Swan in Love

Posted by gail in Animal, Pictures on November 3, 2006 at 10:07 am


swanboat

She’s big, she’s blond, she’s heavy-duty plastic. What’s not to love?

A swan who fell in love with a swan-shaped paddle boat has been moved to a zoo with his plastic lover.

Biologists in Muenster, north-western Germany, say the rare Black Australian Swan has been showing all the typical signs of love for its species, circling its plastic lover, staring endlessly at it and making crooning noises.

The swan now refuses to fly south for winter without his mate.

Park keepers say that ‘Black Peter’ as the lovesick swan is known, refused to leave the boat on the Aasee Lake – which also should be taken off during the cold weather.

Boat-owner Peter Overschmidt has agreed not to lock his boat away for the winter.

He said: “When you see how Peter circles the swan boat you know there could be no other option, it’s the centre of his life.”

Hearing about Peter’s plight Allwetter Zoo then agreed that both Peter and the boat could spend the winter on their pond near the elephant enclosure, which is more protected from the elements than the lake.

Ananova


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COMMENT

8 comments to "Swan in Love"

  1. Carl
    November 3rd, 2006 at 9:04 pm

    What does this "server move" business entail? Does Neat-o-rama actually run its own server? Color me impressed. Are you just switching hosts? - eugh, that's a pain enough as it is. Either way I hope it goes smoothly for you!

    And yes, those swans are cute.

  2. Aleki
    November 4th, 2006 at 3:40 am

    Oh yeah we can all relate to falling in love with plastic females... Right?

  3. gail
    November 4th, 2006 at 9:11 am

    Hannah had a funny one, and I don't know where it went-- she said "All their children would be decoys." I can just picture that! (Maybe the server move ate her comment.)

  4. offline geek
    November 4th, 2006 at 11:12 am

    this is pathetic. pity that black swan.poor swan.

  5. Perri Nelson
    November 4th, 2006 at 2:19 pm

    Cool picture. Cooler story.

  6. Denita TwoDragons
    November 5th, 2006 at 1:29 am

    Years later Peter the Swan was found at a back-alley birdseed shop of ill repute, drinking himself to death on cheap millet liquor--for it seemed that the love of his life chose to paddle off with a heavily-patched rubber dinghy from the wrong side of the docks. She's now anchored at a half-submerged pier with seven screaming, undisciplined innertubes to feed and contemplating scuttling herself...

    --TwoDragons

  7. gail
    November 5th, 2006 at 8:17 am

    And we thought swan boats were exclusively monogamous!

  8. Alex
    November 5th, 2006 at 10:39 pm

    Wow! This is the perfect post for Neatorama, gail! Thanks!

    Yeah, the server did eat the comment by Hannah (sorry!).

    Carl, sorry for the server move business. Neatorama does run its own server, and moving it to a larger box simply means headache. Hopefully the new server is faster and worth the extra money.


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