A 10-year-old King Penguin in Birdland Park and Garden was renamed from Maggie into Magnus after a feather DNA Test revealed that the penguin is a male. The penguin was subjected to a feather DNA test after zookeepers noticed a unique mating pattern Maggie now Magnus exhibited with another penguin named Frank, and because Maggie now Magnus did not hatch any eggs despite regular mating.
According to The Washington Post, in a phone interview, the headkeeper of Birdland Park and Garden, Alistair Keen, confirmed the penguins' gender, revealing that it had been misgendered for eight years.
Maggie is in fact a male penguin (...) We’ve renamed him with the fine Scandinavian name of Magnus.
The sanctuary's official Instagram page announced the news of the name change to the public via a reel with the caption,
surprise News! Many of you will have visited and met Maggie one of our beloved King Penguins…But after some DNA testing, we’ve discovered that Maggie is actually Magnus!
What do we know about the King Penguin Magnus?
Magnus, previously Maggie, was imported from Denmark to Birdland's Park and Gardens, a bird sanctuary in Bourton-on-the-Water, Gloucestershire, in 2016 as part of a breeding initiative. Magnus was initially gendered as a female and was named Maggie until recently.
According to The Washington Post, in 2020, when Magnus (past Maggie) reached sexual maturity, the keepers started waiting for an egg to hatch. Though they waited more than four years, there was no sign of an egg, which confused the keepers, especially since the penguin was flirting and mating with another male penguin named Frank in the enclosure.
Head Keeper Alistair Keen even recalled to The Washington Post a moment where the keepers thought they would get a chick,
At one point we thought we had an egg, because Frank sat with his tummy tucked over his feet. But he was incubating a leaf.
According to The Washington Post, citing Alistair Keen, the keeper's suspicion started when Maggie took the initiative of flirting with Frank, which, according to him, is not something female king penguins do. The suspicion increased over time when Maggie (now Magnus) started flirting with other males in the enclosure.
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Finally, the sanctuary decided to conduct a feather DNA test, and in October 2024, it was confirmed that Maggie is a male, which led to the renaming of the King penguin as Magnus. With this surprising gender reveal, the park only has one female King penguin in its sanctuary.
According to The Washington Post, Keen, the head keeper, expressed his hope that the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria ex-situ program (EAZA EEP) will provide them with another female king penguin because of the gender mix-up.
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