Move aside, Mu Deng. We have a new superstar baby animal that’s making waves: a 9-month-old king penguin chick named Pest, whose species-defying growth spurts have made this big boy a global sensation.
Hatched from an avocado-sized egg at the Melbourne Aquarium in Australia on January 30, 2024, “Pesto,” named after one of the colony’s beloved former king penguins named Basil, now weighs in at a staggering 22.5 kg (49.6 lbs). The average weight of this second-largest penguin species (Apenodytes patagonicus) varies considerably, but generally ranges from 9.3 kg (20.5 lbs) to 18 kg (39.7 lbs).
Pest is approaching its maximum size and will soon undergo its first molt, shedding its fluffy brown feathers to reveal the young adult feathers underneath, but is expected to remain a “giant specimen” despite likely decreasing in size a bit as it grows.
Bronwyn Thompson/New Atlas
In the wild, they live in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions, including the Crozet Islands, Kerguelen Islands and South Georgia, where the plague-like chicks steadily become independent and create nurseries with other babies, but this big boy was the “only child” of the breeding season at Sea Life Melbourne. As of 2020, wild populations have been steadily increasing and the species is currently considered Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. However, their long breeding cycle makes them vulnerable to disturbances, and in February 2024, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 was detected in a colony on South Georgia, meaning birds (and now many mammals) around the world face an unprecedented threat from what scientists now recognize as a panzootic.
Luckily, bird flu doesn’t seem to be a problem for Pest, who will spend his entire life in an enclosure with strict biosecurity procedures to protect the exhibit’s king and smaller gentoo penguins from outside virus infections. This is one reason why captive penguins live much longer than their wild counterparts, which can live for more than 20 years.
“He’s brought immense joy to all our staff here at SEA LIFE Melbourne and to penguin fans around the world,” said the aquarium’s general manager Claire Burell. “We look forward to sharing his future adventures, including fledgeling and subsequent swimming lessons.”
King penguin chick hatches at Melbourne Aquarium
Delighted might be an understatement: The plague has been making the rounds on TikTok and Instagram in recent weeks, and is now making its way into news media around the world. King penguins move by walking, as opposed to many other species that move by hopping, which makes the giant baby’s awkward waddling gait all the more amusing.
As of September 22, Pest weighs twice as much as his foster parents Tango and Hudson combined, but his voracious appetite and ability to eat up to 25 fish a day has quickly enabled him to surpass his parents and make him heavier than his biological father, Blake, the aquarium’s former heavyweight champion, who weighs in at about 18 kilograms (39.7 pounds).
It is predicted that once Pest finishes his molt (known as the “catastrophic molt” that all penguins undergo each year), he will likely shrink to the same weight as Blake and the other large king penguins in the colony.
Now, his fame has not only brought hordes of fans to Melbourne’s top tourist spot (I have a part-time job there at weekends, but I’ll be honest, I’m on the other side of the glass with the plague), but it has also spawned a wave of fan art and, naturally, memes.
To see more of the pesto craze, try searching for hashtags like #pestothepengion and #kingpesto, especially on social media like TikTok and Instagram.
Also see our gallery showing a timeline of the plague’s growth before it became a celebrity.
Source: SEA LIFE Melbourne
