Mammoths back on the streets of Siberia

Aysen Nikolayev
An artist recreates extinct animals in Yakutsk.

There’s a myth that bears walk the streets of Russian cities. Well, that's of course not true, but if you’re walking through Yakutsk in Siberia, you might be surprised to come across a pair of wooly mammoths. It’s the work of artist Oleg Savvinov, who built the three-meter tall hairy statue and its one and a half meter baby in the world's coldest city.

The artist and his son Ayaal spent two weeks outside in minus 42C to create the statues made from pressed wet snow.

“There was a lot of climbing up and down, with the wind and weather not being too helpful,” Ayaal told The Siberian Times. “But we were so keen to make sure the sculpture was done before the New Year, we didn't stop working.”

Mammoths are kind of Yakutsk's brand, and artists are sure the statues will be an added attraction to the winter city.

Chasing drinks, building palaces... read more about things Russians do with snow.

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