A pair of female penguins at an aquarium in Spain have become first-time mums after adopting and hatching a baby chick as their own.
The two gentoo penguins, Electra and Viola adopted and incubated another penguin couple's egg, which hatched this month.
The pair built a nest together out of stones and "began to have the usual attitude and actions prior to reproduction," according to officials at Oceanogràfic València.
"Although same-sex couples are common in more than 450 species in both zoos and nature, it's the first time this has happened in our aquarium," the aquarium said in a Facebook post.
"Welcome to the world little one!"
Of the 25 Gentoo penguins at the aquarium, three couples have welcomed chicks so far this breeding season.
Other aquariums in London, Berlin and Sydney and Auckland have also had same-sex penguin parents.
A pair of female king penguins, Thelma and Louise in Auckland's Kelly Tarltons, laid an egg in December 2018.
Unfortunately for them, the egg turned out to be infertile - but they later began to raise another chick after realising the biological parents weren't up to the task.
Sea Life London said the decision to separate the adopted egg from its birth mother would give the chick a better chance of survival.
"When a Gentoo penguin lays two healthy eggs it puts additional strain on the birth mother," the aquarium told The Independent.
