Plan your next trip to Melbourne to see Pesto the penguin: a chonky penguin who unexpectedly skyrocketed to fame. Now Pesto is moulting, he’s cuter than ever.
Besides its amazing food, vibrant art scene, and happening nightlife, there is one more must-do attraction in Melbourne now: meet Pesto the king penguin, who will soon turn one!
Pesto the now-famous penguin – who resides Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium – went viral on TikTok in mid-September – garnering millions of likes and views because of his heaps of brown feathers, chubbiness and tallness compared to the other penguins, and the close bond to his two male foster parents.
It was no PR stunt however, as Pesto’s meteoric rise to fame was not predicted by the aquarium, according to education supervisor Jacinta Early.
“We had no indication or inclination this was going to happen,” said Early. “If you had told me this was going to happen six months ago, I wouldn’t have believed it.”
Since his rise to stardom, Pesto has attracted visitors from all over the world. In fact, according to Early, guests have made day trips from Sydney or even travelled from as far as San Francisco to see him. When he initially went viral around the time of the school holidays in Australia, the aquarium had already expected higher attendance, but not at the amount that they saw this year.
Now Pesto is moulting (a normal stage for birds) he looks like he’s wearing an old coat made of feather boas.
“Thousands of people have been coming just to see Pesto, every single day,” said Early.
Pesto has become so famous that he’s even had celebrity visitors such as American pop singers Katy Perry and Olivia Rodrigo. He’s also recently been nominated for the ANZ TikTok awards because of his super stardom – and he continues to receive lots of love online.
Pesto originally got his name because most of the penguins in the exhibit are named after a food, such as beans and even sausage. He is being raised by his foster parents – Tango and Hudson – who were unsuccessful in breeding this year. But have proven to be great parents, Early said.
“He’s so big because his foster parents have actually nurtured him so beautifully, and they’ve done such an incredible job at raising him,” she said.
Pesto’s biological parents are still very much alive, but because his biological dad, Blake, is already 22 years old (which is quite elderly penguin years) and has had a lot of babies already, the aquarium decided to give him a break. That’s not to say that Pesto doesn’t still take after his biological parents; his massive height can be attributed to his dad, who is also very tall.
A typical day in the life of Pesto the penguin starts bright and early around 7:30 am., when the keepers come in to clean the exhibit and fresh snow is shovelled in.
Then, around 9:00 am he gets breakfast – which is fish – and afterwards, if the snow machine is on, he’ll stand under it.
“If that snow machine is on for the day, he’s not moving. It’s his favourite thing to do at the moment,” said Early. “He’s just living his best abominable snowman life being covered in snow.”
Pesto and the other penguins are fed about five times a day. As a baby, he eats a lot of food: a whopping 25 to 32 fish per day. But that number is starting to decrease as he goes through the fledging process, where he will transition to look just the other penguins in his colony. That means he is starting to lose weight and shed his baby feathers. At this time he has started to lose some feathers near his bottom and on his wings.
“He kind of looks like he’s lost his shorts at the moment,” Early said.
In fact, it’s expected that Pesto will look like the rest of the penguins in the next three weeks – meaning that now is the last chance to see him while he is still a big ol’ fluffy baby.
For guests looking to make the trek to Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium to see Pesto, there are a couple of different options.
Firstly, he can be viewed from the outside of the exhibit at any time, as the penguins always remain there. For those looking to get even more immersed in the penguin world, there is the Penguin Passport experience, where up to four guests have the chance to speak with an expert and see penguin artefacts, such as feathers. Then, they have the opportunity to go inside the exhibit within a restricted area for 15 minutes, see the penguins, and of course have plenty of photos taken.
The experience only runs once a day and is quite coveted, despite being around for years.
According to Early, it is in very high demand because of Pesto, and is now almost fully booked for the rest of the year.
When coming to visit the aquarium, be sure to not use flash photography as it can startle the animals. Additionally, don’t bang on the exhibit or try to have a penguin follow your finger, as it teases them and has become an non-ideal behaviour with guests trying to get the perfect photo with Pesto.
Beyond being an adorable puff ball (not for long!), Pesto is just living his best, snow-machine-loving penguin life – and it’s totally worth the trek to see him.
“He’s just living the dream,” said Early.
If you enjoyed this story about Pesto the penguin, check out our guide to Australia’s best nature and wildlife experiences.
