The penguin swims more than 8 thousand kilometers every year to meet his savior

72-year-old retired bricklayer Joao Pereira, now moonlighting as a fisherman, has been coming to the beach near Rio de Janeiro every June for several years, sits down on the sand and squints his eyes that have lost their former strength. The old man is waiting, peering into the choppy water, when his penguin Dean-Dim will come to him.

In 2011, Joao accidentally discovered a Magellan penguin dying of hunger on the shore, covered with oil and fuel oil. The old man took the penguin to his house, went out and called him Dean-Dim. It took a whole week to clean the rare feathers from oil residues. Every day Joao fed the penguin fish to gain strength. And when Ding-Dim recovered, the old man had no choice but to release the bird into the wild and get used to the idea that he would never see his new friend again.

What was the fisherman's surprise when, a few months later, Din-Dim returned to the island and, recognizing his savior, went home with him. Now the penguin spends 8 months of the year with Joao, and the rest of the time, the breeding season, he lives on the shores of Argentina and Chile. And in order to see old Joao, the penguin Ding-Dim swims 8046 kilometers every year.

This is an incredible story of friendship between a Brazilian and a penguin he saved.

The penguin Ding-Dim swims a great distance to be near his friend. This behavior shows that the bird really likes to spend time with Joao.

Joao himself said that he loves the penguin very much, treats him like his own child and believes that the bird loves him the same way.

The old man says that Dean-Dim only lets him in. Other people also tried to approach him, but in response the bird pecked them.

The penguin likes to lie on Joao's lap, allows the fisherman to wash him and take him in his arms.

Every year the penguin arrives in June and departs in February. The biologist who interviewed Joao said he had never seen anything like it. It seems that the penguin believes that the old man is his family, and maybe the penguin.

When Ding-Dim sees Joao, he starts wagging his tail like a dog and making joyful sounds.

The distance that the penguin swims every year.