The UK’s only polar bear has revelled in deep snow during her first winter in the Highlands.

Mercedes was moved from Edinburgh Zoo to the Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig in the Cairngorms last year.

Animal collections manager Douglas Richardson said its estimated age of 29 was old for a polar bear.

He said staff and visitors had seen it rolling around in snow, bouncing on ice and “generally being silly”.

The Highlands region experienced one of its longest and harshest winters since the 1960s with heavy snowfalls and prolonged spells of subzero temperatures.

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