C Diddy
Starter
I just had to share this with everyone. 
This is total Jerry Springer stuff.
http://www.nbc17.com/news/4405635/detail.html
Penguin Paternity Puzzles Zookeepers
Teenage Father Abandons Mom, Chick In Scientific First
For the first time ever, a penguin chick has been born out of a scandal involving a female penguin and a much younger mate, and now the mom is a single parent while the father is out playing around.
The species mates for life in what is supposed to be a 50-50 partnership, NBC Chicago station WMAQ reported.
That is likely what the penguin, Zorita, had in mind when she came to the Brookfield Zoo a decade ago. She was paired with a male at the time, but her mate passed away in 2000.
Zorita then, apparently, went looking for love in all the wrong places.
"Zorita showed interest in a particular male who was paired," said senior keeper Darlene Broniewicz. "And his mate, a very jealous female, did not particularly care for Zorita to solicit ... him."
Fights broke out and Zorita was isolated from the rest of the penguins, with the exception of a teenager named Gazpacho, whom zoo officials thought was too young to fertilize an egg. But to their surprise, and in what is believed to be a scientific first, Zorita became pregnant.
She is now raising the chick alone, without the help of the teenage father, who is simply more interested in having fun.
All this, researchers say, would never have happened in the wild. Figuring out how it happened at the zoo could be very important in the fight to save the endangered Humboldt penguin population.
"Probably 100 years ago, (the species) may have numbered in the hundreds of thousands. And now, there's probably 35,000 or 40,000 birds left in the wild," said Patty McGill of the Humboldt Penguin Program.
Keepers said Zorita will soon say goodbye to the other penguins at Brookfield and head to the Milwaukee County Zoo, where a single, and older male, awaits.
This is total Jerry Springer stuff. http://www.nbc17.com/news/4405635/detail.html
Penguin Paternity Puzzles Zookeepers
Teenage Father Abandons Mom, Chick In Scientific First
For the first time ever, a penguin chick has been born out of a scandal involving a female penguin and a much younger mate, and now the mom is a single parent while the father is out playing around.
The species mates for life in what is supposed to be a 50-50 partnership, NBC Chicago station WMAQ reported.
That is likely what the penguin, Zorita, had in mind when she came to the Brookfield Zoo a decade ago. She was paired with a male at the time, but her mate passed away in 2000.
Zorita then, apparently, went looking for love in all the wrong places.
"Zorita showed interest in a particular male who was paired," said senior keeper Darlene Broniewicz. "And his mate, a very jealous female, did not particularly care for Zorita to solicit ... him."
Fights broke out and Zorita was isolated from the rest of the penguins, with the exception of a teenager named Gazpacho, whom zoo officials thought was too young to fertilize an egg. But to their surprise, and in what is believed to be a scientific first, Zorita became pregnant.
She is now raising the chick alone, without the help of the teenage father, who is simply more interested in having fun.
All this, researchers say, would never have happened in the wild. Figuring out how it happened at the zoo could be very important in the fight to save the endangered Humboldt penguin population.
"Probably 100 years ago, (the species) may have numbered in the hundreds of thousands. And now, there's probably 35,000 or 40,000 birds left in the wild," said Patty McGill of the Humboldt Penguin Program.
Keepers said Zorita will soon say goodbye to the other penguins at Brookfield and head to the Milwaukee County Zoo, where a single, and older male, awaits.
