If you followed Moo Deng in 2024, you may also have seen the internet’s other animal obsession, Pesto.
Pesto was not like the other king penguin chicks. He hatched at SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium in Australia on January 30, 2024, and grew quickly. At his heaviest, the baby weighed 23.5 kilograms, or nearly 51.8 pounds, according to the aquarium. That is a lot of penguin for the adults beside him to contend with in a family photograph.
Don’t believe it? Check out the photograph of Pesto with the adult penguins raising him at the aquarium.
The aquarium noticed the attention. Speaking to 9News in September 2024, senior keeper Michaela Smale described an increase in social traffic, website visits and people coming through the doors to see Pesto. Melbourne had another attraction, and this one was covered in brown fluff.
But why is Pesto so huge?
Why Is Pesto Such a Large Baby Penguin?
Reporting in September 2024 attributed his unusual size to a hearty appetite and good genes. His caretakers said he was eating more than 25 fish a day. His biological father, Blake, was also one of the aquarium’s larger king penguins. A growing chick’s weight and its later adult weight are different stages of its life.
With his bulky down, Pesto looked much larger than Tango and Hudson, the adult pair raising him.
Aquarium education supervisor Jacinta Early told BBC News that Pesto “eclipses” the pair, “which also makes him look comically large.”
The Internet Loved This Baby Penguin
The internet loved Pesto for many of the same reasons it adored Moo Deng. There was something hard to resist about a baby animal with such an unusual appearance. In Pesto’s case, the adult penguins standing beside him made the joke even better.
In the TikToks posted during his rise to fame, viewers showed their love in the comments, crowning him the “fluffy king.” It was a fairly easy title to understand once you had seen the photographs.
Pesto’s round figure and fuzzy brown feathers make him easy to notice in a crowd of penguins.
As with Moo Deng, the attention went beyond animal-video enthusiasts.
Pop singer Olivia Rodrigo posted a photograph of her visit while her GUTS tour was in Melbourne in October 2024. There she was with the same oversized chick people had been sharing on their phones.
Pesto Would Outgrow the Baby Fluff
Those familiar pictures show Pesto wearing his fuzzy brown down. It was a baby phase. The black, white and orange plumage of a king penguin would replace it as he grew up.
Speaking to the Associated Press in September 2024, aquarium education supervisor Jacinta Early expected the process of losing that fluff to take a month or two. Pesto would then look sleeker and more streamlined. The enormous brown ball was not his permanent look.
Keepers also expected him to lose some of that chick weight as he matured. A peak weight of nearly 52 pounds did not mean he would stay that size for the rest of his life.
The adult birds around him gave visitors a glimpse of the change ahead, even if it was difficult to imagine the same silhouette underneath all those feathers.
King penguins are bigger than many penguin species, but they are not the largest. That distinction belongs to emperor penguins. Pesto did not need the record, though. Standing beside his adoptive parents, he already looked quite extraordinary.
Related: Meet the Viral Baby Hippo, Moo Deng
