Woburn elephants stay cool with ice sculpture likeness

A safari park has given its Asian elephants an ice model of themselves to help them cope with hot weather.

Woburn Safari Park in Bedfordshire had the 400kg (882lb) sculpture professionally made to "stimulate the elephants' curiosity and encourage natural foraging behaviours".

The herd quickly pushed it over and used their feet to break the ice into pieces.

The park's elephant team leader Darren Fellowes said: "Elephants are very intelligent and sociable mammals so it's important for us to provide them with plenty of enrichment to keep them stimulated.

"On a practical level the ice also helps to cool them down in this hot weather."

Monday has been the start of a few days of high temperatures in the UK, with areas set to reach the mid-30 degrees centigrade later in the week.