A penguin named Dindim swims 8000km every year to be reunited with the man who saved his life.

Joao Pereira de Souza, 71, discovered the bird covered in oil and close to death on a beach near his island village outside Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2011.

The retired bricklayer and part time fisherman cleaned Dindim's feathers and fed him daily until he was healthy enough to return to the wild.

But the penguin refused to leave.

In an interview with TV Globo, Mr de Souza snuggles with Dindim as he reveals the bird spends eight months of the year with him, the rest of his time believed to be spent breeding off the coast of Argentina and Chile.

"I love the penguin like it's my own child and I believe the penguin loves me," Mr de Souza says.

"No one else is allowed to touch him. He pecks them if they do.

"He lays on my lap, lets me give him showers, allows me to feed him sardines and to pick him up."

Biologist Professor Krajewski, who interviewed Mr de Souza, said he had never encountered a relationship as unique.

"I think the penguin believes Joao is part of his family and probably a penguin as well," he told The Independent .