New chick for lesbian albatrosses
A pair of lesbian royal albatrosses in New Zealand have welcomed their first chick into the world.
The couple, who live at Royal Albatross Colony on South Island, are not unique, but it is particularly unusual for lesbian albatrosses to successfully incubate an egg.
Royal albatrosses are an endangered species and the new chick is one of just 17 new additions to the colony this year. The colony has had three lesbian couples in the last 70 years.
It is not known who the father of the chick is.
A spokesman from the Department of Conservation, Robin Thomas, told AAP: “One of them obviously mated so their egg was fertile. Only one egg was laid and that’s now hatched.”
He added that all three were doing well, after the chick initially struggled.
The female birds reportedly take turns to look after it, after sharing incubation duties.
When the pregnancy was announced last month, the local tourism board encouraged members of the public to send in name suggestions for the new baby.