Padul has just received a full-size replica of a wooly mammoth; four metres high and weighing eight metric tonnes…

The beastie was made in Ogíjares (in the Vega de Granada) by Tmastic and was trucked down the A-44 for mounting in the Plaza de la Constitution, next to the Town Hall.

So, you mutter, why do the blighters in Padul want a wooly-mammoth replica? The answer is that some years back the fossilized remains of a mammoth were found in the Padul wetlands. Since then, it has become the emblem of the town.

Try their Mammoth beer brand sometime, too!

Anyway, it is not just one replica because there’s at least another to come and today’s delivery will shortly be followed by another one of similar proportions.

The reason that the first one has been set down in the town-hall square is that it will be the central attraction of the XVII Feria Agroalimentaria y del Turismo, Lo mejor del sur, which will be held from the 5th until the 8th of December.

Once the fair is out of the way, the mirador near the wetlands will be prepared as the permanent home for the beastie. Meanwhile the sculptor who carved the first one is working on a second one which will be placed next to the Centro de Interpretación del Mamut where the wetlands paths converge, thematically called Sabre-Toothed Tiger, Wooly Rhino and the Mammoth.

Oh, and besides the mammoths and the beer, Padul also produces its own brand of whiskey. You really can’t help liking these people, can you!

(News: Padul, Granada, Andalucia)