Hey Pesto! Chonky penguin in Australia the new darling of the internet

Move over Moo Deng. There is a new kid in town – and he is huge.

A king penguin chick – named Pesto – has become the new darling of the animal-loving corner of the internet because of his unusual size. At just nine months old, he already weighs 22kg, more than twice the weight of an average adult king penguin.

Pesto is now the star attraction at the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium, gaining as much online hoopla and love as the

baby pygmy hippo Moo Deng

at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand.

He weighs as much as his parents, combined. They tip the scales at only 11kg each.

His internet fame has been growing along with his size.

More than 1.9 billion people around the world have had a good look at him, the Melbourne aquarium said in a statement.

Ms Jacinta Early, the aquarium’s education supervisor, said Pesto has eaten more than his own substantial weight in fish in the past week: 24kg.

That is still considered healthy for a penguin chick approaching adulthood, she added.

When he enters his fledgling period, he will begin shedding his baby fats as he starts to lose his brown feathers and will replace them with the black and white plumage of a young adult.

His keepers said Pesto’s weight should settle down to 15kg by then.

“He’s going to start losing that really adorable baby fluff. It might take him one to two months to really get rid of it. Then he’ll be nice and sleek and streamlined,” Ms Early told the Associated Press.

The TikTok celebrity sheen that goes with the chonky-ness should still be there for two more weeks, she said.

For now, he remains the star attraction.

“Such a small head for such a big body,” one admirer told the Associated Press as a crowd gathered against the glass of the penguin enclosure at feeding time on Sept 20.

Pesto was born on Jan 31. He was the only king penguin chick to hatch at the aquarium in 2024 and the first since 2022, a year when there were six.

The reason why there were none in 2023 is not clear.

Adult king penguins weigh between 9.5kg and 18kg, according to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, a global environmental group.

They are the world’s second-largest penguin species after the emperor penguin.

Moo Deng, the pygmy hippo, meanwhile, has been cashing in on his online virality via a series of souvenirs and a clothing line.

Mr Narongwit Chodchoi, Khao Kheow Open Zoo’s director, said the zoo is registering the trademark and copyright for Moo Deng-branded products with the Department of Intellectual Property.