Pesto the baby penguin is huge — both online and literally speaking.
The nine-month-old king penguin, who lives at the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium in Australia, weighs about 46 pounds.
That’s enormous, even by seabird standards. King penguins, the second-largest species of penguin, typically weigh 20 to 30 pounds when they’re fully grown.
“He’s officially the largest chick SEA LIFE Melbourne has ever seen, making him a huge hit with guests and fans around the world,” the aquarium says.
It credits his “hearty appetite” of 25 fish per day, as well as good genes and parenting: His biological dad, Blake, is the aquarium’s biggest and oldest penguin (and also “a bit of a ladies man”).
Pesto also has the distinct honor of being the only king penguin chick to hatch at this particular aquarium in all of 2024, after none were born last year.
Jacinta Early, the aquarium’s education supervisor, told the Associated Press on Friday that Pesto ate 53 pounds of fish — more than his own body weight — in the past week alone.
As Pesto has grown in size, so too has his online fanbase.
He first went on display in April, but his following exploded earlier this month after the aquarium threw him a gender reveal, officially certifying his big boy status.
As the aquarium explained in social media videos, a king penguin’s gender can’t be determined just by looking. Instead, staff had to send a blood sample off to a lab for testing.
“That was done a couple of weeks ago, and it’s finally come back to us to say he’s a boy,” says the voiceover on a video of the celebration, in which staff members can be seen cheering as someone cuts an undersea-themed cake filled with blue icing.
Viewers showed love in the comments, praising Pesto’s “peak male performance,” crowning him a “fluffy king” and asking for him to get an account or livestream feed of his own.
Pesto has also gone viral in TikToks posted by aquarium visitors, which have racked up millions of views in recent weeks.
Whether he’s waddling around or just standing in his enclosure, Pesto’s round figure and fuzzy brown feathers set him apart from the other penguins, with their black feathers and sleeker builds.
Michaela Smale, a senior keeper at the aquarium, told 9News that Pesto has reached more than 1.9 billion people around the world.
"We have seen an increase in social traffic, web traffic and, of course, footfall," she added.
The aquarium even posted a TikTok this week of Pesto set to a Katy Perry song, urging the singer to come visit their VIP (very important penguin) in person.
@sealifemelbourneaquarium From one icon to another—@katyperry come meet Pesto. 🐧💃 Catch this VIP (Very Important Penguin) at SEA LIFE Melbourne 🎶 #lifetimes ♬ original sound - SEA LIFE Melbourne
King penguin chicks shed their fuzzy brown down in favor of sleek black, white and orange feathers at around 10-12 months, which is just around the corner for Pesto.
The aquarium says he is likely to slim down — probably closer to 33 pounds — once he develops his adult coat.
But he’ll always be a star.
Copyright 2024 NPR
