Once upon a time, there was a penguin. And a man. Their incredible bond has become known around the world.
This is the amazing story of Dindim (pronounced jin-jin), the Magellanic penguin, and a Brazilian fisherman called João Pereira de Souza.
The two met by accident when de Souza found the penguin alone, stranded, and in distress. He helped the penguin, who never forgot his kindness.
Magellanic Penguins
The Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus Magellanicus) lives in the warm waters off the coast of South America.
In winter, these birds form vast breeding colonies on the coast of Patagonia. In the summer, they migrate north to feed off the coast of Brazil and Uruguay.
An adult Magellanic penguin may be over two feet tall (males are a little taller than females). They can live up to 25 years, and a notable feature of this species is their loyalty. Once they have chosen a breeding partner, they will return to the same mate, year after year.
These penguins are able to recognize one another by call alone. In colonies of hundreds of thousands of birds, each penguin finds its partner by listening for his or her call. These birds share childcare duties, raising chicks together until they reach adulthood.
This is not an endangered species, but increasing numbers of these penguins are at risk. Climate change makes it harder for them to find food. Oil spills from commercial shipping wipe out large numbers of Magellanic penguins every year.
João Pereira de Souza
In 2011 João Pereira de Souza was 71-years-old. He lived in a makeshift home near the beach in Praia de Provetá on the island of Ilha Grande.
The island lies ten miles off the Brazilian coast, around 70 miles west of the city of Rio De Janeiro.
The island is a beautiful and idyllic place, covered in verdant Atlantic rainforests crossed by only a few walking trails. No motor vehicles are permitted here, and the island receives only a handful of visitors each year.
Although its name means “Big Island,” Ilha Grande comprises just 75 square miles. The only large town, Vila do Abraão, is home to fewer than 2,000 people.
What the island does have is abundant wildlife – in 2019, this island was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
To the few visitors who come here, it seems a wonderfully unspoiled place. For its permanent residents, life can be tough, with few jobs and little infrastructure. Many, like de Souza, live in comparative poverty.
João Pereira de Souza had worked as a bricklayer, but by 2011 he was retired. He struggled to live on his meager pension. Like many people on the island, he supplemented his pension by fishing.
The First Encounter
In May 2011, João Pereira de Souza took his boat out on a fishing trip. When he landed back at Praia de Provetá, he noticed something moving on the sand. When he looked closely, he saw that it was a tiny penguin covered in oil.
He took the distressed bird back to his home and carefully cleaned off the oil. He offered it some of the sardines he had caught, and it eagerly ate them. After a week, the penguin, which he named Dindim, seemed to have recovered.
The next time he took his boat out, he brought the penguin with him. He released it close to one of the many smaller islands that surround Ilha Grande. To his delight, it swam confidently off towards the island.
De Souza returned to his home later that day. As he approached, he heard a familiar honking from his backyard. Somehow, Dindin had found his way back to the nest de Souza had built for him.
The penguin was clearly eager to share the day’s catch. Equally obviously, Dindim wasn’t ready yet to return to the wild. De Souza allowed the bird to remain in his backyard, feeding it regularly.
Dindim quickly settled into life in Praia de Provetá. It would greet de Souza loudly each time he returned home, and it played with his dog. It was affectionate, often coming into his small house to be close to him.
This continued for almost ten months, until February 2012. By that time, Dindim was almost fully grown and had his adult feathers. De Souza decided that it was time to try releasing the penguin a second time.
He released Dindim from his boat. This time, the penguin swam off, and it didn’t return. De Souza missed his penguin friend, but he was happy to imagine Dindim living in the wild with other penguins.
In June 2012, de Souza returned to his home from another fishing trip. As he entered his backyard, he was greeted with familiar excited honking. Dindim was back!
The Return
For the next few months, Dindim once again took up residence in his nest in de Souza’s backyard.
He wasn’t kept as a pet – the yard was only partially fenced, and Dindim had access to the beach. He would swim and catch his own food, but he returned every evening to the same nest.
It was clear that Dindim and de Souza had a very special relationship. Each time the penguin saw de Souza, it would honk and wag its tail. This is something that Magellanic penguins generally only do when they see their mate.
Dindim would also gently touch de Souza’s face with his beak. Again, this is typical mate behavior seen when penguins clean each other.
The Boomerang Penguin
Over the next few years, Dindim settled into a familiar pattern. He would stay in his nest in de Souza’s backyard during the winter. In the summer, for several months, he would join the other Magellanic penguins that had migrated north to feed.
As winter approached, the other penguins would leave the coast of Brazil and travel south to Patagonia to breed. Dindim would return to his nest in de Souza’s backyard in Praia de Provetá.
This had been going on for four years when a Brazilian television station, Rede Globo de Televisão, heard about Dindin. They sent a natural history documentary maker, João Paulo Krajewski, to Ilha Grande to cover the story.
Dindim Goes Viral
The story of de Souza and Dindim was broadcast on Brazilian television. Before long, it became an internet video and was viewed by tens of thousands of people. All were interested in learning more about the story.
By 2016, Dindim and de Souza were known around the world. In 2020, an illustrated children’s book, An Old Man and His Penguin, was published. This told the story of Dindin and de Souza.
In 2024, this story was made into a movie, My Penguin Friend. The movie was filmed on the beaches of Brazil and amongst the colonies of millions of penguins in Patagonia. It starred French actor Jean Reno in the role of João Pereira de Souza.
Both the children’s book and the movie implied that the friendship between de Souza and Dindim was for life.
Sadly, that wasn’t entirely true. Just as the story of Dindim was becoming known around the world, he stopped returning to Praia de Provetá.
By that time, Dindim must have been around six years old. That is the point at which Magellanic penguins reach maturity. It seems likely that, instead of returning to Brazil, Dindim went south to Patagonia with the other penguins to breed.
Conclusion
The story of Dindim and João Pereira de Souza became known around the world thanks to the internet.
However, many accounts are filled with errors. One of the most common claims is that Dindim went to Patagonia each summer before returning to Praia de Provetá.
That would have involved a journey of thousands of miles in each direction, a “fact” included in many accounts.
The truth is that Magellanic penguins only travel south to Patagonia in the winter to breed. In the summer, they feed in the warm waters of South America.
When Dindim left each summer, he was almost certainly meeting with millions of his kind. But that would have taken place off the coast of Brazil, not thousands of miles to the south.
Some accounts claim that Dindim was fitted with a tracking device. That is also untrue. When the team from Globo Television visited Ilha Grande, Dindim was fitted with a tag.
When he returned the next year, he was still wearing the tag. This proved that it really was the same penguin returning each year. But it gave no clue as to where he went each summer.
As far as we know, Dindim hasn’t returned to Praia de Provetá since 2016. Hopefully, that’s because Dindin now has a penguin mate. The latest update, from 2021, reports that João Pereira de Souza is still looking for his penguin friend.
But that doesn’t affect the heart of this story. For five years, a young penguin forged a relationship with a human. During that time, he chose to return to his nest in de Souza’s backyard each year.
This is a truly wonderful story about the power of human kindness. And the loyalty of a young penguin in recognizing and accepting that kindness.
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