A video of a man greeting his pet bearded dragon Alduin, which in turn "waves" back at him, has gone viral on social media. 

According to The Sun, Mei Shan Li, Alduin's owner, said that he greets his four-month-old pet every morning with a "hello" and by waving at him.

The video which was published recently on The LAD Bible's Facebook page first, with a post stating "I waved to my lizard and he waved back", has been viewed 55mn times and shared 1,228,306 times at the time of writing this piece.

While many have been amused, some have called it animal cruelty and a few others have also said that these reptiles do wave as an gesture of acknowledgement of another bearded dragon. 

"I have one of these he's so cool, his name is Sebastian or AKA the Machine that bearded dragon was also letting you know he was hungry," one user commented. 

" This is the coolest shit ever!," another wrote. 

"This is basically Arrival," a user on YouTube wrote whereas one on Twitter said, "This video of a lizard waving back has made my day omg."

According to The Bearded Dragon website, waving is a common behaviour in the reptiles. 

While displaying this particular behaviour, the bearded dragon stands "high on three legs and will raise the remaining leg in the air and wave it in a circular motion".

This could have a  few possible meanings including that the reptile recognises another bearded dragon or could also mean submission to a larger animal.