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Featured in And Tango Makes Three, these two male chinstrap penguins reside iin New York City's Central Park Zoo.

Featured in And Tango Makes Three, these two male chinstrap penguins reside in New York City's Central Park Zoo.]

Question: Image

[Who are Roy and Silo?]

Roy and Silo, a gay chinstrap penguin couple, seen at New York's Central Park Zoo.

Roy and Silo are two male penguins that live in New York City's Central Park Zoo. In 1998, the penguins were observed taking part in ritual mating acts with one another, such as entwining their necks and mating calls. One of them tried to hatch a rock as if it were an egg. There was a separate pair of penguins that could not hatch their own egg, and the zoo keepers were inspired. They gave the egg to Roy and Silo to care for, and after 34 days, it hatched. Thus Tango was born, and Roy and Silo spent the next two and a half months raising their new chick.

Though Roy and Tango have since passed away, the impact of Roy and Silo's coupling has carried on. The practice of letting same-sex penguin couples adopt eggs has been repeated in zoos everywhere.

Roy and Silo are chinstrap penguins, and you can learn more about these penguins at our World Book resource, or through our catalog.

Be sure to check out the picture book inspired by this true penguin couple:

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

Visit our catalog for even more LGBTQ-themed children's books, like these:

A series of book covers side by side -- titles and authors are listed below the image.

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By Sean on April 5, 2022