Penguin travels 5,000 miles a year to see man that saved his life

A penguin travels 5,000 miles a year to spend time with the man who saved his life.

Four years ago, Joao Pereira de Souza, 71, found a South American Magellanic penguin covered in oil and starving on a beach on an island off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.

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He spent a week cleaning the animal's feathers in the shower and feeding him a diet of fish before trying to release him back into the wild.

But the penguin, who's been called Dindim, had formed a bond and didn't want to leave. Joao said he stayed with him for 11 months, and just after he changed his coat with new feathers he disappeared.

According to the Independent, Joao said: "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."

The species normally breeds on the Patagonia coasts of Argentina and Chile, three to five thousand miles away, but he returns to see Joao every year.

According to the Metro, Joao said: "I love the penguin like it's my own child and I believe the penguin loves me.

"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."

Biologist Joao Paulo Krajewski interviewed Mr Pereira de Souza for Globo TV, and told the Independent: "I have never seen anything like this before. I think the penguin believes Joao is part of his family and probably a penguin as well. When he sees him he wags his tail like a dog and honks with delight."

Penguins lives for around 25 years and stay with the same partner until they die.