One-half of an Australian aquarium’s same-sex penguin power couple has died, ending a six-year love story that captured hearts around the world.
Sphen, a nearly 12-year-old Gentoo penguin, died earlier this month at the Sydney Sea Life Aquarium, his heartbroken handlers announced Thursday.
His partner Magic, 8, erupted in song when he was taken to see Sphen after his death, prompting the rest of the colony to join in, the aquarium said in a statement.
Sea Life Sydney
“The loss of Sphen is heartbreaking to the penguin colony, the team, and everyone who has been inspired or positively impacted by Sphen and Magic’s story,” the aquarium’s general manager Richard Dilly said in a statement shared with media outlets. “We want to take this opportunity to reflect and celebrate Sphen’s life, remembering what an icon he was.”
According to the BBC, Sphen’s health had deteriorated in the days leading up to his death, resulting in him being euthanized to end his pain and discomfort. An investigation into his cause of death is underway.
Gentoo penguins have an average lifespan of 12 or 13 years, the aquarium said, meaning Sphen had a considerably long life.
“Sphen and Magic are more than just a beautiful love story — their impact around the world as a symbol of equality is immeasurable.”
– Sydney Sea Life Aquarium
Sphen and Magic, collectively known as “Sphengic,” had been together since early 2018 and were described as “inseparable” when the aquarium first announced their romance, which was not long after same-sex marriage became legalized in Australia.
The couple was seen “waddling around and going for swims together” and then creating a large pebble nest that they immaculately tended to and filled with more stones than any other nest in the colony, the aquarium said. But something was missing for them: an egg.
Sea Life Sydney
Their handlers, noticing their diligent care, initially offered the couple a dummy egg to see how they would do as parents. The couple took to it like pros, better than any other penguin couple in the colony, according to a past article about their journey in The New York Times. They were consequently then given a real foster egg to care for — acquired from a heterosexual couple that had been neglecting one of theirs — resulting in the birth of a girl named Lara.
Lara, born in late 2018, would be their first of two foster babies.
The couple was given a second foster egg the following year that ended up not being fertile, according to a past blog post by the aquarium. The following year they were given a third egg, resulting in the birth of a baby boy named Clancy Carpenter, or CC for short, in 2020.
“Sphen and Magic are more than just a beautiful love story — their impact around the world as a symbol of equality is immeasurable,” the aquarium said in a statement.
