Pesto, The Viral Penguin, Is About To Lose All His Fluff And Become A Full-Fledged King Penguin

I believe many of you remember the adorably cute baby penguin Pesto who instantly went viral all over the world due to his extra fluffy and remarkably huge appearance. Well, it seems that very soon this celebrity penguin will be rocking his new adult tuxedo, since his soft brown feathers have started to fall out.

SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium announced on their social media that Pesto's fledging is in full swing, and has already revealed some of his beautiful yellow markings.

More info: SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium

King penguin chicks experience molting when they are between 10 and 12 months old. This process, during which the baby chicks often also lose weight as they form their new coat, usually takes 3-4 weeks as the soft, brown, fluffy feathers are lost to reveal the adult king penguin feathers.

According to SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium, Pesto should lose most of his fluffiness over October and November and then he will finally be ready to enter a new yet no less exciting phase in his life.

"As Pesto sheds his juvenile feathers and develops his sleek, waterproof adult plumage, he’s beginning to look more like an adult king penguin and is almost ready to dive into the next stage of life as part of the colony," the Aquarium shared.

As good as it looks, this beautiful new tuxedo is not all about the penguin's appearance - these new feathers will finally allow him to swim.

"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," an explanation was given on the Aquarium's website.

While the penguin will continue to fledge over the next few weeks, the Aquarium hurried to share the message with all those who were afraid of Pesto losing his cuteness: "Don’t worry, he’ll still be just as adorable, he’ll just be rocking his new tuxedo!"

As one of the world’s most well-known penguins, who eats around 25 fish a day, loves napping and adores the ice machine, he was recently also nominated for the ANZ TikTok Awards!

Voting, which is only open to New Zealand's and Australian residents until the 13th of November, can be found here.

Since Pesto has quickly captured hearts globally after it was announced that he's the biggest chick the SEA LIFE Aquarium in Melbourne has ever seen, there's an entire page on the Aquarium's website dedicated to all those wanting to know more about this irresistibly cute penguin.

"Pesto has reached more than 1.9 billion people across the globe, so he really is a drawcard for visitation to Victoria," shared Michaela Smale, who's a senior keeper at the Aquarium.

For all those who don't yet know about this adorable penguin and who would like to read more about the beginning of his stardom, I recommend you take a glimpse into Bored Panda's previous article about him, which you can read here.

Thanks to Pesto’s impressive size due to his biological father, Blake, who is also one of the largest and oldest penguins at the Aquarium, he gained millions of people's attention. Now all of them are not only exited about Pesto's beautiful transformation but also can't wait to see this irresistibly cute penguin taking his first swim.