This chimpanzee’s refusal to leave her dead son’s side reveals how much we have in common with animals, scientists claim.

Captured on camera for the very first time, the chimp can be seen cleaning her dead son’s teeth with utmost care.

Noel, a wild-born female chimpanzee living at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust in Zambia, can be seen attending to Thomas, a 9-year-old male whom she adopted when his mother died four years earlier.

Noel, 33 at the time of the video, can be seen grabbing some grass and scrubbing at his teeth.

Scientists believe her behavior is similar to the way we might prepare loved ones before a funeral.

Experts at the University of St. Andrews claim the heartfelt act shows how compassion is not exclusively felt by humans.

“The report is important because it indicates once more that the human species is not the only one capable of compassion,” said Edwin van Leeuwen, lead author of the study, which was published in Scientific Reports.

“We consider the cleaning of a corpse’s teeth by Noel noteworthy for several reasons. First and foremost, to date, this behavior has never been reported in chimpanzees or any other non-human animal species.”

It shows that chimps understand death and mortality and “could shed light on the evolution of behaviors that are believed to be typically human,” Leeuwen added.