An extra large and in charge penguin chick has taken the internet by storm, securing a level of social media stardom many of us could only dream of - and his name is Pesto.
When Pesto last stepped on the scale just two weeks ago, he weighed in at 21 kg or about 46.3 lbs, at just nine months old, making him the biggest penguin chick Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium in Melbourne, Australia has ever seen.
Why is Pesto so big? Well, for starters, he's able to maintain his impressive girth with a diet of 25 fish a day, according to the aquarium, along with some luck in the nature and nurture categories.
Pesto is the biological child of Sea Life's biggest and oldest penguin, Blake, giving him an edge in the genetics department. He is also being raised by Hudson and Tango, a doting pair dedicated to caring for their giant chick.
The big guy well outweighs his foster parents, who average around 11 kgs or 24 pounds, and eats about double what an adult king penguin does in a day. Pesto is also a little extra special in that his January hatching made him the only king penguin born at the aquarium this year.
Just how big is he compared to other king penguins?
Well, the average adult stands 28-39 inches tall and weighs 21-40 pounds, according to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition. Pesto, who is still growing, is much larger than the average adult for now - but it probably won't stay that way forever.
In a few months, Pesto will enter his fledgling period, the state during which he begins to mature and will start losing the cute fuzzy brown set of feathers. From there, he will begin growing the much sleeker black and white feathers of his adult counterparts and will also slim down.
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It's safe to say: the internet is obsessed with Pesto and his impressive size.
A gender reveal post a few weeks ago helped boost Pesto's fame, as the staff at Sea Life threw a party after blood tests finally confirmed he was a male. Naturally, posts about Pesto on the aquarium's socials rack up thousands of views and comments, many of which implore the staff to keep sharing the penguin with the world.
"I need a weekly update on pesto please," said one Instagram comment with nearly 1,000 likes, along with several others who echoed similar thoughts. "He needs his own insta page!!" proposed another commenter, followed by another that said, "Pesto needs a children's book written about him!!"
Katy Perry herself even shared Pesto to her recent Instagram story, reposting a video of aquarium staff dancing to the song "Feels" by Calvin Harris also featuring Perry.
Unspursingly, Pesto is also a massive TikTok star. Searching #Pesto will surface over 115,000 posts on the app, the top of which is dominated by the penguin and shows no mention of the food.
Videos about Pesto on the app easily amass millions of views and thousands of adoring comments. One of the most common? Some variation of "I love you, Pesto!"
"Pesto and Moo Deng are the best babies in the world right now," said one TikToker, referring to another super viral baby zoo animal - a pygmy hippo at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand named Moo Deng.
"Very large. Very in charge," "I want to cuddle with pesto," "Pesto is the news of the year," you get the picture - people love Pesto just the way he is. One comment, saying simply "I wanna meet pesto soooo bad" was liked by over 25,000 people, showing just how strong the internet's love for Pesto is.
While Pesto is expected to slim down in the coming weeks, that doesn't mean his fifteen minutes of fame will come to an end. Based on the millions of views, likes and comments the average social media post about Pesto generates, it's probably a safe guess that he, and his viral buddy Moo Deng, will remain the objects of public adoration for a good while longer.