Sphen and Magic were a boundary-breaking same-sex couple, raising two offspring, helping increase awareness about rainbow families and inspiring a float at Sydney’s famed Mardi Gras Pride parade.

They also happened to be penguins.

When Sphen died this month at the ripe old age – for a Gentoo penguin in captivity – of nearly 12, Magic looked at his beloved mate and began to sing, setting off the entire penguin colony at Sea Life Sydney Aquarium in a moving tribute song.

“The loss of Sphen is heartbreaking to the penguin colony, the team and everyone who has been inspired or positively impacted by Sphen and Magic’s story,” Richard Dilly, the aquarium’s general manager, said in a news release Thursday.

It is not uncommon for penguins to form same-sex bonds. Scientists first encountered same-sex behaviors during penguin mating season in field studies more than a half-century ago. Such behaviors have also been observed among penguins at zoos in Berlin and Toronto, and at New York’s Central Park Zoo, which inspired the children’s book “And Tango Makes Three.”

The Sydney duo, dubbed the “penguin power couple,” stand out because of the longevity of their relationship – they were together for six years, roughly half the expected life span of a Gentoo penguin in captivity. (They can live about 15 to 20 years in the wild.)

The pair were together even outside breeding season, which, according to the aquarium, is unique for Gentoo penguins.

In the wild, Gentoo penguins are typically found in the Antarctic and the south Atlantic. Gentoo penguins usually mate with the same partner every year and rear two chicks on nests made of pebbles and feathers.

Staff first noticed Sphen and Magic’s attraction in 2018, when they began swimming together in the penguin enclosure. The pair collected pebbles to create a nest together during breeding season, and after a trial run with a dummy egg, they were given a real egg to incubate.

The penguin couple successfully hatched and raised two chicks – Sphengic (Lara) in 2018 and Clancy in 2020.

In 2021, large inflatable versions of the penguin couple were featured on the New South Wales State Teachers Federation float in Sydney’s Pride parade after the union was criticized by right-wing lawmakers for encouraging teachers to include lessons on diverse LGBTQ families. The penguins’ story was included in resources offered for teachers by the union to use during aquarium excursions, explaining to elementary school students that “love comes in all shapes and sizes.”

The pair made global headlines, with the aquarium using their fame to promote messages about conservation, plastic pollution, global warming and the importance of protecting wild penguins.

“Sphen and Magic’s love story captivated the world and it’s been an honor to welcome local and international fans, some of which traveled long distances to see them in real life,” Dilly said.

The team’s focus is now on Magic, who is 9 years old and “will soon prepare for his first breeding season without Sphen,” he added.

A spokeswoman for the aquarium, Rachel Anker, said it was still early days for the widowed penguin.

“We will keep an eye on Magic, as this is new it’s hard to comment on how he’s coping,” she said in an email.

John Cockrem, a penguin expert at Massey University in New Zealand, said that in the wild, when a mate dies, the surviving penguin usually forms a pair with another bird.