
Penguin travels every year to visit man who rescued him (2016) - colinprince
https://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/dindim-o-lindo-pinguim-1.3487668
======
Memosyne
When I was a child, a school teacher showed me this hoax video of flying
penguins:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dfWzp7rYR4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dfWzp7rYR4).

Unfortunately, for a brief period of my childhood, I was under the assumption
that penguins could indeed fly. By the time I had uncovered my teacher's
subterfuge, I had already made a fool of myself by publicly positing that such
penguins existed.

Admittedly, my teacher was only playing a prank on me -- but ever since that
incident I have been distrustful of penguins. I genuinely hope that one day I
can overcome this irrational view and appreciate the flightless birds.

~~~
seszett
In French, "pingouin" is the name for a flying bird[0] though very few people
know it and most mix up pingouins (auks) with manchots (penguins, literally
"armless"). Saying that penguins can fly is technically correct but people
will laugh at you unless you are prepared to spend a long time explaining it.

I think it's a shame that a teacher would mislead a child the way yours did.

Having worked with penguins (the flightless ones) though, I have to say that
while they are funny they didn't strike me as the most interesting or
intelligent birds ever. I was quite disappointed, they regularly die by
getting stuck in seaweed lying on the beach, and just keeping trying to walk
straight until they get exhausted and fall. You get more meaningful
interaction with a crow or even a common blackbird.

[0][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razorbill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razorbill)

~~~
droithomme
> I think it's a shame that a teacher would mislead a child the way yours did.

I had a really good teacher who would sometimes tell us particularly absurd
things to see if we would figure it out and contradict her. When we did she
would remind us that we should think for ourselves and not accept at face
value claims just because they were presented by an authority figure.

~~~
stallmanite
I do this with my son all the time to see if he’s listening / get him to think
critically. I always let him know if he doesn’t catch on though so he’s not
misinformed.

------
tzs
> It's technically illegal to have a wild animal as a pet in Brazil, as
> officials want to ensure vulnerable creatures don't get separated from their
> families and that they can be reintroduced into the wild after injury.

Same where I am. I've wondered, though. What constitutes a pet?

For example, I give peanuts to the wild squirrels around my house. This is not
illegal where I live. It is illegal, however, to keep a wild squirrel as a
pet.

Several of the squirrels seem to recognize me, and run up to me when I go out,
get up on their hind legs, and wave their front paws around in a gesture that
looks like they are asking for peanuts.

I'm pretty sure some of them would come inside to get their peanuts if I
opened the front door but did not go outside. From there I could probably
train them to essentially be pets [1].

But would they legally be pets, and therefore illegal, if they were free to
come and go at will? Or would they simply be wild animals coming into human
space, which happens to be controlled by a human who isn't going to make them
leave?

A co-worker had a similar situation with a raccoon. He was giving her food,
and she got more and more comfortable with him, to the point she would come
right up, and peacefully accept food and petting. She even brought her babies
by apparently to show them to him.

Was he legally keeping a pet raccoon?

[1] I don't actually want squirrels in my house. In fact, I've done some
looking into squirrel traps in case one does come in and I need to get it out.
That almost happened a couple of times when I was tossing peanuts from the
door, and one squirrel startled another from behind, causing the first
squirrel to dash forward right toward my door.

~~~
codezero
I'm going to say something that people probably won't want to hear, but I hope
to justify it and convince others of it as well.

Don't feed wild animals.

The difference between a pet, and a wild animal is that a pet owner takes
responsibility for the wellbeing and actions of a pet.

Feeding wild animals is detrimental to their wellbeing. They become accustomed
to people, and not all people are nice to animals. You won't always live
there, and they may come to depend on your good will. Also, you very likely
don't know what their necessary macronutrients are, and they may very well
remove a large portion of their natural nutrients to just eat peanuts, or
bread, or what ever you're feeding them. This is also probably not healthy for
them.

They also suppress their natural instinct, which can get them killed in a
number of ways, whether it's by doing riskier things, like crossing a street
more often to get to the source of free food, or by behaving in a way that
makes it easier for predators to prey on them.

If you've been to a national park in the US, you might have noticed how
accustomed squirrels and some other animals are to people. This isn't because
one person feeds them, but because a few people of the many feed them, and
it's enough to change their behavior. Nobody takes responsibility for the
consequences of this, so I think people should blanket avoid doing it.

To be clear, feeding animals doesn't make you a bad person, I'm not trying to
condemn anyone, if anything it shows a lot of empathy, but I also think it is
short sighted.

If an animal is in distress, there are tons of resources, at least in the US
to help. I've saved a crow and a seagull, and taken them to wild animal rescue
centers, and I encourage others to do the same.

If you're in the Bay Area, I highly recommend both visiting Lindsay Wildlife
Rehabilitation Hospital, and considering it if you find an animal in distress:
[https://lindsaywildlife.org/](https://lindsaywildlife.org/)

You can also usually contact the Human Society, or search, there are a lot of
independent operators, I took the seagull I found to Native Animal Rescue in
Santa Cruz:
[https://www.nativeanimalrescue.org](https://www.nativeanimalrescue.org)

~~~
joshschreuder
I thought it was quite common to see signs up telling people not to feed wild
animals, particularly in very populated areas like city parks?

I'm guessing it is fairly common knowledge already and not that unpopular of a
statement for you to say.

With that said, it is fun to feed animals, so I can understand the appeal. We
used to take loaves of stale bread and feed the ducks down by the lake growing
up.

~~~
paranoidrobot
There are those signs.

There's also plenty of advice from wildlife experts not to feed wild animals.
The exception being that it's ok to have a garden which contains food
providing trees/shrubs/etc.

But people get offended when you tell them to stop doing it - "Oh, it's no
harm, it's just a bit of fun".

You get a similar response when you tell people they're assholes for letting
their cats roam - despite cats being massive killers of wildlife.

------
airstrike
This is the most heartwarming thing I've read in a long time! It's like a
real-life Pixar short. I know I will come back to this article many times in
the future. Thank you very much for sharing.

"Dindim" is a slang for money in Brazil, but in a very cute way. "Money" is
"dinheiro" in Portuguese so Dindim is like saying the first part of the word
twice.

~~~
sls
reduplication[1], in case you find that sort of thing interesting. Almost
exact reduplication, bar the ending - is ending in -in or -din allowed in
Brazilian Portuguese?

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduplication](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduplication)

~~~
airstrike
Words can't end in "n" in Portuguese (Brazilian or otherwise), so the "n" is
replaced with an "m" with very few exceptions like pólen (polen). It's worth
noting that in Portuguese we don't pronounce the ending "m" or "n" for that
matter. In other words, your lips don't touch at the end of "dindim". Both the
"n" and the "m" in that word only serve to turn the short i into a nasal i.
Try pronouncing the word "inn" without letting your tongue move at all and
you'll get the idea, if you're not familiar with the sound.

"N"s also can't come before "P" or "B", in which case they also get replaced
by "m". This is true in Spanish as well, though the first rule isn't.

~~~
sls
makes sense, so it's really exact reduplication, but represented with the
orthographic constraints you describe. thanks :)

------
rurp
When I was a kid my family raised three young kestrels (small birds of prey
that look like a hawk) who had lost their mother. They had an outdoor
enclosure and we did not handle them much, but they understandably got
attached.

Once we released them, they stayed in the area and would often swoop out of
the sky and land on my head. It gave visiting neighbors and friends quite a
surprise! We gradually saw less of the birds as they ventured farther out and
eventually they moved on completely.

~~~
grimgrin
what'd it feel like to have the bird land on your head?

were you wearing a hat?

~~~
rurp
I didn't wear a hat and could feel their talons gripping/pulling my hair. It
was only slightly uncomfortable, they seemed pretty concious of not causing
any harm. I did have the sense that it would really suck if they did clamp
down hard.

------
pmarreck
To forgive the tautology, intelligent creatures are intelligent. Which also
means that love is possible. I mean... every person who's ever had a pet (of
any sort) understands this (as I stare at the photo of my recently-deceased
and very-charismatic cat). It may not fit into any naturalistic model that
clearly separates humans from these other intelligent creatures (and ascribes
all perception of humanlike feeling to "anthropomorphism"), but nevertheless,
that is how I believe it is. They play, they feel pain, they get bored, they
get hungry, they get (ahem) horny, they get excited/happy, they love (perhaps
dimmer versions than the ones we're familiar with, but anyway). Sometimes my
cat would make sounds in the dark of night that sounded like... ennui.

If anything actually separates us from the animals, it's not these things-
it's things like music appreciation or creativity. All the other experiential
things we're familiar with seem to be shared with them.

(And yet... I continue to eat bacon. sigh. I've met pigs that were clearly
happy to see a friendly face of any species... haunts me, actually.)

~~~
uhtred
How can you continue to eat other animals if you feel the way you do about
other animals?

~~~
airstrike
Because at the end of the day I have to eat and meat is a fantastic source of
nutrients, many of which aren't found in a vegan diet like heme-iron.

~~~
pmarreck
FWIW I tried their Impossible Burger and it was amazingly spot-on, flavor and
looks and texturewise.

But you are correct about the other criticisms/concerns about vegan diets in
your child comment (I responded to this one because HN apparently limits you
to 4 or so levels' deep commenting)

EDIT: Now the ability to reply to that one has returned. Not sure why that
happened, but whatever... leaving this here

~~~
erikig
Wait till you try Impossible Burger 2.0...OMG

~~~
pmarreck
holy shit, this is literally hot off the presses as of 2 days ago. Thanks for
the heads-up!!

[https://medium.com/impossible-foods/how-we-know-youll-
like-v...](https://medium.com/impossible-foods/how-we-know-youll-like-very-
much-the-new-impossible-burger-3d841683cec1)

------
erikig
Dindim goes off for months at a time,

swimming thousands of miles,

avoiding predators,

encountering other penguins,

better looking and more interesting penguins,

but in his mind there's a picture of a man,

and a location,

from many years ago,

that he feels compelled to return to,

every year.

I got a little teary thinking about this.

~~~
reecestart
Given he was found in 2011 and Magellanic penguins live to about 20 years of
age[1] he's at least half-way through his lifespan, maybe longer. Couple that
with de Souza's age and soon enough there'll be a time when they go to meet
and one or the other won't be there.

[1] [http://www.penguins.cl/magellanic-
penguins.htm](http://www.penguins.cl/magellanic-penguins.htm)

~~~
adolfojp
Why did you do this to me?

------
agumonkey
We have to eat.. but if we hadn't I'd be happy never have to harm another
living form. It's how nature is built .. but still.

~~~
WalterSear
I've been vegan 20 years. Big, socially-censured changes can seem daunting,
but anyone who says you can't eat well, and easily, is fooling themselves.

You either live your values, or come to terms with being part of what you
don't like about the world.

~~~
agumonkey
Not what I was saying. Eating meat is natural, it's been for cosmic ages, and
to an extent I have no issue with that. The mass globalized consumption does
bother me. I reduce my consumption. I might try vegan but I'll surely miss all
the meat based products. Maybe I'll find a middle point by breeding, killing
producing it myself so at least I did it on my own, think what you want,
there's a form of respect in that. I don't think I will enjoy 100% vegan.
Another option is synthetic meat, we'll see.

~~~
fnovd
>Eating meat is natural

Relieving yourself outdoors is natural, and we've been doing it for ages.
Killing intraspecies rivals/competitors is natural, and we've been doing it
for ages. Dying of a preventable disease is natural, and we've been doing it
for ages. I don't think we should base our behavior off naturalistic
fallacies.

Is eating meat better for your health than abstaining? Usually not. Is eating
meat better for the environment? Usually not. It's very easy to just eat meat
and dismiss veganism as impractical because that's the socially dominant
position to have.

It's easier than ever to transition to a more vegan diet. There are hundreds
of replacement products to ease your transition if it's something you care
about. There are ethical, environmental, and health-conscious reasons to
reduce or eliminate meat consumption. Conversely, many arguments for eating
meat are just appeals to tradition or appeals to nature. The industrial
production of meat, which is universally detested, actually supplies the vast
majority of meat consumed in the US.

~~~
mensetmanusman
Our political and cultural system is largely based on the naturalistic
fallicy, one can't blame people too much for following it.

~~~
perfmode
Your comment is an appeal to tradition meant to justify a different appeal to
tradition. How interesting.

------
test9753
Video of the penguin & the man:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oks2R4LqWtE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oks2R4LqWtE)

------
mark_l_watson
Great story. Birds can be intelligent interesting animals. (I have a pet
parrot who I dote on - my favorite pet ever. Got him as a baby from a local
breeder 15 years ago and he is still a young bird.)

------
Johnny555
This makes me feel sad for one of them when the other one inevitably dies and
can't make the meet up.

~~~
pepeye
That's life unfortunately, just have to learn to deal with it.

~~~
Johnny555
Maybe that's your life, just soldier on no matter what life throws at you, but
in my life, it's ok to feel sad about sad things since that's how humans deal
with them.

------
jackpeterfletch
Is it possible the penguin thinks this is his mate?

~~~
karlshea
> He believes that Dindim now interprets Proveta as his home, and imprinted on
> the 71-year-old, whom Dindim sees as a partner. For reasons like these, most
> professionals try to avoid this circumstance.

~~~
agumonkey
some penguins were said to be lifelong partners..

------
soniaplants
so cute

------
firefoxd
Animalus Anthropomorphicus, "the animal as seen through the human eyes."

I think Dindim has found a source of free food. Although it's a win win
because who doesn't want to be visited by a penguin.

~~~
anigbrowl
I find the people quickest to go on about anthropomorphism tend to have the
least experience with animals. When you think about it.'s quite the
intellectual conceit to assume you fully understand the decision-making of
another creature and that it is entirely dependent on food. Reminds me of
certain economic ideologues who insist everyone, whether they know it or not,
is motivated by money and self-advancement.

~~~
foxyv
It takes some serious introspection to see the similarities between ourselves
and the other animals around us. At the same time we have trouble
understanding the motivations and thinking of other human beings, much less a
wildly different creature like a bird or a snake.

I can see why some people just stick their fingers in their ears and think of
non-human animals as "Things" rather than thinking beings. Otherwise the world
is far more terrible and cruel than bears thinking about.

~~~
icebraining
There are small children dying right now for no other reason than some people
wanting to make some money. If one can, say, enjoy a movie while knowing
_that_ , why would one have to think of non-human animals as "things"?

