Weird World: female penguins fail to seduce gay penguins

Swedish female penguins have failed in their mission to seduce gay male Humboldt penguins in a German zoo. Bremerhaven Zoo introduced the female penguins to try and establish more breeding pairs in its penguin pens. The zoo has far too many male penguins, while Kolmarden Zoo in Sweden has an oversupply of females. At Bremerhaven, the birds, which find new mates every year, form all-male pairs and adopt pebbles as if they were eggs. Last year, officials said the females had arrived too late for pairing. And this year, the birds arrived in time, but were too shy. "The Swedes are rather stand-offish," said zoo chief executive Heike Kueck. Four local females were quickly snapped up but the rest of the 22 penguins ignored the newcomers and formed broody male couples. Last year, homosexual militants bombarded the zoo with e-mails and protest letters, claiming it was interfering in the penguins' freedom of sexual orientation.