WEBVTT - I Just Had a Baby Rerun! Moo Deng! Pesto! Giant Babies! 0:00:06.960 --> 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, 0:00:15.640 --> 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 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:31.120 Moo Dang, as well as the enormous, gargantuan, fluffy and 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:36.920 incredible baby king penguin Pasto. I am so excited to 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:39.839 talk about these I really wanted to sort of have 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:44.239 a full discussion about Moodang, the internet sensation and what 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:48.800 is she, how does she function, why is she and 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:53.360 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 0:00:57.920 --> 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. 0:01:05.840 --> 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 --> 0:01:24.680 bigger and bigger. He's not going to stop until essentially 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:26.560 he is the size of a building. 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:30.440 Yeah. I told my husband it's like me having a 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:33.080 baby and it being six feet tall. Yes, that's what 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:33.959 it reminds me of. 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:37.840 It's wild, it's very wild. So, but first, I do 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:42.720 want to talk about moo Dang. You are familiar with Moodang, 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:44.240 I would presume. 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:48.360 Oh, my gosh, yes, obviously I'm obsessed with all of 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:51.480 the fat baby animals. There's a TikTok talker who does 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:55.240 the Nights of the rotund Table, which is all of 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:59.320 the fat baby animals that are at Zeus. And uh, yeah, 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:02.240 Moodang is like the King Arthur of the Knights of 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:02.800 the Road Hunt. 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:08.280 Yes, she's incredible, So let's let's talk about her first. 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:13.720 So Mooding, it's the internet's favorite juvenile pigmy hippo. Uh. 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:17.760 Pigmy hippos hail from West Africa. Let's talk about this 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:21.000 species a little bit before we talk about Moodan Specifically, 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:25.760 they are one of two living species within the hippo family. 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:28.520 The other is the common hippo, which is much larger. 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.160 That's the hippo we know in love. That's the one 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:39.079 that does the ballet in Fantasia. They are quite big now. 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:43.080 Adult pigmy hippos grow to be around four hundred to 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:45.200 six hundred pounds which is one hundred and eighty to 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:48.640 one hundred and seventy five kilograms, which sounds like a 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:52.640 lot maybe until you realize that common hippos average over 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:58.399 three thousand pounds. Oh my god, one five hundred kilograms. 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:00.079 Right, dainty. 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:04.840 Pigmy hippos are tiny compared to common hippos. Like the 0:03:04.960 --> 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 thou 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 0:03:21.840 --> 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 --> 0:03:29.880 tiny or they're just. 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:32.480 Like 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. 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:40.480 Yeah, that's probably. I love the idea of a little 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:44.280 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 --> 0:03:57.440 the cute little cousins of common hippos. They are similar 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:00.840 in some ways to the larger hippos. They are semi aquatic, 0:04:00.920 --> 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 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:10.880 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 --> 0:04:19.440 Moodang is very sassy, but contrary, she's not murderous. I 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:23.000 would say, like pygmy hippos are sassy. They will go 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:26.719 after you if they feel you are, you know, bringing 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:30.960 down the mood harshing their mellow, but they won't kill you. 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:33.640 I can't. I couldn't find a case of a pygmy 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:37.760 hippo over killing anyone, whereas common hippos regularly kill people. 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:40.880 They're very dangerous, they are very aggressive. 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:43.320 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 --> 0:04:54.640 animals on earth. They are far more dangerous than say, 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:58.599 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 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:14.640 not anyways, regardless, those are the three ones that cause 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:19.080 the most human deaths of of sort of animals, right, Like, 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:23.640 obviously bacteria and pathogens can cause more death. 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:26.280 That makes sense because those are prolific animals. 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:32.000 Yes, yes, so. And it's also like with mosquitos, it's 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:36.800 unintentional they carry disease. Dogs, it's rabies, uh and in 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:39.600 a lot of countries where there is not as much 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:43.120 of a successful campaign against rabies. And then snakes obviously 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:45.520 with their venom, they actually can cause a good number 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:49.480 of human deaths. But but you know, like common hippos 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:53.480 are up there, they are more dangerous than sharks, but 0:05:53.680 --> 0:05:56.240 they but pygmy hippos not so much. They are not 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:02.359 that aggressive. They will fight, 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 --> 0:06:30.120 during the day and then they come out at dusk 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:34.560 to feed. And so you know there they are overall 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:36.920 a bit more shy, a bit more introverted, a bit 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:40.960 more chill. And so the way I interpret mood Dang's 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:45.680 behavior is that she's annoyed at all the attention and 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:47.880 just wants to be left alone. 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.480 I get it relatable. I just want to chill in 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:53.400 a river and come out at night to feed. Like, yeah, 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:54.839 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 --> 0:07:03.000 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 0:07:23.360 --> 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 0:07:31.120 --> 0:07:35.400 was filled with dirty dishwater. So me smart took out 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:38.560 the u trap of the sink and I did put 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:40.880 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 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.840 fast because it was under pressure, and I did get 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:53.080 blasted with dirty dishwater. The bucket overflowed and I flooded 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:57.520 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, 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:03.280 but you do look like. 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:06.160 Me the most relatable in that moment. 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:10.120 Yeah, wet and mad? Yeah, uh so, yes she is. 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:13.320 I think that the fury of the little hippo is 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:14.400 very relatable. 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:17.840 And she's just always doing normal things and the zookeepers 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.080 are like bothering her. Like I saw one where she 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:22.960 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, 0:08:24.840 --> 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 --> 0:08:31.880 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 when I 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:39.200 was a kid. I would like to take cereal into 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:41.600 the bath, and sometimes the cereal would fall into the 0:08:41.600 --> 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 --> 0:08:50.760 Oh my god. I love eating in the bathtub, Like 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:53.360 I feel like that's good. It's such a hick thing 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:55.079 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 0:09:01.320 --> 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 --> 0:09:19.040 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 --> 0:09:23.680 at the edge of the tub, and I was willing 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:27.240 to like live dangerously and do that. And I remember 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:29.640 at Christmas once Bridgerton had just come out and I 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:33.600 was like in the bathtub watching Bridgerton. I had some 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:36.520 kind I think, like a bottle of sparkling wine and 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:39.439 some cheese. This is incredible. 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:43.080 I mean, this is the thing. Like, yes, mood dang 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:45.960 is highly relatable. We like to swim around in our 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:49.960 in some water, have food at 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 --> 0:10:00.280 habit that pigmy hippos share with common hippos is that 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:04.240 they like to do poop fan So they will poop 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:08.560 vigorously and then helicopter their tail and just spread the 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:12.079 dung around. And it's not that the like whole papers 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:14.600 have been written about exactly what they're trying to achieve 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:18.520 with this, like it's basically thought to be marking sort 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:22.720 of trails or territories, but it is just it's, you know, 0:10:22.880 --> 0:10:26.160 it's a pooh tornado that they like to produce. 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.679 That's great. I think I've seen videos of hippos and 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:32.160 zoos doing that and people being like horrified. 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:34.720 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, 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:42.880 people think this is terrifying. I'm gonna do it, yes, 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:46.560 like everybody check this out. All the chorists are. 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:49.720 Like, oh my god, no, yeah, they probably they probably 0:10:49.720 --> 0:10:51.440 get a kick out of it. They do sometimes do 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:54.640 it like at each other in the wild, not necessarily 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.559 pigmy hippos but common hippos, So there can be some 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:00.760 poop poop fan aggression going on. So I wouldn't be 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:04.880 surprised if sometimes it is used towards visitors to be like, hey, 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:06.040 get out of here. 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:08.520 Is poop fan the scientific name? 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:15.839 You know, it's not not scientific. So that is the 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:18.480 background on pygmy hippos. Let's talk a little bit more 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:22.400 about Moo Dang specifically. She was born in July of 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:26.400 this year, twenty twenty four. She's a juvenile pygmy hippo 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:31.160 living at Kao Ko Open Zoo in Thailand. Her antics 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:37.400 are looking perpetually annoyed and soaked in water. She has 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:42.400 two siblings, Nadette and Mutuan, though like the Baldwin brothers, 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:46.959 they are not as famous. So and my favorite thing 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:50.760 about her is that her name Moodang roughly translates to 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:52.040 bouncy pig. 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:54.560 Oh, that's so cute. 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:59.360 She really is that she is a bouncy pig. Yeah, 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:04.240 she looks like an overstuffed cushion. I love her. Her 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:07.920 popularity actually doubled the number of visitors to the zoo, 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:11.720 which can in some ways be good right, but in 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:15.160 other ways it's proved to be a challenge. Some of 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:17.960 these visitors took it upon themselves to try to harass 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:21.720 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 --> 0:12:28.679 receive a bite from Mudang, like just be like, all right, 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:34.240 you did this, you get bitten. Yeah, you receive if 0:12:34.240 --> 0:12:38.960 you if you violate Moodang's boundaries, you should be willing 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:41.920 to receive. Mudang's retribution is Mike. 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:44.080 I can't I can't even imagine what goes through a 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:47.640 person's head that makes them want to throw something, I mean, 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:51.600 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 --> 0:12:57.280 a reaction, probably to get like a photo or video 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:00.760 for social media, that would be my guess. But the 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:05.880 zoo has responded, I mean by definitely scolding people, but 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:09.120 also they become more protective of her, and they only 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:13.000 allow visitors like five minutes to gaze upon MoU Dang 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:18.400 other because like, she's just become so wildly popular and 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:21.760 they've got to protect her. And you know, but I 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:25.600 think it's a very interesting example of how weird animal 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:28.840 celebrity gets. You know. I love this little hippo, I 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:32.320 get it, she's adorable, but it's also a little concerning 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.800 sometimes because she is a wild animal, she's not gonna 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:40.040 appreciate or like the excess attention that she's actually getting 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:41.400 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 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:01.760 about how many babies they're having because of how much 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:03.320 money they can bring into the zoo. Like, I had 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:06.839 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 0:14:08.720 --> 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 0:14:15.160 --> 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 --> 0:14:27.479 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 0:14:31.280 --> 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, 0:14:41.360 --> 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 --> 0:14:56.280 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. 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:08.840 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 0:15:13.200 --> 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 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:35.800 you know usually rest in rivers during the day and 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:37.960 then at night is when they like at dusk is 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:41.640 when they come out to feed. So be getting that 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.920 much attention during the day, I wonder how much that 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:50.920 affects her stress and her health, right, Like, I just 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:55.840 hope that you know, she is being protected so that 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:59.120 she can stay moisturized in the lane. 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.320 Yeah, Like I was psyched to hear that they took 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:04.560 her off display except for five minutes a day, because 0:16:04.560 --> 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 --> 0:16:12.920 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 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:16.880 people can look upon her like. 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:20.640 Ye right, yeah, I think it might be five minutes 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:22.800 of visitor. Let me check on that, visitors. 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:24.480 I remember reading about that. 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:27.880 Oh no, it's you're right. It's like for only five minutes. 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.400 Visitors could see mooding for only five minutes on Saturdays 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:35.120 and Sundays. I think it might be on Saturdays and Sundays, 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:38.800 each visitor, like you know, like you're in a line 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.240 and basically you're ushered forward, so you only get about 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:43.880 five minutes to look at her. But it is it 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:46.080 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 --> 0:16:59.400 Yeah. 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:02.080 Sure, it's less stressful to have two people at a 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:03.360 time kind of staring at you. 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:06.960 Yeah yeah, uh yeah, yeah. I think it is really 0:17:06.960 --> 0:17:11.800 important to kind of balance the I mean, of course, 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:14.359 I don't blame anyone for wanting to see her in person. 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.040 I'd love to see her in person. Who wouldn't an 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:21.160 adorable little hippo. That's not necessarily the problem. It's that 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:23.919 we do need to balance sort of the fun of 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:26.440 it all, like, which is like, you know, I mean 0:17:26.560 --> 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 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:41.959 or a toy or you know, that she's anything other 0:17:42.000 --> 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 --> 0:17:55.760 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 --> 0:18:06.159 Now, I'm just thinking about those hippos and Fantasia, the 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:09.440 ballet hippos, and like, yeah, if they had to go 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:10.719 through dance moms. 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.119 Yeah, you don't want Moudang to go through what Jojo 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:14.840 Siba went through. 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:19.840 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 with 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 --> 0:18:30.680 take a quick break, and then, much to Lydia's delight, 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:32.920 we're gonna talk about Pesto the Penguin. 0:18:33.960 --> 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 --> 0:18:42.840 All right, so we are back, and Lendy, you actually 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.879 suggested this one to me. This is about Pesto the penguin. 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:50.440 What drew you towards this little penguin or probably shouldn't 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:51.280 say little penguin? 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:53.800 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 0:19:02.240 --> 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 --> 0:19:15.479 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 --> 0:19:21.600 of the adults. So it makes me picture, like I said, 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:24.840 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 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:30.960 and it makes me like smile and laugh every single time. 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.560 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 --> 0:19:39.399 do you do you want me to tell you. 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:42.600 What it is? Yeah? Tell me I can, Okay, all right. 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:45.119 I heard that his dad was like one of the 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:48.960 biggest king penguins ever in Captivity, and he was very 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:52.560 old and he passed away either pre Pesto's birth or 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:53.400 when he was very young. 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:54.560 Uh. 0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:58.480 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 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:07.880 of why he also looks so big is because he's 0:20:07.920 --> 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 --> 0:20:17.720 So he is like I thought. 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:19.679 I thought it was sus so I didn't google it 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:21.600 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 --> 0:20:32.000 largest penguins at the zoo. I don't know that his father, 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:38.239 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. 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:47.480 I'm not sure that these are these are I don't 0:20:47.480 --> 0:20:51.879 know if they're They might be gay penguins. There's I 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:56.119 would like, yeah, I believe so, Yes, I believe so 0:20:56.119 --> 0:21:01.680 so and but yeah, I don't know. I haven't really 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:05.080 seen anything specifically about the mother. I don't know that 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:07.720 the mothers actually died. I think it may just be 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:12.120 that the father's really old. Raising a penguin is kind 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:15.159 of a two penguin job, and so they wanted to 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:19.840 try out. They wanted to give this egg to Hudson 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:22.600 and Tango to raise, to see how that if that 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:26.280 would work out well, and it did work out really 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:29.800 really well. It worked out super well, well cared for. 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:36.160 So Pesto he's a juvenile king penguin, not an emperor penguin, 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:39.160 so we're not talking about happy feet here. Happy feet 0:21:39.200 --> 0:21:43.679 penguins are emperor penguins. King penguins are slightly smaller, so 0:21:44.320 --> 0:21:48.680 Pesto is enormous. He was hatched January twenty twenty four 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:54.119 at Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium, and like most baby penguins, 0:21:54.200 --> 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 0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:05.640 of that black, yellow and white coloration that you're familiar 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:09.439 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 --> 0:22:18.000 little thinner as they age, and then they'll molt and 0:22:18.040 --> 0:22:22.439 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 0:22:34.680 --> 0:22:40.240 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 --> 0:22:49.760 King Penguin twenty twenty four, Pesto weighed forty six pounds. 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:51.159 Lord almighty. 0:22:51.320 --> 0:22:54.440 Thirty five pounds is the average. He's forty six pounds 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:57.200 and he'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 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:04.399 a day. He's the largest baby king penguin in the 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:08.719 aquarium's history, and he's only getting bigger. Last time I checked, 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:12.200 it's looked like he was maybe fifty pounds at least. 0:23:14.000 --> 0:23:16.600 Yeah, every time he's on TikTok. You know, the search 0:23:16.640 --> 0:23:20.159 bar of TikTok has what everybody else is searching every 0:23:20.359 --> 0:23:23.719 single video of Pesto without fail. The search bar is 0:23:23.880 --> 0:23:27.160 why is Pasto so big? Why is Pasto so big? 0:23:27.200 --> 0:23:27.960 We need to know? 0:23:28.800 --> 0:23:31.720