Gay swans

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Gay Swans in Austria

80% of gay black swan couples successfully raise their young, but only 30% of straight swan couples successfully raise their young. As well as having a romance, the male pair had also constructed a nest - and keepers have used 3D printing to give them a chance to exercise their parental instincts.

Return to homepage. Oliver adds: "We wanted to let them have the chance to explore their reproductive behaviours so we asked one of our volunteers, who can print 3D eggs, to make some we could put in the nest. Swan eggs are not the only reproduction in Guy's repertoire, he has printed 20 different species of bird eggs for Zoos Victoria, from tiny little finch eggs to Emu eggs.

Gay swans may even raise offspring together as a couple. Black swans (Cygnus atratus) also form stable male-male pairs that last for many years. Melbourne Zoo's pair of gay swans are practicing their parenting after keepers used 3D printing to create artificial eggs for the loved-up couple.

Gay black swans exist

Both stayed at the zoo after being rescued following dog attacks, as they could not be returned to the wild. Sign out. The black swan, Cygnus atratus is a large waterbird which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia.

The happy couple at Abbotsbury Swannery, in Dorset are the only gay swans among more than 1, birds at the reserve. This southern hemisphere spring the doting duo have been feeling a little frisky and have been courting - behaviour that is not particularly rare when no female swans are present.

An estimated one-quarter of all black swans pairings are homosexual and they steal nests, or form temporary threesomes with females to obtain eggs, driving away the female after she lays the eggs. Male-male black swan parents are more successful.

Melbourne Zoo Bird Keeper Ben Oliver says: "If they don't have a female mate, they will often display to each other; we see them making beautiful shapes with their necks, vocalising and swimming on the water in a pair formation. While the male swans didn't sit on the eggs, they did react to them when they saw them in the nest, giving the pair a chance to practice their protective and territorial behaviours.