The truth behind the story The penguin passed 8,000km every year to visit the benefactor.

One of the people who took part in the video of the Dindim penguin, which has crossed thousands of kilometers to visit the benefactor every year, spoke up about this story.

• Penguins swim 8,000km to visit life-saving benefactors

In the past days, the whole world was immersed in the real-life fairy tale "The penguin passed 8,000km every year to visit the benefactor".

The story is told that four years ago, Joao Pereira de Souza, a 71-year-old Brazilian fisherman, found the South American penguin Magellan covered by oil covering his body and starving to death on a beach outside the island. off Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

After being rescued by Mr. Pereira de Souza, this penguin has regularly swam 5,000-8,000km annually from living areas on the coast of Argentina and Chile to live for many months in the fisherman's house on the island. retire.

Over time, the bird became more and more intimate and regarded the old man fishing as a close member of his family.

Mr. Joao Pereira de Souza with Dindim penguin.

After reading this classic story, millions of people around the world were moved and named the story "The old fisherman and the penguin".

However, behind the fairy tale there are details that are not entirely true. On his Facebook page, biologist Joao Paulo Krajewski, who made the video of Joao Pereira de Souza and the penguin, posted a status message titled "The True Story of Dindim, the Winged Bird amputated from Ilha Grande, Brazil over thousands of kilometers to visit the benefactor every year ".

Krajewski said he once shared the story of Dindim for Globo TV, a media network in Brazil. Very quickly, after Globo was posted, the story was spread rapidly around the world."I am very happy when the story is spread around the world but I am also worried about the information that is not completely accurate when some articles have cited my words incorrectly , " said Krajewski.

"Dindim is a penguin rescued in May 2011 by João Pereira de Souza, from the waters of Provetá, Ilha Grande, and Rio de Janeiro. At that time, it was covered in oil and almost impossible to move. Joao then bathed and raised this penguin until, according to Joao's assessment, Dindim was healthy enough to go to the sea.

Joao took this penguin onto a boat, and went to a nearby island to release the bird. On the same day, Dindim returned to the backyard of Mr. Joao's house at Provetá beach and stayed there until February next year before going to the sea. In the following June, Dindim returned to Joao's home and made a fuss when he saw him, " Krajewski recounted the emotional story.

In fact, the story is always good as it is. However, the information of this bird over 8,000km to visit the benefactor every year is not completely accurate.

Biologist Krajewski explained: "Dindim was in Ilha Grande at the time when other Magellanic penguins were mating in Patagonia and some other islands in the South. Therefore, Dindim is unlikely to mate in elsewhere, as some newspapers have reported, when these penguins finish mating and molting, they migrate and spend months to feed on the sea. Dindim was rescued, biologists identified him as 6 years old and this is the age of adulthood. "

It was from these inferences that Mr. Krajewski said it was real for the penguin to return to visit the benefactor every year, but it was almost impossible to swim 8,000 km. Perhaps it just moved somewhere around Ilha Grande island where Mr. Joao lived.