(Photo: Globo TV)
5 years ago, Joao Pereira de Souza, 71, of Brazil found a penguin lying on the beach near his home near Rio de Janeiro. He was covered with oil and severely malnourished. So de Souza took him home, cleaned his feathers, and nursed him back to health. He named his new penguin friend Dindim.
After Dindim had recovered, de Souza took him back out to the beach to let him go. The penguin swam away. Then, a few months later, he came back! Now Dindim swims about 5,000 miles every year from his habitat on the southern tip of South America to spend time with de Souza. The Daily Mail reports:
He was astonished when, just a few months later, the penguin returned to the island where he recognised Mr de Souza and returned home with him.
Now, Dindim spends eight months of the year with Mr de Souza and spends the rest of his time breeding off the coast of Argentina and Chile. […]
'But he wouldn't leave, he stayed with me for 11 months and then just after he changed his coat with new feathers he disappeared,' recalled the retired builder. '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.'
-via Jackie Rivera and Marilyn Bellamy