Meet Pesto the penguin, an absolute unit, massive King Penguin chick in Australia

He's 50 lbs and not fully grown.
By Tim Marcin  on 
three screenshot of tiktoks of a massive baby penguin that still has it's black feathers
Look at that massive baby. Credit: Screenshots: TikTok / @bymarianelizabeth / @sealifemelbourneaquarium / @cassssowary

The Yao Ming of penguins has been born and is thriving in an Australian aquarium. You've got to see Pesto the penguin, a baby King Penguin at Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium.

You are not prepared for the height and girth of this absolute unit. Feast your eyes like Pesto feasts on 25 fish per day.

Pesto is legitimately huge. He's an outlier in size and already towering over the adult penguins in his enclosure. The aquarium reports he is already 21 kilograms, or nearly 50 pounds, at just nine months old. Most sources online note that fully grown, adult King Penguins typically weigh between 30-35 pounds.

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The internet has fully fallen in love with big baby Pesto, because that's what the internet does.

Though Pesto isn't alone in his virality. He joins recently discovered and beloved baby hippo Moo Deng as the internet's current animal obsession.

There's no telling just how big our little king Pesto might get, but you can bet the internet will be watching the entire time.

Topics Animals TikTok

close-up of man's face
Tim Marcin

Tim Marcin is an Associate Editor on the culture team at Mashable, where he mostly digs into the weird parts of the internet. You'll also see some coverage of memes, tech, sports, and the occasional hot take. You can find him posting endlessly about Buffalo wings on the website formerly known as Twitter at @timmarcin.


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