Penguin Swims 8,000KM Every Year To See The Man Who Saved His Life

Penguins (order Sphenisciformes, family Spheniscidae) are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have evolved into flippers. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid and other forms of sealife caught while swimming underwater. They spend about half of their lives on land and half in the oceans.

Although all penguin species are native to the Southern Hemisphere, they are not found only in cold climates, such as Antarctica. In fact, only a few species of penguin live so far south. Several species are found in the temperate zone, and one species, the Galápagos penguin, lives near the equator.

It’s illegal for you to keep wild animals as pets in Brazil. But despite what the law may say, Dindim comes to live with his best friend, whom he met on the beaches of Brazil, every year since 2011.

“I love the penguin like it’s my own child and I believe the penguin loves me,” Joao told Globo TV. “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.” (h/t: independent)

71-year-old retired bricklayer and part time fisherman Joao Pereira de Souza found Dindim, a South American Magellanic penguin, covered in oil and close to death. When De Souza nursed him back to health, however, he found that Dindim didn’t want to leave; when he finally did, De Souza was surprised to see him return the next year, and the years following.