If you’ve been on the internet these past few weeks, you’ll most likely have seen Pesto the Penguin, the new phenomenon that has taken both social media users and scientists by storm. Pesto has taken the cake for the largest baby penguin in captivity, weighing around 50 lbs and having a height of 25 in. This outweighs his foster parents, who both weigh around 24 lbs, and makes him taller than them. But how did baby Pesto come to be?
Pesto the Penguin was hatched 30 January, 2024, and the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium announced his birth and gender on their TikTok in September. Originally, Pesto was less than a pound, only weighing around 200 grams from the beginning. As time went on, Pesto began to grow larger and larger until he then outweighed both of his parents. This, as well as the social media posting, helped grow his popularity, and even had Katy Perry wanting to meet this famous not so little penguin.
Pesto the Penguin is a King Penguin, the second largest species out there. Although they are of least concern (due to their population increasing) Pesto is still doing a good thing by being popular. His name is out there, and it’s encouraging people to raise penguin awareness and to help the penguin population. As of the time of writing this, the African Penguin species is the most endangered out of all of them, having only 18,500 pairs. As Pesto’s popularity continues to grow, the amount of awareness towards all penguin species also grows, and people become more aware of the spiraling population. It’s like a domino effect, if you think about it.
Whether we’re on land, or in the air, which is very unlikely, because penguins are the only birds who can’t fly, Pesto will always be there to offer a helping ‘chirp,’ or to make a little noise to make sure we know he’s there. Yes, Pesto, we see you.
