agency dpa reported on Thursday.

However, Stan and Olli weren't into the chicks of the program and actually preferred each other, according to Berlin Zoo spokeswoman Christiane Reiss.

"They're gay, as far as we know," Reiss told dpa. "They never procreated. And when it came to mating, they only mated with each other."

Stan and Olli have been resettled at Tierpark Hagenbeck, a zoo in Hamburg that only houses male king penguins and is actually home to another gay penguin couple named Juan and Carlos, dpa reported.

PHOTO: The homosexual Humboldt penguins Juan, left, and Carlos, right, stand in their enclosure in the Tierpark Hagenbeck zoo in Hamburg, Germany, April 12, 2016.
The homosexual Humboldt penguins Juan, left, and Carlos, right, stand in their enclosure in the Tierpark Hagenbeck zoo in Hamburg, Germany, April 12, 2016.