(CNN) 鈥 He鈥檚 a 鈥渨alking feathery poop machine.鈥 And he鈥檚 also a celebrity.
Meet Pesto the king penguin. At just nine months old and 22.5 kilograms (50 pounds), he鈥檚 already bigger than his parents at the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium in Australia.
Photos of Pesto 鈥 who is 90 centimeters (about three feet) tall 鈥 towering over his parents have gone viral online. He has also provided opportunities for people to learn more about penguins.
Although most people recognize the adult black-and-white birds, king penguins are born covered in brown feathers. Once they learn how to swim, they will begin shedding those feathers 鈥 a process known as fledging.
Penguins are also sexually dimorphic, which means you can鈥檛 tell their sex by looking at them. In order to discover the genders of their penguins, keepers take a small drop of blood from the penguin鈥檚 toe and send it to a lab in order to get an official answer.
Michaela Smale, a penguin keeper who has been at Sea Life since 2018, says that usually for a chick鈥檚 gender reveal the Sea Life team just makes cupcakes and informally circulates them among the staff. But Pesto, already used to breaking records, had his own reveal broadcast on social media. In the viral clip, a keeper slices into a white cake to reveal blue inside.
Sea Life鈥檚 Instagram page has 25,000 followers.
鈥淚 think he鈥檚 always going to be a big boy,鈥 says Smale. Once he fledges, 鈥渉e will shrink and slim down a little but he鈥檚 already significantly taller than his dad.鈥
Pesto鈥檚 biological father, Blake, is one of the aquarium鈥檚 oldest and largest penguins. But he鈥檚 being raised by Tango and Hudson, younger penguins whom Sea Life keepers wanted to try out as parents. Many of the 60 penguins have food-themed names, including Pudding, Whopper, and Lamingtons.
Pesto gets fed about eight fish, four times a day 鈥 more than 30 fish a day 鈥 twice as many as the average adult penguin.
As he鈥檚 still a chick, he also gets some supplemental feed from his parents. With that food comes a lot of waste. Smale explains that penguins poop about every 15 minutes, meaning the keepers are very busy making sure the penguin exhibit is clean when visitors come.
But adulthood is already on the horizon. Pesto has started losing some of his baby feathers, and swimming lessons 鈥 from his dad 鈥 are likely starting soon.
鈥淪ometimes they become quite independent teenagers, so maybe he鈥檚 ready for his bad boy phase,鈥 says Smale.
鈥淚 hope he retains some of his quirky personality and hopefully we can follow his adventures as he becomes part of the colony.鈥
The-CNN-Wire
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