The story of a penguin who always returns to his human friend
ILHA GRANDE, BRAZIL – SEPTEMBER 05: Penguin Dindim is petted by retired bricklayer Joao Pereira de Souza in the village of Proveta on September 05, 2016 on Ilha Grande island, Brazil. According to former mason Pereira de Souza and local residents, Penguin Dindim has been swimming thousands of kilometers each year from Patagonia to the Ilha Grande in order to meet Pereira de Souza, who saved him from death in 2011. PHOTOGRAPH BY Picture-Alliance / Barcroft Images London-T:+44 207 033 1031 E:hello@barcroftmedia.com – New York-T:+1 212 796 2458 E:hello@barcroftusa.com – New Delhi-T:+91 11 4053 2429 E:hello@barcroftindia.com www.barcroftmedia.com
João Pereira de Souza found a dying penguin on a Brazilian beach that was almost entirely covered in oil slicks. He brought the penguin to his house, washed it, and fed it fish. The man then tried several times to send it into the ocean, taking it far from land in a boat, but it kept coming back to shore.
And it was only a few weeks after the penguin had finally matured, he decided to swim to his native pens.
Such an interesting friendship has not gone unnoticed by the residents of the town of Jingjing, which is located near the beach. João’s walks with the penguin have already become the norm for all the inhabitants of the town, who call the penguin his adopted son.
Usually de Souza walks along the beach and the penguin walks with him on the sand or swims beside him. And when his “adopted son” swims far away, all the man has to do is call out his own name, “Joaaaaao,” and the penguin swims back. Joao says he has never seen a penguin so close to a human before.
“He stayed with me for 11 months and then, just after he changed his coat with new feathers, he disappeared,” de Souza told Globo TV in Brazil, as The Independent reported.
“Every year it’s the same story, everyone says he won’t come back, but every year he does and he becomes more affectionate as he appears even happier to see me,” Joao finished.
