Visit our viral King Penguin Pesto!

Pesto's impressive weight is due to a number of factors.

Firstly, his biological dad, Blake, is our biggest and oldest penguin. 

Secondly, he's had amazing parents raising him! 

So, the combination of good genes and good parents explains his current weight, but he will lose a lot of this when he fledges (develops his adult feathers.)

Fledging usually takes 3-4 weeks as the brown downy feathers are lost to reveal the adult king penguin feathers.

Pesto will lose most of his feathers over October and November.

Once he is fully fledged his feathers will be waterproof, thanks to an oil gland at the base of their tail that is preened over all the adult feathers. We can expect him to start swimming with the other kings soon after.

Tango is a female and Hudson is a male, they are a heterosexual couple.

Tango is a younger bird born in 2019 and Hudson was born in 2009. There is quite a large age gap between the two! This is Tangos first time raising a chick, but Hudson has successfully fathered many.

Pesto’s biological mother is called Matilda, who was paired with his biological father Blake in the last breeding season.

His biological father Blake is an old bird and rearing chicks can put considerable strain on parent penguins’ bodies. The egg/chick was moved to a younger pair of birds for this reason as it was the best decision for Pesto to foster him to younger birds.

Honey is a different penguin who hatched a previous year.

King penguin chicks weights vary as they rapidly put on weight from hatching until around 10-12 months of ages. From there the fledging process begins where they lose the baby feathers and slim down. Each individual varies a lot can be anywhere from 18-25kg at their peak.

Pesto eats sand whiting, rainbow trout and salmon.

His best friend is his dad Hudson. Aunty Queenie also loves babysitting. Other young birds such as Honey and Sausage are very fascinated with Pesto.