It’s been a hot summer and many of us have been trying our hardest to stay cool in what is set to be the hottest year on record.

Dog owners in south-east London and north Kent have been on guard this summer knowing full well that their pooches can struggle in the heat. 

A Sidcup vet confirmed with News Shopper that at least one dog in Bexley died this summer from heat stroke.

We've been looking at the science of sweating and how canines and other animals stay cool in hot temperatures.

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Spin through our gallery above to learn how other animals stay cool in the heat

Dogs can sweat, just not as well as humans.

Heat escapes through the dog’s paws but not through their coats.

In order to get around this obstacle, the doggies’ style to lose heat is by panting.

When air is breathed in, the moist lining of the lungs and throat is cooled helping the canine to regulate its body temperature.

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It's been a hot summer for pets and their owners

But it’s no sweat when you can sweat.

Through a process known as thermoregulation - the ability for living things to keep body temperature at a different level to its surroundings - the body has a variety of ways of cooling down and none more effective than sweat.

In humans a part of the brain called the hypothalamus monitors our body temperature as well as regulating our blood pressure and heart rate.

Sweat itself doesn’t remove heat but when it evaporates from our skin it takes heat with it, reducing our body temperature.

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Cats work through the heat in a similar way to dogs

When it's super hot cats do pant but they also sweat through their paws. Cats, like dogs, tend to sprawl out on cool surfaces to maximise heat loss through conduction. 

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Horses are able to sweat profusely in order to stay cool

Horses and other primates are able to sweat a lot and as such rival the perspiration powers of humans.

But not all animals can.

Instead they have come up with ingenious ways to stay cool.

Click through our gallery above to find out the ingenious ways other beasts beat the heat.