In 2011, a little Magellanic penguin found himself washed ashore, covered in oil and barely alive on a beach in Brazil. Lucky for him, retired bricklayer João Pereira de Souza spotted the little guy when he was taking his morning walk, according to Little Things. De Souza, 71 at the time he found the penguin, picked up the dying penguin and brought him home to try to help.
Cleaning off the little penguin he named Jingiing, de Souza fed him sardines that he got from the local fisherman when he went to town to pick up his social security check. Sardines, a good bath to remove the oil, and tender love and care was what Jingiing needed to return to health. And then came the time to return the little guy back to the ocean. But Jingiing wouldn't have anything to do with that.
Jingiing and de Souza would take long walks on the beach, swim in the ocean and both would then return to de Souza's tiny shack after any beach outing. Jingiing just wasn't going to leave the man who saved his life.
Magellanic penguins are considered threatened species as 20,000 adults and 22,000 juveniles every year are killed due to oil spills every year off of coastal Argentina, reported Little Things. They are also cold weather fans and live mostly around Patagonia, some 2,000 miles away from Jingiing's warm beach in Brazil.
When Jingiing finally started heading back into the ocean, he never stayed longer than 10 to 15 days, and always returns to his friend de Souza, according to White Wolf Pack. The local fisherman and residents consider the little quirky penguin the towns' mascot and enjoy watching his relationship with the now 75-year-old de Souza, a friendship that harkens back to March 2011, but continues stong today. And with Magellanic penguins' life spans being around 20 years, the friendship will continue for years to come.
Mery Alves de Souza, daughter of de Souza who lives just six hours away in Rio de Janeiro, says they cannot persuade him to visit his family, according to the Wall Street Journal, as he worries too much about Jingiing not getting enough to eat.
"We call him and tell him to come visit and he says, 'OK, OK,' " said Mery. "But then he doesn't. It's like a son to him."
