Emotional moment giraffes hold ‘funeral’ to mourn for member of their herd who died during childbirth that drove tourist to tears

This incredible footage shows the moment a group of giraffes come to pay their respects to one of their own who died during childbirth.

The group of giraffes were captured on camera walking towards the corpse in a gathering filled with human emotions as they mourned and said goodbye to a member of their audience.

The heartbreaking and emotional images moved the photographer so much that they brought him to tears.

Photographer Callum Perry, 28, from Britain, who is currently traveling in South Africa, captured the rare moment in the Marataba Contractual National Park.

He said: ‘It brought tears to my eyes – seeing the giraffes’ journey to their fallen friend was one of the most emotional scenes I have ever seen.

“The giraffe’s funeral made me take a step back and look at the beauty I’ve seen in my life, and that even in life’s most difficult moments, there can be silver linings.

‘I was really fascinated by the emotion of this whole scene; words can hardly do it justice. I feel honored to have been there as they all paid their respects.

“Most of the people I know in the safari industry had never seen this happen before, so they were amazed and a little jealous.”

Photos show a group of more than five giraffes examining the dead body as it lay on the ground.

In the video, a giraffe is seen walking towards the dead member of their pack before being followed by others.

One by one, each giraffe bowed to send its beloved friend away.

Giraffes are thought to mourn their dead, as Zoe Muller, a wildlife biologist from the University of Bristol who founded the Rothschild’s Giraffe Project in Kenya, recalled a moment she witnessed more than a decade ago.

Muller said she saw 17 female giraffes looking sad and that the pack traveled to a part of the savannah they don’t normally visit.

It turned out that a calf had died and Muller witnessed the group of giraffes gathering at its mother and staying with her for two days after death.

She interpreted the giraffes’ behavior as sadness, but she was afraid to say this because some scientists believe the opposite.

She said, as quoted in The National Wildlife Federation: “My personal position has changed. I would now be much more open about acknowledging non-human grief. Giraffes, humans, we are all mammals.

‘Our emotion system is largely driven by hormones, and hormones have probably evolved in the same way in all mammals.’

A similar incident happened to zoologist Professor Fred Bercovitch while tracking Thornicroft’s giraffes in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia.

Prof. Bercovitch said he saw a female giraffe lean toward her dead newborn calf and lick it before standing up. She spent two hours examining the corpse of her newborn baby.