On one particularly hot afternoon in Brazil, a man was driving down a rural road when he noticed a little armadillo standing in the middle of the street. The man, Cledson Matias de Oliveira, thought it seemed like the little fella was flagging his car down. Without a second thought, he pulled up his car to find out whether the tiny armored animal needed help.

Cledson has shared a video of the encounter with the adorable animal that soon went viral, with over 50k likes on YouTube. Scroll down below to watch it!

h/t: The Dodo

This adorable armadillo flagged down a car because he was thirsty

Image credits: Cledson Oliveira Matias

Talking to The Dodo about the encounter with the armadillo, Cledson said: “The armadillo stood as if he were asking for something. I believe he was asking for help. I immediately stopped the car, without thinking twice.”

As the day was a very hot one and the air was full of smoke due to the wildfires occurring in the region, Cledson was right to assume that the armadillo was thirsty. So he moved the animal away from the road, got some water from his car, and offered it to the adorable armored creature.

Luckily, a man was driving by and spotted the little guy

Image credits: Cledson Oliveira Matias

Sure enough, the kind man gave the armadillo some water

Image credits: Cledson Oliveira Matias

“He drank the water with great desire,” Cledson told the media. “He was really happy [that I stopped]. I could feel it at the moment,” he continued.

He added that normally, armadillos don’t let humans get close to them, so he believes that the animal understood that Cledson wanted to help him. “It was magical and unique,” the man said.

He was surprised by the calm nature of the animal

Image credits: Cledson Oliveira Matias

After quenching his thirst, the armadillo didn’t leave Cledson’s side for a while. The man believes it was the animal’s way of saying thank you and showing his trust. “It was very pleasant and gratifying,” Cledson told The Dodo about the magical experience.

As they usually don’t go that near to humans

Image credits: Cledson Oliveira Matias

The word “armadillo” comes from Spanish, where it means “little armored one.” Armadillos are the only living mammals that have this kind of armor. Out of the 20 existing varieties of the animal, all except for one live in South America. Funnily enough, when born, armadillos have soft leathery skin which hardens after only a few weeks.

These animals have very poor eyesight as well as hearing, so they rely on their strong sense of smell to hunt. In addition to this, the armadillos have fur on their underside that allows them to feel things they’re walking over—almost like cats’ whiskers!

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