Penguins have gay 'flings' because they are lonely - but end up in a heterosexual couple

Penguins do not form long-term homosexual relationships despite same-sex flirting, a new study has found.

Scientists who studied a colony of King Penguins discovered that even though more than 25 per cent of the males displayed in same-sex pairs only two birds bonded permanently.

Even those two penguins were later seen caring for eggs as part of a heterosexual pair.

Experts believe that the penguins might indulge in some same-sex flirting because they are 'lonely' due to a lack of female penguins in the colony.

King Penguins engaging in a display. New research suggests that male penguins mate with same-sex partners out of a lack of female alternatives

Gay ‘flirting’ could also be due to high levels of testosterone within the colony among males.

The team from the Centre for Functional and Evolutionary Ecolog in Montpellier, France studied king penguins on the Antarctic island of Kerguelen to better understand their mating behaviour.

During the mating season king penguins displayed with potential partners by closing their eyes, stretching their heads skyward and then looking at each other.

In their study the researchers found that 28.3 pc of the birds studied displayed to penguins of the same sex.

One theory behind same-sex pairing was that penguins paired up with other males because they could not tell the difference between the sexes and so paired at random.

But Director of Research Professor Stephen Dobson told the BBC that this theory no longer stood up.

'I found that the rate of homosexually displaying pairs was significantly lower than one would expect by chance.'

Out of all the same-sex displaying penguins only one male-male pair and one female-female pair that had learned the song of their partner, the researchers found.

Dobson added: 'So these pairs can bond. But, bonded pairs can split up if one finds a more preferred partner.'

The study has been published in the journal Ethology.

There have been previous reports of exclusive male-to-male pairings among penguins, some of which have also included the rearing of chicks.

Last year two 'gay' male penguins hatched a chick and reared it as its adoptive parents at a German zoo because there were no female penguins present.

The zoo, in Bremerhaven, northern Germany, said the adult males - Z and Vielpunkt - were given an egg which was rejected by its biological parents.

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