Penguins at a Cotswolds wildlife park have been given ice blocks to cool off with during the heatwave.
Staff at Birdland in Bourton-on-the-Water are freezing buckets of water to recreate mini-icebergs for the flightless birds.
The colony of king penguins at the park also had showers and sprinklers set up in their enclosure to allow them to cool down.
READ MORE: Oxfordshire: RAF Brize Norton will stay closed today due to the heat
Alistair Keen, head keeper at Birdland, said: “We always keep a close eye on the forecasts and this spell of extremely hot weather is warmly welcomed by most of the birds here at Birdland; particularly the parrots, flamingos and our collection of birds from Africa.
“However our penguins prefer things to be a little cooler so we have been preparing freezing blocks of ice for them to hop onto as required.
“Their enclosure already includes a large pool and there is also plenty of shade available but we thought it would be a nice treat for the birds and also provide them with some environmental enrichment.
“We’ve also been putting some of the blocks into the water as well as leaving them on land for the birds to investigate and cool their feet on.”
There are 18 species of penguin in the world and the king penguin is the second largest, weighing up to 18kg.
The largest is the emperor penguin, which can weigh 45kg and the smallest is the appropriately-named little penguin which weighs two kilogrammes.
Birdland is home to the UK’s only breeding colony of king penguins.
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This story was written by Sophie Perry. She joined the team in 2021 as a digital reporter.
You can get in touch with her by emailing: sophie.perry@newsquest.co.uk
Follow her on Twitter @itssophieperry
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