For four years, keepers at Birdland Park and Gardens waited patiently for Maggie, their prized female king penguin, to lay an egg. She kept flirting with the male penguins. There was even mating, particularly with Frank,

A British zoo said it is down to only one female king penguin after a 10-year-old bird who has been living at the facility since 2016 was found to be male.

A female king penguin in Britain’s only breeding colony for the species is actually a male, keepers have discovered after eight years.