King penguin chick Pesto the Penguin, went viral as a 23kg king penguin chick with more than 1.9 billion views on social media. What is it that has fans so enthralled? Pesto’s gender. Fans across the globe were waiting for the big reveal of Pesto’s gender when Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium shared a picture on Facebook —That was: Are Pesto is he or she?
Pesto the Penguin Closing LineGender of Pesto the Penguin?
Pesto the Penguin’s gender reveal cake at Sea Life Aquarium, Melbourne.
During a fantastic gender reveal, Pesto was officially dubbed male. Because you cannot establish the gender based on appearance in king penguins, a blood test had to be run by the Sea Life team last week for them to work out whether Pesto was male or female.
Due to Pesto’s viral fame, the Sea Life team upped the ante from their usual gender reveal celebrations, which included colourful cupcakes, to give the pesto his social media reveal broadcast.
What is Pesto the Penguin famous for?
Pesto prides himself not only on his adorable walk but also on his magnificent length. Weighing 23 kilos and standing three feet tall at just nine months old, Pesto is the largest pesto chick at Sea Life Aquarium in Melbourne, Australia. He’s even bigger than many individual pesto in the aquarium’s colony.
Pesto’s online followers are fans of not only his imposing physique compared to other penguins in his cage but also his fuzzy feathers that he’ll lose when he moults as an individual pesto. For now, those feathers add to his endearing and adorable appearance; fans can’t get enough of Pesto’s appeal as a baby penguin.
In addition to being taller than his parents, Pesto’s appetite is another factor of fascination. He eats twice as much as the average adult pesto, devouring more than 30 fish a day. His enormous stature and insatiable hunger are partly due to his father, who holds the title of Melbourne’s oldest and largest sea pesto.
Countless videos and photographs of Pesto can be found online, often showcasing his extraordinary size and rapid growth, for aquarium hobbyists. One particularly famous video contrasts his tiny size just seven months ago with his imposing form today, capturing the attention (and hearts) of visitors from around the world.
Pesto and other viral animals
Pesto’s viral fame puts him in true business with other popular animal sensations on the Internet, a growing fad that offers a long-lasting corner of the Internet. Case in point: Moo Deng, a pygmy hippo from Thailand who’s fast becoming an Internet sensation, thanks to his cuteness and one-of-a-kind appearance.
The Jitty wishes to apologise for publishing the image of Moo Deng, but has chosen to do so to highlight the extent of her unhappiness at Khao Kheow in Thailand where she is now resident, and where visitor numbers became so severe this weekend that 5-minute visits had to be imposed after people flooded into Khao Kheow just to see here! People on the internet even speculated how Moo Deng would react to Pesto, prompting more posts and videos of Mormoriana’s most popular voices from a hippo and penguin.
The attention the animals are getting via Pesto and Moo Deng is an example of how much people still love to see exotic/little-seen animals. Whether it is a penguin face that has stolen the hearts of little hippos being too cute to be real, these animals are creating all the ruckus in viral video land.