This little octopus was dehydrated when it was rescued by a Good Samaritan – so when it eventually recovered from its near death experience, it made sure to say thank you to its human savior.

Four years ago, Pei Yan Hang was wandering along Cyrene Beach in Portugal when it found a beached baby octopus who had become stranded on the sand at high tide.

Hang grabbed a cup of water, scooped up the cephalopod, and put it back in shallow waters.

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After a minute or so of recovering, the rescued octopus crawled over to Hang and stretched two tentacles across his boot before swimming out to sea – almost like it was thanking the human for its rescue.

While some might say that this is simply projecting human emotions onto animals, octopi have been credited for being surprisingly intelligent creatures. Back in 2016, Inky the octopus – a resident at the National Aquarium in New Zealand – was credited for accomplishing a stunning Finding Nemo-esque escape from his tank in the dead of night.

One of the maintenance workers had left the tank slightly ajar, allowing Inky to squeeze out of his tank and down a drain pipe that actually led to the Pacific Ocean.

With that in mind, we're willing to believe that this little cephalopod was expressing its gratitude before it took off to greener pastures – or in this case, bluer seas.

(WATCH the video below)

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