Beautiful baby elephant smiles while having a splashing time

A baby elephant has been pictured having a whale of a time while splashing around in water with her twin at the Ragunun National Zoo in Jakarta.

Indonesian photographer Alrosa Shari was on hand to capture the beautiful scene, and little Lestari appeared to be almost smiling with joy as she splashed around with her twin, Pangeran.

According to the Daily Mail, Alrosa said: "These elephants were playing together and washing themselves as they splashed about in the water.

"They were so cute to watch and happy, too. To me, that is really special..

"Capturing these images took a lot of patience. I had to wait hours to finally see the elephants playing in the pool.

"I felt pure bliss upon capturing these photographs, as it was a moment I have always wanted to see."

"I do feel a little sad to see these beautiful animals in confinement rather than in nature.

"However, they looked happy and very well looked after."

Elephants in Indonesia face the constant threat of poaching, and Lestari means 'Preserve' in Indonesian.

Meanwhile, over at Taronga Zoo in Australia, the elephants have been having fun beating the heat - by playing in a waterfall.

One super-cute picture shows five-year-old Asian elephant Luk Chai wasting no time getting into the pool - and looking very happy about it indeed.

Temperatures at the zoo hit 30C last week, and elephant keeper Ian Gleichman said: "The elephants will usually head straight for the water on hot days, submerging themselves, rolling around and even somersaulting underwater.

"The young calves also love to play about and dunk each other. It's a great pool party."

He added: "In the wild they spend a lot of time in rivers, lakes and mud wallows. We're fortunate to have two great pool areas at Taronga where our elephants can cool down and the waterfall is always a favourite.

"I think they really enjoy the feel and sensation of the running water on their skin. Sometimes they'll just kick back and relax with their legs in the air."