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July 25, 2008 5:15:46 PM CDT

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Swan-Boat Romance Takes Wing (Again)

Posted Mar 28, 08 2:57 PM CDT in World 

(Newser) – After her real-life avian lover flew the coop, a German black swan has returned to her ex—a swan-shaped paddleboat, the AP reports. Petra was joined at the wing with the craft in 2006—but that relationship seemed to have sung its swan song when both were taken to a zoo for the winter—where she dumped it for a real male.

Gander Paul left last weekend, a heartbreak that prompted zoo authorities to free her, alongside the paddleboat, in a nearby lake; it's too early to tell whether she’ll stand by her plastic friend this time, said the zoo’s director. Meanwhile, Petra has become a national celebrity, Der Spiegel reports.  “What the swan wants, she gets,” the boat’s owner once said.

Sources: Associated Press, Der Spiegel, Der Spiegel

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Petra, a black swan, swims next to a boat shaped like an outsized white swan after she was taken back to the Aasee in Muenster, Germany, Friday, March 28, 2008.   (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Black swan (Cygnus atratus) named 'Petra' sitting in a boat that carries zoo director Joerg Adler, right, and boat owner Peter Overschmidt followed by the white swan shaped pedal boat on the Aasee in...   (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Petra, a black swan, swims next to a boat shaped like an outsized white swan after she was taken back to the Aasee in Muenster, Germany, Friday, March 28, 2008.   (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Petra, a black swan, swims next to a boat shaped like an outsized white swan after she was taken back to the Aasee in Muenster, Germany, Friday, March 28, 2008.   (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
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Germany  • animal  • zoo  • romance  • relationship  • birds  • boat


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