Back in 2011 João Pereira De Souza came upon a penguin that happened to be on the beach of his home in Southeast Brazil.

The Magellanic penguin was drenched from head to toe in oil and was in desperate need of some TLC. De Souza undertook a mission of helping the little animal to recover by feeding it sardines and allowing him to rest until he would be able to have the strength to return to the wild.

But when it was time to return the no rehabilitated penguin back into the wild the retired bricklayer DeSouza witnessed the unexpected. The penguin later name Jin-Jin would have seen them separated. Despite the natural order of things, the grateful Jin-Jin had seemed to have fallen in love with his rescuer De Souza. Yet inevitably when Jin-Jin decided to swim away from his human friends home on the sea, he came swimming right back.

Ever since then, Jin-Jin the penguin has always returned. Sometimes he leaves for days, weeks, or even months, but when he has finished up with his penguin business he always finds himself right back home at De Souza’s side.

Jin-Jin loves his friend so much that he spends 8 months of the year with his rescuer and also has chosen not to travel the thousands of miles between the Magellanic penguins feeding grounds and Patagonia (which these types of penguins are known to do). Jin-Jin has become so close to his rescuer De Souza that he will even display what would seem like jealousy and will not let other animals even get close to his new best friend.

Isn’t it wonderful to see these wonderful bonds of friendship that we humans and animals are able to establish? If we throw away our tendencies of thinking about ourselves and focus on loving and lifting up the other beings that we share this world with, we will be able to strike up long lasting bonds and friendships with the unlikeliest beings.