New York’s famous gay couple Silo and Roy split up

Silo and Roy, two male chinstrap penguins, lived together as husband and husband for the past six years.

But that’s all over now!

Since their relationship began, the pair successfully hatched and raised an adopted chick.🐧 First, however, they tried to incubate a rock. 🪨

They also inspired six other gay penguin couples at New York’s Central Park Zoo.

But then Scrappy arrived — a single female from Sea World Zoo in San Diego.

Silo’s eye went wandering. The faithless husband moved out of his and Roy’s love nest and in with Scrappy.

Silo and Roy

Silo and Roy met at the zoo and began their relationship in 1998. Although staff never observed them in a sexual act, they noticed the pair conducting other mating rituals typical of their species including entwining their necks and mating calls.

In 1999, the pair were observed trying to hatch a rock as if it were an egg.

They also attempted to steal eggs from other couples.

When the zoo staff realized that Roy and Silo were both male, they tested them further by replacing the rock with a dummy egg made of stone and plaster.

As it was “incubated real well”, it occurred to the zoo keepers to give them the second egg of a mixed-sex penguin couple, a couple which previously had been unable to successfully hatch two eggs at a time.

Roy and Silo incubated the egg for 34 days. They then spent two and a half months raising the healthy young female chick named Tango. When she reached breeding age, Tango paired with another female penguin called Tanuzi.

As of 2005, the two had paired for two mating seasons.

Shortly after their story broke in the press, Roy and Silo began to separate after a more aggressive pair of penguins forced them out of their nest.

Then Silo moved in with Scrappy.

Roy joined a group of unattached male penguins.