THIS is the heart-rending moment a baby wildebeest nearly lost it’s life had it not been for the devotion and loyalty of its family.

The family of wildebeest rallied around the youngest to save it from the mud

It took his whole wildebeest herd to rescue the youngster after it got stuck in a muddy swamp and almost lost it’s life.

The heart-warming pictures show the wildebeest calf stuck and struggling to move in a muddy swamp before the rest of the herd came to its rescue and pulled it back to safety.

The adorable moment was caught on camera by South African photographer Romano Ronald Volker, 59, in the UMkhuze Game Reserve in October 2015.

He said: “It was a great moment to capture on film.

The calf was so small it soon got stuck in the mud, it was gut-wrenching to witness at first

“The calf followed its mother to drink – it’s so dry here that animals need to get whatever liquid they can get and, sadly, this swamp was their best option.

“The calf was so small it soon got stuck in the mud, it was gut-wrenching to witness at first.

“The rest of the herd were brilliant though and soon came to its rescue – taking a good twenty minutes to work together getting the calf out to safety.”

The huge animals try to delicately help the youngster out of the deadly mud

The moment that after twenty desperate minutes the calf is freed