Male Humboldt penguin pair "Sechs Punkt" (Six Point) and "Schraegstrich" (Slash) cuddling at the Bremerhaven Six gay penguins at a German zoo are still refusing to mate with females of the species flown in from Sweden in 2005, the zoo said. The problem was that the female Humboldt penguins have proven too shy in their advances, the director of the zoo in the northern port city of Bremerhaven said. "The Swedes will not make the first move," Heike Kueck said. The females were flown in last year in a bid to bring the males to mate and help save the Humboldt species from extinction. Kueck said last year she was optimistic the initiative would be successful because zoo keepers had noticed that at one point a female penguin had managed to cause a couple of males to "separate". The zoo has 10 male penguins of which six have shown strong signs of preferring male company and formed couples among themselves. The initiative to "turn" the penguins and make them mate had prompted a furious response from gay rights groups. In a statement posted on its Internet website, the zoo on Wednesday sought to defend itself from fresh criticism. "We will be delighted if the penguins form even one heterosexual couple and manage to produce first an egg, and then a little one," it said. "But of course we accept the male couples that have formed and we are not trying to enforce heterosexuality, as we were accused of doing last year." (Agencies)

德國一家動物園表示，他們的六只雄性同性戀企鵝仍然不和從瑞典來的同類雌性交配。 這家動物園位于德國北部城市不來梅港，動物園主管海克·許克說，問題是雌性洪堡企鵝向來很害羞，不會主動接近雄性。 許克說："瑞典企鵝不會主動出擊。" 去年，動物園為了讓和雄性交配，引進了雌性企鵝，以防止洪堡企鵝滅絕。 許克說，去年她對他們的做法很樂觀，認為將會獲得成功。因為動物園管理員有一次看到，一只雌性企鵝成功地"分開"了一對雄性企鵝。 這家動物園里有10只雄性企鵝，其中六只非常喜歡和同性呆在一起，成了三對同性戀伴侶。 "轉變"企鵝的性傾向，讓他們和異性交配的做法引發了同性戀權利組織的強烈反對。 這家動物園星期三在它的網站上發表聲明，反駁同性戀組織近日對他們的批評。 聲明中說："這些企鵝中哪怕能組成一對異性伴侶，順利生下一個蛋，長成一只小企鵝，我們也會很高興的。" "但是，我們當然也同意兩只同性企鵝在一起，我們不是強調要異性戀，我們去年就曾在這一問題上被譴責。"         (中國日報網站編譯)