‘Big baby’: Melbourne aquarium’s huge 22.5kg penguin chick Pesto set to slim down after becoming viral star

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Pesto the penguin has broken the internet – and the scales – but its fans only have a few weeks left to see the chick at its heaviest.The king penguin, which is less than 9 months old and weighs 22.5kg, is the largest chick the Sea Life aquarium in Melbourne has ever seen.By comparison, his “foster parents” each weigh 11kg.Jacinta Early, an education coordinator at Sea Life Melbourne, said it’s “quite unusual for him to be this big and heavy” as penguins of his age at the aquarium have weighed a maximum of 18kg.But the aquarium expects Pesto to lose weight in the coming weeks as he fledges, or develops his adult feathers. Early said that she was already starting to see some loss of feathers underneath its wings.While it is impossible to tell how much weight Pesto will lose, Early predicted that post-fledging, it could weigh the same as some of the aquarium’s larger birds.Pesto, right, mingles in his enclosure. The baby penguin is set to begin fledging and to lose…

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