And Baby Makes Three

With, of course, one notable exception, I am almost entirely immune to cuteness in the Animal Kingdom; I am still less enamored of cute animal stories of the kinds that the wire services pump out at slow news times. Add in anything to do with children, and you're almost sure to lose me.

Still, even my stony heart has been helpless in the face of the tale, coming from the Berlin Zoo, of the happy couple pictured above, Z and Vielpunkt, a pair of Humboldt penguins who have set up housekeeping together, apparently in order to share their interest in things like fashion, design, and the career of Zarah Leander.

Together, they have recently become adoptive parents of a now-hatched egg. They are apparently model parents. I think they make a lovely couple; that's actually more or less exactly how Mr. Muscato and I look at the door of the Villa Muscato when there's an unexpected caller.

I think that my favorite detail of this little saga is that the proud fathers are just one of three male couples at the Zoo. This makes me very happy, just knowing that, should they choose, they can have bridge evenings and, if nothing else, always have someone else to talk about.