Valencia whale-weigh station?
Tuesday, December 24, 2013 @ 2:00 PM
PEDESTRIANS and passengers near Valencia's North Station yesterday (Monday) did a double take when they saw a giant beached whale in the car park by the entrance.
A sperm whale which was seen on the Las Arenas beach on Friday and which measures 15.3 metres in length (48'9”), three metres (9'9”) across and 1.8 metres (5'11”) in height is cordoned off but surrounded by reporters and scientists who do not appear to find anything unusual in a sea-creature of this size having been 'washed up' at a city-centre railway station.
In practice, however, the whale is not a real one, but is a scale model designed to look like the live version and who normally 'lives' in the Oceanogràfic, the massive sea-life centre at the City of Arts and Sciences.
He was made with a 20cm (eight-inch) layer of polystyrene for his skin, together with synthetic resin, polyester and acrylic finishes, and coated with oil paint.
And he caused a similar stir when he was seen being 'rescued' on Friday close to the shores of the Las Arenas beach.
It turned out the scale model was being used to stage a rescue drill
read more at thinkSPAIN.com