A precocious and sexually domineering king penguin enlisted for a breeding initiative in an England zoo and thought to be a female has turned out to be a boy.Penguin Maggie traveled from Denmark to the Birdland Park and Gardens in the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England in 2016. Her keepers had high hopes she would produce an egg. When Maggie reached sexual maturity in 2020, she displayed flirtatious behavior with a male named Frank. Related Gay penguin power couple celebrate their anniversary The male couple, who have hatched two eggs together, enjoyed frozen fish cakes for dinner and held a party with their neighbors in the enclosure. Alas, the couple did not produce an egg. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Same again in 2021. Same again in 2022, Alistair Keen, Birdlands head keeper,told The Washington Post. In 2023, they were seen mating quite regularly.The flirting, Keen said, involved various behaviors like making distinctive penguin noises and posturing.They do a low trumpeting call, which is basically them saying, Im free and Im single. Whos interested? And whoevers interested then shouts back, said Keen. Theyll even check out their partners feet, as they incubate their egg on their feet.Keen said staff were giddy for a chick when Frank sat with his tummy tucked over his penguin feet, a usual sign of warming an egg.But he was incubating a leaf, Keen said.The head keeper said his suspicions about Maggies sex rose as the penguin grew taller than her female peers.This penguin has looked very tall compared to everyone else, he said.She also displayed dominant characteristics in the birds mating ritual, which female penguins dont do. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Birdland Park and Gardens (@birdlandpark)Male penguins lack an extruding sex organ, which complicates sexing the avian animals. Insemination takes place when an opposite-sex pair rub orifices (called cloacae) together to transfer sperm, produced by males from internal testes.Maggies rubdowns grew to include other boy birds besides Frank. She was also seen mating with another male called Spike.The mystery of Maggies eggless encounters was finallysolved when keepers conducted a DNA test on the birds feathers in October.It turns out Maggie is a male.I wasnt 100% surprised when I found out, Keen said.In honor of the birds far-Northern roots, Weve renamed him with the fine Scandinavian name of Magnus, Keen said.Is the bird formerly known as Maggie gay? Could be. Cohabitating male penguins have famously incubated chicks together and mourned one anothers passing, just like humans. Males are also known to display mating behaviors with other males, even as they father chicks with a female partner.Weve told the breeding program, so Im kind of hoping that gives them an excuse to give me another female, Keen said.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.