A smart Scottish owl has been taking baths to cool down her baby in the recent heatwave. The doting parent has dunked herself in a water bath and then walked back to her nest while soaking wet.
She then sits in the nest on top of her baby, with the water dripping off her and cooling down her newborn. The Scottish Owl Centre revealed the mum, which is native to the Arctic, does it every time there's hot weather at the complex in Bathgate, West Lothian.
The average temperature in the Arctic ranges from between -6 and -12 degrees celsius. And the bird of prey, which is also known as the polar owl, white owl or Arctic owl, took the step as the mercury at the centre was hitting the early 20s last week.
Keepers at the Scottish Owl Centre hailed the mum for her "pretty smart" parenting. A post on the centre's Facebook page read: "We've been getting good views of our baby Snowy Owl with mother the last few days.
"The youngster is now big enough to walk and sometimes strays a few feet from the nest but comes straight back if mum calls. In these pics mum looks a bit wet, so likely she's been for a quick bath and returned to the nest wet.
"We've seen her do this in previous hot summers, dunking in the water bath and walking back to the nest dripping wet to sit on the owlet/s and cool them down. They can be pretty smart when looking after their families at times."
The chick is just over a week old. A previous post, from earlier this month, says: "Snowy Owl nest check went to plan this afternoon, and the keepers found just a single chick, along with two infertile eggs.
"Still pretty good considering the female was trying to murder her mate back in March. Sensible too, as bringing up one owlet in this heatwave is challenging enough, more would be even more difficult.
"The little one was ringed/banded and returned to the nest. They all did a quick weeding of the aviary then left the family to recover from the intrusion."
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