‘Waiting for you here, day and night’: Penguin swims 5000 miles each year to reunite with old friend who saved him

Every day, we meet countless strangers, but only those who leave an unforgettable impact on us become an integral part of our lives. We might not meet them regularly, but their memory keeps us grounded, overwhelming us with love and respect. Just like humans, animals, too, remember those who have ever helped them during challenging times. This profound truth is highlighted when Dindim, a Magellanic penguin, swims 5000 miles every year to reunite with an old friend — a retired bricklayer — who once saved him. This dates back to May 2011, when João Pereira de Souza rescued the injured penguin who was covered in oil, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, as reported by CNN.

Noticing the penguin in distress, Pereira de Souza immediately took him under his care. After nurturing him for days, when the man was sure that Dindim was ready to be released back into his natural environment, he took Dindim on a boat and released him on a nearby island. However, by then, the penguin was already in love with his rescuer. The very same day, he appeared at Pereira de Souza's residence in Provetá beach, and stayed there till February, next year, before returning to the sea. According to João Paulo Krajewski, a biologist and the first to cover this incredible story, Dindim returned to his human companion again in June of the same year, releasing several vocal calls upon seeing him.

Since then, this has been the penguin's ritual — returning to Pereira de Souza's residence to pay his annual gratitude, with the rescuer awaiting their reunion. Further, Krajewski shared how Magellanic penguins are loyal to their partners, and wrote, "This site and partner fidelity certainly facilitated the development of the relationship between Dindim and Mr. Joao. The relationship was created by the accident suffered by Dindim and by João having rescued him. The penguin Dindim certainly displays this same loyalty by changing the usual nesting site of the species by the place where it was rescued and fed in Brazil. His rescuer, Mr João, is now like family to him," in his Facebook post.

Interestingly, while no one knows where Dindim goes after meeting his favorite human, Krajewski revealed that he sleeps in Pereira de Souza's partially fenced backyard, which is connected to the beach, since the possibility of street dogs attacking the penguin there is high. In March of the same year, scientists tagged the penguin to be able to verify whether it was the same one that kept coming back. Indeed, it was. However, it has been a couple of years since Pereira de Souza last caught a glimpse of his eternal friend. Still waiting by the shore, he hopes Dindim is busy playing with friends, soon to come home. Towards the end of the book, 'An Old Man and His Penguin,' which is based on this real-life story, Alayne Kay Christian writes, “Like João, I dream about Dindim. I imagine that he goes to the sea to be with other penguins and one day, he will return with his children to meet their human grandfather.