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From: News and Views | City Beat |
Thursday, February 14, 2002

Penguins in Sex Flap
Aquarium lust on rocks
By BILL FARRELL
Daily News Staff Writer

Promiscuous female penguins have transformed the New York Aquarium into an ornithological "Sex and the City" episode.

The problem is numbers: There are 22 males in the black-footed penguin colony — and 10 females.

The usually monogamous females have become fair-feathered love machines, aquarium officials say.

"It's definitely the females who are initiating the activity," said Gina Fisher, a caretaker at the Coney Island aquarium. "Some of them share time with as many as three or four males in a day."

One of the most footloose is Gomez, who spends her days nest-hopping before returning to the home carved in a cliff she has shared with her mate, Giovanni, for three years.

"She'll approach their nest and they'll start ... prancing around and puffing up, showing their interest," Fisher said. "Then one thing leads to another."

One reason for the lopsided population is the aquarium's decision two years ago to give the penguins' newly laid eggs to other aquariums.

Do I Make You Orni, Baby? Penguins
get cozy at the New York Aquarium.

While the experts say the females are simply making the most of their numerical advantage, others see opportunists squawking for a nicer nest.

Take Clarice, who lives with Albert in a penthouse hutch but is angling for Dollface's sunnier digs two doors down.

Unruffled by all the funny business are Wendell and Cass, two 15-year-old males who have shared the same nest for eight years.

"They are totally devoted to each other," Fisher said. "They never leave each other's side and have the neatest nest in the colony."