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.
