It is the story of a South American Magellanic penguin that has struck an unlikely friendship with a Brazilian pensioner and swims 8000 kms each year to reunite with him who saved its life four years ago.

Retired bricklayer and part time fisherman – Joao Pereira de Souza, 71, lives in an island village, just outside Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Back in 2011, he found the tiny penguin covered in oil and close to death, lying on rocks on his local beach. The man took the helpless animal into his home at the shore, cleaned him up and fed him a diet of fish to build his strength. After nursing him back to health, Pereira also named the South American Magellanic penguin as ‘Dindim.’

But that wasn’t the end of the story. After a week, when he tried to release the penguin back into the sea,  it refused to leave Pereira’s side. ‘He stayed with me for 11 months and then, just after he changed his coat with new feathers, he disappeared,’ Joao recalls.

What happened the very next year will definitely stir up your emotions. Dindim swam for over 8000 kilometers to meet Pereira in Brazil. And this happens every year. Dindim, during his (migration) pilgrimage, stops by where Pereira lives.

‘Everyone said he wouldn’t return but he has been coming back to visit me for the past four years. He arrives in June and leaves to go home in February and every year he becomes more affectionate as he appears even happier to see me,’ Pereira said in an interview, adding, ‘I love the penguin like it’s my own child and I believe the penguin loves me. When he sees me, he wags his tail like a dog and honks with delight.’

‘No one else is allowed to touch him. He pecks them if they do. He lays on my lap, lets me give him showers, allows me to feed him sardines and to pick him up,’ Pereira said.

South America Magellanic Penguins are known to breed on the coasts of Chile and Argentina. They migrate as far north as Brazil, so Dindim’s behaviour isn’t completely surprising. However, Dindim’s heartwarming gesture of stopping by where his saviour resides, is an insight into the highly intelligent and affectionate creatures.

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Such a beautiful story! Once you help an animal, it will never forget the profound love you shared with it. We think that animals don’t take notice, but they do; in their own way.