WEBVTT - Moo Deng! Pesto! Giant Babies! 0:00:07.000 --> 0:00:10.760 Welcome to Creature feature production of iHeartRadio. I'm your host 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:15.640 of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and evolutionary biology, 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:19.319 and today on the show Fat Babies, we're talking about 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:24.480 some of the biggest babies around, everyone's favorite Internet hippo 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:31.120 Moo Dang, as well as the enormous, gargantuan, fluffy and 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:36.920 incredible baby king penguin Pasto. I am so excited to 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:39.839 talk about these I really wanted to sort of have 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:43.919 a full discussion about mood Dang, the internet sensation and 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:48.440 what is she, how does she function, why is she 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:53.360 and also the interesting conversation about how we treat animal celebrities. 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:57.880 Joining me today to talk about these enormous babies is 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:01.400 writer for one nine hundred, Hot Dog, the comedy website, 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:05.720 and of the horror novella Healthy Choices, Lydia bug. Hi. 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:06.600 Thanks for having me. 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:12.080 You actually suggested this topic to me because you mentioned Pesto, 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:20.400 the incredible baby king penguin, who is just apparently growing 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:24.679 bigger and bigger. He's not going to stop until essentially 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:28.760 he is the size of a building. Yeah. 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:30.800 I told my husband it's like me having a baby, 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:33.280 and it being six feet tall. Yes, that's what it 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:33.960 reminds me of. 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:37.880 It's wild, it's very wild. So, but first, I do 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:42.720 want to talk about Moodang. You are familiar with Moodang, 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:44.560 I would presume, Oh, my. 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:48.840 Gosh, yes, obviously I'm obsessed with all of the fat 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:51.920 baby animals. There's a TikTok talker who does the Knights 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:55.640 of the rotund Table, which is all of the fat 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:59.840 baby animals that are at Zeus. And uh yeah, Moodang 0:01:59.880 --> 0:02:02.320 is like the King Arthur of the Knights of the 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:02.800 Road Hunt. 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:08.800 Yes, she's incredible, So let's talk about her first. So Mooding, 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:15.400 it's the internet's favorite juvenile pigmy hippo. Pigmy hippos hail 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:18.720 from West Africa. Let's talk about this species a little 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:22.160 bit before we talk about mood Dan. Specifically, they are 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:25.960 one of two living species within the hippo family. The 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.079 other is the common hippo, which is much larger. That's 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:31.480 the hippo we know in love. That's the one that 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:39.119 does the ballet in Fantasia. They are quite big now. 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:43.120 Adult pigmy hippos grow to be around four hundred to 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:45.240 six hundred pounds, which is one hundred and eighty to 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:48.640 one hundred and seventy five kilograms, which sounds like a 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:52.680 lot maybe until you realize that common hippos average over 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:58.480 three thousand pounds. Oh my god, one five hundred kilograms. 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:00.079 Right, dainty. 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:04.840 Pygmy hippos are tiny compared to common hippos. Like the 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:08.720 largest kind of individual common hippos can weigh in to 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:13.240 be over five thousand pounds or over two thousan two 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:17.680 hundred kilograms, so that compared to say, amax size of 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:21.839 six hundred pounds. Pygmy hippos are little. You know, they're 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:24.720 pigmy hippos and they're little. They're the Chihuahuas of the 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:25.440 hippo world. 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:28.920 Did we like breathe them like teacup chuahuas to be 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:30.040 tiny or they're just like. 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:32.520 Fortunately, no, they are just naturally like that. 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:36.880 Because if someone wants a house hippo, that's really not good. 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:40.480 Yeah, that's probably. I love the idea of a little 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:44.320 lap hippo, but it's not gonna ever happen ethically. So, 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:48.360 pigmy hippos only grow to be a little over three 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:51.680 feet tall about a meter, so yeah, they are truly 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:57.480 the cute little cousins of common hippos. They are similar 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:00.800 in some ways to the larger hippos. They are semi aquatic, 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.600 although they are a lot more terrestrial than common hippos. 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:08.520 They spend more time on land. They're also less aggressive 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:10.600 than common hippos. They're a lot more shy. 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:13.080 Really because Moodang is spicy. 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:19.320 Mood Dang is very sassy, but contrary, she's not murderous. 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:22.480 I would say, like pygmy hippos are sassy. They will 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:26.360 go after you if they feel you are, you know, 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:30.479 bringing down the mood harshing their mellow, but they won't 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.240 kill you. I can't. I couldn't find a case of 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:37.039 a pygmy hippo over killing anyone, whereas common hippos regularly 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:40.880 kill people. They're very dangerous, they are very aggressive. 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:43.360 I feel like I heard once they were like one 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:45.839 of the most dangerous animals on Earth. Is that true? 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:51.839 They're They're not the like one of the most dangerous 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:54.680 animals on earth. They are far more dangerous than say, 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:58.640 sharks in terms of killing people. That's crazy. The most 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:05.039 dangerous animals on Earth are mosquitoes, dogs, and snakes, and 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:10.160 in descending order of badness, I think or no, I'm 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:14.680 not anyways, regardless, those are the three ones that cause 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:19.080 the most human deaths of sort of animals, right, Like, 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:23.640 obviously bacteria and pathogens can cause more death. 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:26.240 That makes sense because those are prolific animals. 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:32.040 Yes, yes, so. And it's also like with mosquitos, it's 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:36.840 unintentional they carry disease. Dogs, it's rabies, uh and in 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:39.640 a lot of countries where there is not as much 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:43.080 of a successful campaign against rabies. And then snakes obviously 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:45.560 with their venom they actually can cause a good number 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:49.480 of human deaths. But but you know, like common hippos 0:05:49.520 --> 0:05:53.480 are up there, they are more dangerous than sharks, but 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.279 they but pygmy hippos not so much. They are not 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:02.400 that aggressive. They will fight back, as we know from Moodang, 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:10.919 who is a spicy little sausage. So the pigmy hippos 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:15.799 are more shy than common hippos. They form smaller social groups, 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:21.560 usually family units like a mother and the calves. They 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.560 avoid confrontation with other pigmy hippos. They don't really fight 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.280 so much, and they like to rest in the river 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:30.160 during the day and then they come out at dusk 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:34.680 to feed. And so you know they are overall a 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:37.440 bit more shy, a bit more introverted, a bit more chill. 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:42.000 And so the way I interpret mood Dang's behavior is 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:46.320 that she's annoyed at all the attention and just wants 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:47.880 to be left alone. 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.520 I get it, relatable. I just want to chill in 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:53.440 a river and come out at night to feed. Like, yeah, 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:54.880 that sounds like the life. 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:59.080 If like, I could just bite someone's leg every time 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:03.040 I feel socially exhausted, my life would be so much 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:03.640 more simple. 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:07.880 Yeah, that's why we love Mudang. She's the people's pigmy hippo. 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:09.280 We're all like, I get it. 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:12.400 Yeah, I've said this. I think I've said this before 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:16.160 on this show. But like, I had a plumbing disaster 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:19.760 that a few weeks ago, just as Moudang was spiking 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:23.280 in popularity. And what happened was I filled my sink 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:27.160 up with dirty dishwater. Well not intentionally, My sink was clogged. 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:31.040 There was a clog deep down somewhere and I I 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:35.400 was filled with dirty dishwater. So me smart took out 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:38.600 the u trap of the sink and I did put 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:40.920 a bucket under there, but it was a small bucket, 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:45.680 not enough bucket, and also the water came out really 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:48.840 fast because it was under pressure, and I did get 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:53.040 blasted with dirty dishwater. The bucket overflowed and I flooded 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:57.560 our kitchen and I was wet and mad. And when 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:01.240 I saw Moodang, I was like, well, sister, I get it, 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:03.239 but you do look. 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:06.160 Like me the most relatable in that moment. 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:10.120 Yeah, wet and mad? Yeah, uh so, yes she is. 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:13.280 I think that the fury of the little hippo is 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:14.400 very relatable. 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:17.880 And she's just always doing normal things and the zookeepers 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:20.080 are like bothering her. Like I saw one where she 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:23.000 was sitting in her mother's food bowl, which genius. Like 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:24.840 if I were tiny and could fit into a food bowl, 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:26.960 I would sit in it and eat like that sounds great, 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:29.760 And her mom was trying to eat like around her. Yeah, 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:31.920 zookeepers were like, get out of that food bowl, and 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:33.360 then she was like, no, I'm gonna bite you. 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:37.040 Yeah, very reasonable, she should. I used to it when I 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:39.280 was a kid. I would like to take cereal into 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:41.600 the bath, and sometimes the cereal would fall into the 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:45.000 bath and I thought, huh, I'm basically swimming in a 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.160 bowl of cereal. Because my cereal is now my bathwater. 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:50.800 Oh my god. I love eating in the bathtub, Like 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.400 I feel like that's good. It's such a hick thing 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:55.120 to do, but I love it. 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.600 I had a setup where in my parents' bathroom, if 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:01.240 I opened the door, I could like turn on the 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:05.360 TV from the other room and incredible, watch the TV 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:08.319 from the bath and take a bubble bath and then 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:12.040 eat eat fruity pebbles in the bubble bath. And it 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:14.120 was sort of the best thing that's ever happened in 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:17.040 my life. I can't say anything has ever topped that. Yeah. 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:19.080 No, Like at my old house, I had a jet 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:21.920 bathtub and I had enough space to put my laptop 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:23.720 at the edge of the tub, and I was willing 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:27.480 to like live dangerously and do that. I remember at 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:29.760 Christmas once Bridgerton had just come out and I was 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:33.880 like in the bathtub watching Bridgerton. I had some kind 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:37.280 I think, like a bottle of sparkling wine and some cheese. 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:39.440 This is incredible. 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:43.080 I mean, this is the thing. Like, yes, mood dang 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.000 is highly relatable. We like to swim around in our 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:49.960 in some water, have food out the ready, and we 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:55.760 don't want people to interrupt our good times. One cute 0:09:55.800 --> 0:10:00.520 habit that pigmy hippos share with common hippos that they 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:04.960 like to do poop fan So they will poop vigorously 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:09.400 and then helicopter their tail and just spread the dung around. 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:12.320 And it's not that they like whole papers have been 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:14.920 written about exactly what they're trying to achieve with this, 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:19.160 like it's basically thought to be marking sort of trails 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:23.080 or territories, but it is just it's, you know, it's 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:26.200 a pooh tornado that they like to produce. 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.719 That's great. I think I've seen videos of hippos and 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.160 zoos doing that and people being like horrified. 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:34.719 That's It's just a normal behavior for them. 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:39.600 I love it, and they know. I'm sure that people like, hey, 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:43.000 people think this is terrifying. I'm gonna do it, yes, 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:46.600 like everybody check this out. All the chorists are like. 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:49.880 Oh my god, no, yeah, they probably they probably get 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:51.600 a kick out of it. They do sometimes do it 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:54.960 like at each other in the wild, not necessarily pigmy 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:58.000 hippos but common hippos, So there can be some poop 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:01.400 poop fan aggression going on. So I wouldn't be surprised 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:04.880 if sometimes it is used towards visitors to be like, hey, 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:06.040 get out of here. 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:08.520 Is poop fan the scientific name? 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:15.880 You know, it's not not scientific. So that is the 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:18.520 background on pygmy hippos. Let's talk a little bit more 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:23.080 about Moodang specifically. She was born in July of this year, 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:26.920 twenty twenty four. She's a juvenile pygmy hippo living at 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:32.040 kau Ko Open Zoo in Thailand. Her antics are looking 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:38.520 perpetually annoyed and soaked in water. She has two siblings, 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:42.719 Nadette and Mutuan, though like the Baldwin brothers, they are 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:47.480 not as famous. So and my favorite thing about her 0:11:47.640 --> 0:11:52.040 is that her name Moodang roughly translates to bouncy pig. 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:54.600 Oh, that's so cute. 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:59.360 She really is that she is a bouncy pig. Yeah, 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:04.280 she looks like an overstuffed cushion. I love her. Her 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:07.959 popularity actually doubled the number of visitors to the zoo, 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:11.760 which can in some ways be good, right, but in 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:15.160 other ways it's proved to be a challenge. Some of 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:18.000 these visitors took it upon themselves to try to harass 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:21.680 Moodang by throwing water or objects at her. I believe 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:24.640 that all of these visitors should be lined up and 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:28.720 receive a bite from Mudang, like just be like, all right, 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:31.200 you did this, you get bitten. 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:34.439 Yeah, you receive if. 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:38.960 You if you violate Moodang's boundaries, you should be willing 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:41.920 to receive. Moudang's retribution is Mike. 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:44.080 I can't I can't even imagine what goes through a 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:47.679 person's head that makes them want to throw something, I mean, 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:51.640 at any animal, but especially at the cutest animal on friggin' Earth. 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:54.640 Yeah, they're trying to think because they're trying to provoke 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:56.920 a reaction, probably to get like a photo or a 0:12:57.000 --> 0:13:00.400 video for social media, that would be my guess. But 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:05.760 the zoo has responded, I mean by definitely scolding people, 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:08.839 but also they become more protective of her and they 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:12.600 only allow visitors like five minutes to gaze upon MoU 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:17.280 Dang other because like, she's just become so wildly popular 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:21.640 and they've got to protect her. And you know, but 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:24.520 I think it's a very interesting example of how weird 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:28.520 animal celebrity gets. You know. I love this little hippo, 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:30.400 I get it, she's adorable. 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:31.560 But it's also a. 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:35.319 Little concerning sometimes because she is a wild animal. She's 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:39.120 not gonna appreciate or like the excess attention that she's 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:41.360 actually getting like in real life. 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:46.040 Yeah, I have this exact same like worry about because 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:49.320 zoos know that these little animals are huge money makers 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:52.760 now ever since like Fiona, I think was the first 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:59.160 big celebrity hippo, and I wonder if they're being ethical 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.760 about how many babies they're having because of how much 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:03.360 money they can bring into the zoo. Like, I had 0:14:03.400 --> 0:14:06.840 lots of questions about this. It's because I love it, 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:08.720 But I'm like, am I is it bad that I 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:09.640 love this so much? 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:12.600 You know, it's a good question. I don't have it 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.160 as simple answer for this. You know, there's a lot 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:17.520 of really good zoos that do a lot of good 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:21.640 conservation work. I think that overall zoos can be a 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:27.520 positive thing both in terms of conservation, rehabilitation, education, research. 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:31.240 All of these things can make zoos actually I think 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:36.600 a net benefit for the for animals, for the environment. 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:41.120 But you know, I think that in cases like this 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:46.440 it is a definite gray area because on one hand, 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:52.080 uh pigmy hippos are endangered and Moodang has now brought 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:56.320 a huge amount of attention to pygmy hippos. Now everybody 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.600 knows what they are. They see her, they find her 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.200 really key. And so if you tell them, like, look 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:05.800 this type of hippo, like they're endangered, people make care more. 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:08.880 Right due to her fame and her popularity. On the 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:13.120 other hand, it's an we do kind of like it 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:15.920 concerns me obviously the people who throw stuff at the 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:18.440 at her should just be fired off into the sun. 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:23.160 But like it's also now that she gets so many visitors, 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:25.960 I wonder how much that stresses her out right, because 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:31.640 like I said, they're basically crepuscular, borderline nocturnal, like they 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:35.280 they you know, usually rest in rivers during the day 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:37.840 and then at night is when they like at dusk 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:41.560 is when they come out to feed. So be getting 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:45.680 that much attention during the day, I wonder how much 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:50.760 that affects her stress and her health, right, Like, I 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:55.680 just hope that you know, she is being protected so 0:15:55.760 --> 0:15:59.160 that she can stay moisturized in the lane. 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.320 Yeah, Like I was psyched to hear that they took 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:04.560 her off display except for five minutes a day, because 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:07.000 if you're having if that's like you know, if they're 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:10.040 having these issues. That's what needs to be done obviously, 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:12.880 is to like mainly have her be protected and doing 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:15.160 her own thing, and then every once in a while 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:16.880 people can look upon her like. 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:21.200 Right, yeah, I think it might be five minutes of visitor. 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:22.800 Let me check on that, visitors. 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:24.520 I remember reading about that. 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:27.000 Oh no, it's good, you're right. It's like for only 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.680 five minutes. Visitors could see mooding for only five minutes 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:33.920 on Saturdays and Sundays. I think it might be on 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:38.320 Saturdays and Sundays, each visitor, like you know, like you're 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:40.640 in a line and basically you're ushered forward, so you 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:43.000 only get about five minutes to look at her. But 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:46.080 it is it is limited to Saturdays and Sundays. 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:49.520 Okay, that's not so bad, like, you know, because that 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:53.560 keeps the crowds smaller too, so she's not dealing with 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:56.480 Like when I went to see Fiona, there was like, 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:58.880 you know, sixty people like pressed to the glass. 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:00.200 Yeah sure, sure. 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:02.360 It's less stressful to have two people at a time 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:03.400 kind of staring at you. 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:06.920 Yeah yeah, uh yeah, yeah. I think it is really 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:11.800 important to kind of balance the I mean, of course, 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:14.359 I don't blame anyone for wanting to see her in person. 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.040 I'd love to see her in person. Who wouldn't an 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:21.080 adorable little hippo. That's not necessarily the problem. It's that 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:23.959 we do need to balance sort of the fun of 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:26.480 it all, like, which is like, you know, I mean 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.919 having fun internet stuff about her. There's no harm in 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:32.600 that that I can really see. But yeah, just making 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:35.400 sure that doesn't bleed over into you know, I don't 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:38.359 want people thinking like that she's basically like a pet 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:42.000 or a toy or you know, that she's anything other 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:45.840 than a wild animal who isn't a zoo obviously, but 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:51.760 that deserves respect and deserves to be treat, you know, 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:55.800 not treated like a form of entertainment, but rather as 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:57.160 a living creature. 0:17:57.640 --> 0:17:59.600 Yeah, you don't want the zoo to like stage mom 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:01.639 mood day, you know. 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:06.439 Now, I'm just thinking about those hippos and Fantasia, the 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:09.680 ballet hippos, and like, yeah, they had to go through 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:10.719 dance moms. 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.080 Yeah, you don't want Mudang to go through what Jojo 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:15.120 Siba went through. 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:19.880 Oh no, no, oh man, no ah, Yeah, that's that's 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:24.080 just Moodang in a sparkly bikini drinking to Pila. I'm 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:27.040 not gonna end up well, all right, well we're gonna 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:30.720 take a quick break, and then, much to Lydia's delight, 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:32.920 we're gonna talk about Pesto the Penguin. 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:36.639 I've been dying to talk to anyone about Pasto that 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:37.600 will listen, So. 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:42.800 All right, so we are back, and Lendy, you actually 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.880 suggested this one to me. This is about Pesto the penguin. 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:50.440 What drew you towards this little penguin or probably shouldn't 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:51.320 say little penguin? 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:53.840 No, thank you for asking. So I think what's so 0:18:53.840 --> 0:18:56.760 special about Pesto is the fact that a lot of 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:00.359 big baby animals just look like a slightly smaller version 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:02.240 of that animal. So if they're born really big, you 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:04.680 can't really tell how big they are. But the fact 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:08.560 that Pesto has his like penguins have that fuzz when 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:11.960 they're born, and then they get their like oily slicker feathers, 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:15.520 you can really tell, like, this is a baby, and 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:18.480 it looks like a baby, but it's taller than all 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:21.640 of the adults. So it makes me picture, like I said, 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:24.879 a six foot tall, like two year old, yeah, walking 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:27.720 around a house, and how much destruction that would bring. 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:30.960 And it makes me like smile and laugh every single time. 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.600 And I have heard like an origin story for Pesto 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:36.480 that is very cute, but I don't know if it's true, 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:38.239 and I don't know if you know it's true. But 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:39.520 do you do you want me to tell you what 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:39.840 it is? 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:40.719 Yeah? Tell me? 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:44.480 I okay, all right. I heard that his dad was 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.719 like one of the biggest king penguins ever in Captivity, 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:51.119 and he was very old and he passed away either 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:53.400 pre Pesto's birth or when he was very young. 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:54.560 Uh. 0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:58.520 And his mother also has passed away. And so Pesto's 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:01.880 two dads, he says, two dads, and that's the penguins 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:05.240 he hangs around with. And they're smaller penguins. So part 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:07.920 of why he also looks so big is because he's 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:10.200 hanging out with these two smaller penguins all the time. 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:14.760 Yeah, So I think at least part of that is true. 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:15.720 So he is. 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:19.000 Like I thought. I thought it was sus so I 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:21.600 didn't google it because I liked it so much. 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:24.679 So his his father is one of the oldest and 0:20:24.800 --> 0:20:32.040 largest penguins at the zoo. I don't know that his father, 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:38.280 Blake is actually dead. He is being raised by foster parents. 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:42.440 So like the the foster parents are Tango and Hudson. 0:20:42.880 --> 0:20:47.480 I'm not sure that these are these are I don't 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:51.760 know if they're They might be gay penguins. There's so 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:54.879 I would like, Yeah, I believe it's so. Yes, I 0:20:55.480 --> 0:21:00.919 believe so so and but yeah, I don't know. I 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:04.880 haven't really seen anything specifically about the mother. I don't 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:07.400 know that the mother's actually died. I think it may 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:11.760 just be that the father's really old. Raising a penguin 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:14.720 is kind of a two penguin job, and so they 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:17.400 wanted to try out. They wanted to give this egg 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:22.199 to Hudson and Tango to raise, to see how that 0:21:22.359 --> 0:21:25.560 if that would work out well, and it did work 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:29.320 out really really well. It worked out super well, well 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:35.159 cared for. So Pesto he's a juvenile king penguin, not 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:38.000 an emperor penguin, so we're not talking about happy feet here. 0:21:38.600 --> 0:21:42.960 Happy feet penguins are emperor penguins. King penguins are slightly smaller, 0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:48.440 so Pesto is enormous. He was hatched January twenty twenty 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:54.119 four at Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium, and like most baby penguins, 0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:58.720 he grew a fluffy brown coat that started to lighten, 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:02.639 and eventually, as an adult it will molt in favor 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:05.680 of that black, yellow and white coloration that you're familiar 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:09.440 with of penguins. But currently I think he's sort of 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:12.920 a fluffy gray, sort of light gray. He started out 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:15.320 as a dark brown gray. That coat lightens, gets a 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:18.040 little thinner as they age, and then they'll molt and 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:22.479 then have their adult colors. But Pesto is unique because 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:30.280 Pesto is absolutely enormous. He towers over his gay foster dads. 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:34.639 So for a frame of reference, adult king penguins typically 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:39.240 average around thirty five pounds, so that's about sixteen kilograms. 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:44.280 In September of this year of our Lord and Savior 0:22:44.840 --> 0:22:49.800 King Penguin twenty twenty four, Pesto weighed forty six pounds. 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:51.199 Lord almighty. 0:22:51.359 --> 0:22:54.440 Thirty five pounds is the average. He's forty six pounds 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:57.200 and it's just baby, and he's a baby, and that's 0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:00.760 about twenty one kilograms. He was eating twenty five fish 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:04.399 a day. He's the largest baby king penguin in the 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:08.719 aquarium's history, and he's only getting bigger. Last time I checked, 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:13.520 it's looked like he was maybe fifty pounds at least. 0:23:14.040 --> 0:23:16.600 Yeah, every time he's on TikTok. You know, the search 0:23:16.640 --> 0:23:20.199 bar of TikTok has what everybody else is searching every 0:23:20.359 --> 0:23:23.720 single video of Pesto without fail. The search bar is 0:23:23.920 --> 0:23:27.160