This is the cute moment an armadillo shivers as it warms itself up beside a rural worker’s campfire.
The footage was filmed by TikTok user ‘Rarra57’ in the Argentine province of La Pampa amid low temperatures, strong winds and snowfall throughout the South American nation.
La Pampa was one of a number of Argentine provinces to be issued a yellow alert for severe weather, with winds of up to 60 kilometres per hour (37 mph) and gusts exceeding 90 kilometres per hour (56 mph).
The video shows a typical morning in the Argentine countryside, with the rural worker, who filmed the clip, sitting by the campfire to warm himself up.
Credit: @rarra57/Newsflash
He zooms in on the unexpected visitor: a southern long-nosed armadillo sitting in front of the fire and shivering from the extreme cold.
The clip, which has since been viewed 851,900 times, melted netizens’ hearts with TikTok user Karina Andrea Alborn commenting: “How sweet!”
Others had a darker sense of humour, however, with netizen Omar Abalo commenting: “He’s already preparing the cooking pot.” (In parts of Central and South America, armadillo meat is eaten.)
The southern long-nosed armadillo (Dasypus hybridus) is found in southern Brazil, southern Paraguay, north-eastern Argentina, and most of Uruguay.
Individuals measure about 30 centimetres (12 in) in head-body length, with a tail around 17 centimetres (6.7 in) long. Both males and females weigh about two kilogrammes (4.4 lb).
It is a near-threatened species.
Animal warms at a beach fire in La Pampa in Argentina, in July 2021. 
Animal warms at a beach fire in La Pampa in Argentina, in July 2021.
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Story By: William McGee, Sub-Editor: James King, Agency: Newsflash
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