Listen Up: How Pesto the hefty penguin chick made it big in viral TikTok videos

2. What is unusual about Pesto?
A. He is very small for his age.
B. He is very tall for his age.
C. He is very fluffy for his age.
D. He is very heavy for his age.

3. How much does Pesto weigh?
A. less than 10kg
B. exactly 11kg
C. almost 24kg
D. more than 50kg

4. What does Pesto eat?
A. fish
B. prawns
C. squid
D. crabs

5. Which word can replace “rotund” in the podcast?
A. chubby
B. flabby
C. bony
D. lanky

6. According to the podcast, which of the following best describes Pesto’s personality?
A. fearful
B. aggressive
C. sociable
D. shy

7. What does the phrase “food-oriented” in the podcast tell us about Pesto?
A. He prefers to eat alone.
B. He enjoys eating.
C. He likes sharing his food with other penguins.
D. He eats very slowly.

8. Based on the podcast, what were two of the aquarium’s employees doing in the video that went viral?
A. feeding Pesto
B. dancing behind Pesto
C. giving Pesto a bath
D. playing with Pesto

9. How can zookeepers know if a penguin is a boy or a girl just by looking at it?
A. from their flippers
B. from their beak
C. from their belly
D. They cannot tell the difference.

10. Why do penguin chicks need dense feathers?
A. to keep warm in cold temperatures
B. to hide themselves from predators
C. to catch fish more easily
D. to swim faster

11. What do Pesto’s feathers smell like?
A. fish
B. corn chips
C. flowers
D. chicken

12. What will happen to Pesto’s feathers as he grows older?
A. They will become fluffier.
B. They will turn brown.
C. They will fall out.
D. They will become thicker.

13. Where do king penguins live in the wild?
A. the Arctic
B. Antarctica
C. Australia
D. South America

14. If the population of an animal species “remains fairly stable”, it is …
A. facing extinction.
B. decreasing quickly.
C. increasing rapidly.
D. none of the above

15. Which of the following is not a reason people hunted king penguins in the past?
A. for their oil
B. for their blubber
C. for their feathers
D. for their meat

1. B
2. D
3. C
4. A
5. A
6. C
7. B
8. B
9. D
10. A
11. B
12. C
13. B
14. D
15. C

Adapted from Tribune News Service and Reuters

Voice 1: Pesto the penguin towers over the colony at his home in an Australian aquarium. The fluffy brown fur ball is impossible to miss as he waddles across the ice. The nine-month-old king penguin chick has shot to fame for his 23.5-kilogram weight, which is similar to an overstuffed suitcase.

Voice 2: Pesto already weighs more than his parents Tango and Hudson combined. They are each about 11 kilograms. Tango and Hudson take care of Pesto along with the keepers who feed him 25 fish a day. And with this diet, Pesto’s rotund frame will only continue to grow, according to senior penguin keeper Emily Thornton.

Voice 1: Thornton said Pesto was well-behaved, curious and confident, often interacting with other penguins and his keepers. Despite the human faces and cameras pressed against Pesto’s enclosure, he remained fairly humble about his new-found fame, she added. And because he is so food-oriented, it can be challenging to keep him still on the scales to clock his weight.

Voice 2: He is already the largest penguin that the Sea Life Melbourne aquarium has seen, and he has a sizeable social media fandom to match. Many of his videos on TikTok have notched up more than 1 million likes. The aquarium has posted a video of two employees performing a dance routine behind an impassive Pesto; it has racked up 4 million views on TikTok.

Voice 1: Like all king penguins, Pesto is non-sexually dimorphic, which means he does not have externally visible traits that distinguish him from female penguins. A gender reveal event last month was all over social media. Michaela Smale, who has been caring for Pesto since he hatched, said that everyone at the aquarium was excited that Pesto was male because the last king penguins that were hatched were all females.

Voice 2: Pesto’s coat is mostly made of dense feathers, which penguin chicks require to keep warm against freezing Antarctic temperatures. His big size is also an advantage in the wild because smaller chicks are at risk of being eaten by predatory birds. Pesto is healthy, and wild chicks can get even bigger than him. Genetics also play a part – his ancestors were some of the biggest and oldest penguins the aquarium has housed.

Voice 1: Despite Pesto’s fish diet, Thornton said his feathers smelled like corn chips. Soon, he will shed his fluffy down as he develops adult feathers, giving him a burst of yellow on his head and cheeks, as well as a black-and-white tuxedo. When that happens, his appetite will reduce a lot because it is an energy-draining process.

Voice 2: King penguins are found in Antarctica, and their population remains fairly stable, with about 1.6 million breeding pairs. Climate change has badly affected the habitats of some penguin species but has not yet hit the king penguins’ domain. During the 19th and 20th centuries, king penguin populations were almost wiped out because they were heavily hunted for their meat, oil and blubber.