Dogs may be known as man's best friend, but for one Brazilian man, a patagonian penguin holds this title.
In 2011, Joao Pereira De Souza, 71, saved a penguin he found covered in oil on a beach in Brazil. After nursing the bird back to health, he attempted to release him back into the wild, but according to De Souza, he didn't want to go.
"He wouldn’t leave, he stayed with me for 11 months and then just after he changed his coat with new feathers he disappeared,” De Souza said in an interview with The Independent.
Surprisingly, the penguin named Jingjing never forgot De Souza and has returned to the remote island of Ilha Grande to visit him every year since he was saved.
"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,” De Souza told the paper.
In the video above, originally posted in October by the Wall Street Journal, we learn more about this adorable duo.
Jingjing is a South American Magellanic penguin which are often found around the Falkland Islands and South America.
Biologists believe Jingjing swims 8,000 kilometers each year to visit his BFF.
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