Watch: New social media sensation Pesto, a king penguin who has already broken records at Melbourne aquarium

Pesto, a king penguin at Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium in Australia, is only nine months old and weighs 20 kilograms. He is already bigger than his parents. After breaking a record at the Melbourne aquarium, he has become a social media sensation.

Photos of Pesto, who stands 90 centimetres tall, have gone viral on the Internet, sparking interest in learning more about penguins. Though many recognise the black-and-white adult penguins, king penguin chicks are born with brown feathers. These feathers will fall off once they learn to swim, a process called fledging.

“Pesto the penguin has just broken a record at @sealifemelbourneaquarium becoming the centre’s biggest ever chick, weighing in at 20kg,” wrote Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium while sharing a video of Pesto on Instagram. The video has been viewed over 45 lakh times.

The video says Pesto eats about 25 fish daily, spread over four feeds. The amount is around double what an adult king penguin gets. This has helped him bulk up quickly.

Penguins are not easily distinguished by their appearance when it comes to identifying their gender. To find out the gender of a penguin, keepers take a small blood sample from the penguin’s toe and send it to a lab for testing.

Pesto's biological father, Blake, is one of the largest and oldest penguins in the aquarium. However, Pesto is being raised by Tango and Hudson, two younger penguins that the Sea Life keepers wanted to try as parents.

Many of the 60 penguins at the aquarium have names inspired by food, such as Pudding, Whopper and Lamingtons.

Pesto is becoming an adult

As a chick, Pesto still receives extra food from his parents, which leads to a lot of waste. Penguins poop frequently, about every 15 minutes, keeping the keepers busy with cleaning the exhibit for visitors.

Pesto is slowly approaching adulthood. He has begun shedding his baby feathers. He will soon start swimming lessons, likely taught by his father.