37 years ago, a Turkish man named Recep Mirzan was walking with a group of friends when they encountered a swan in an empty field. Mirzan immediately took the female swan, who was suffering from a broken wing, back to his home. Ever since then, the swan – named Garip, which means “bizarre” – has lived with Mirzan on his farm near Greece. The two quickly became inseparable; Garip follows Mirzan around as he does chores on his farm, and is friends with all the animals.

Mirzan, a widower with no children, says he considers the swan his child. Garip’s 37-year period with Mirzan is remarkable as well; swans generally don’t live longer than 12 years in the wild, and typically only manage around 30 in captivity.