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The princess and her two children tended to some tiny animals on the grounds of the Skaugum Palace.
Well, this is something you don't see every day. In fact, it's downright batty! Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway has released a video that shows her and her children, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus, tending to a small colony of bats on the grounds of Skaugum Palace.
Princess Mette-Marit Photo: Getty Images
Four years ago, Ingrid, 11, and Sverre, 9, placed special boxes on trees in the gardens of the royal residence near Oslo that would act as warm homes for the bats to hibernate in during the harsh northern European winter.
Prince Sverre, Princess Ingrid and bat expert Jeroen van der Kooij
In the video, the children, along with their parents Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon, can be seen helping bat expert Jeroen van der Kooij as he opens the boxes and inspects the tiny bats, weighing and measuring them and checking on their health.
It was not the first time the children got involved in the conservation effort. The royals also took part in the annual checkup last year, and the Norwegian Royal Court shared photos of the young royals on its official Facebook page.
Denne uken var det tid for å kontrollere flaggermuskassene på Skaugum. Prinsesse Ingrid Alexandra og Prins Sverre Magnus...
Posted by Kongehuset on Friday, 29 August 2014
Mette-Marit, who was born a commoner, clearly believes in giving her children a well-rounded education and exposing them to as much of the world as possible.
Princess Ingrid and her mother Princess Mette-Marit
The 42-year-old calls herself a "dedicated bookworm," and has encouraged a love of reading in her three children (she also has a son, Marius, from a previous relationship). The literacy advocate, who for the past two years has transformed her royal train carriage into a rolling library that has traveled across Norway, is set to open an exhibition of Norwegian erotica at the National Library in Oslo on September 24.
The exhibition, called 'The Red Ruby — Erotic Transgression in Norwegian Literature,' takes its title from a controversial novel by Agnar Mukle , and is celebrating the author's 100th birthday.
WATCH THE NORWEGIAN ROYALS TEND TO THE BATS