To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a webbrowser that supports HTML5video A penguin whose same-sex romance made them global icons has mourned the death of his beloved partner by bursting into song. Sphen and his partner Magic shot to stardom in 2018 when they fell in love in Sydney’s Sea Life Aquarium, later adopting and raising two chicks together. International interest in the couple grew as they shared parenting duties and raised their children together.
Their partnership was celebrated by a float in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, included in the Australian education curriculum and even saw them featured in the Netflix series Atypical. Their relationship has also been recorded in books and film documentaries. But after his health began to rapidly deteriorate earlier this week, the aquarium’s veterinary team made the difficult decision to euthanize Sphen and end his suffering, just a few days before his 12th birthday.
When penguins lose their partners in the wild, they often wander around looking for them. But in an unusual move, keepers at the zoo instead decided to show Magic Sphen’s body so he could see that he had passed and understand why his partner wouldn’t be returning to him. ‘The moment we showed him (Magic) to Sphen, he started singing, and then the other penguins also joined in, singing with him.
So it was very touching,’ said aquarium supervisor Renee Howell. ‘It was a very beautiful moment, the air was j.