Move over, Moo Deng — Pesto is the fat penguin stealing hearts: ‘Chonky king’
Move over, Moo Deng!
The adorable baby pygmy hippo in Thailand is seeing her cuteness crown supplanted by a p🔴lump penguin.
Meet Pesto, the full-figure💯d king penguin who resides in an Australian aquarium.
The flightless bird has become a social media superstar thanks to his extreme chonkiness, currently weighing in ꦚat cl🍌ose to 52 pounds.
In late January, caretak൲ers at Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium were delighted when🍬 a king penguin chick was born, as he was the first king penguin successfully hatched in the past two years.
He weighed less than a pound.
But three months later, the chick was already 20 pounds, and he’s continued his weight-gain journey — and then some.
Sea ꧅Life Melbourne Aquarium confirmed to The Post his weight as of Wednesday is 23.5 kg or 51.8 pounds.
Pesto maintains his generous fig𝓀ure by gobbling 🍰down up to 30 fish daily.
He has bee✅n on display at the aquarium since April, but his fan base ex🦩ploded when the aquarium threw him a special party.
Earlier this month, the facility held a gender-reveal party as Pesto, like all king penguins, is not sexually dimorphic — you can’t visibly differentiate males and females. The only way to confirm gender is to take a blood sample.
Caretakers believe Pesto’s size is due to his impressive appetite and good genes. His biological father, Blake, weighs in at around 39 pounds.
However, Pesto is being raised by a younger couple, Tango an🤡d Hudson, who weigh about 24 pounds each.
The stark difference between Tango and Hudson’s stature and their hefty adopted ward has delighted followers worldwide.
“He eclipses them now, which also makes him look comically large,” Melbourne aquarist Jacinta Early .
TikTok videos and memes have celebrated Pesto’s girth and racked up millions of likes.
One TikTok video, which featured aquarium staff members dancing up♏ a storm to a Katy Perry tune behind a seemingly disinterested Pesto, has garnered more than 4 million views.
Another video features Pesto waddling behind one of the other more diminutive penguins, with the caption “Our chonky King workin’ it.”
He is currently covered in soft brown down but will eventually lose his baby feathers, which will be replaced by the f♎amiliar black, white and orange plumage.
Pesto is ex♔pected to shed some puppy fat as he matures and as an adult will probably weigh in at a still✅-impressive 33 pounds.
According to the American Bird Conservancy, king penguins are the second-largest penguin species in the world, behind the e✅mperor penguin.
