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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Tiffany Lo

Scientists draw liquid blood from prehistoric frozen foal - and plan to CLONE it

Scientists have found liquid blood inside the corpse of a 42,000-year-old foal in the Siberian permafrost - boosting hopes of bringing extinct species back to life.

It's believed to be the 'oldest blood in the world'.

And the prehistoric Lena Horse foal is claimed to be the best-preserved Ice Age animal ever found, according to Dr Semyon Grigoryev, head of the Mammoth Museum in Yakutsk.

The discovery, made by a team of scientists from the Yakutian University and Sooam Biotech Research Foundation from South Korea, showed that the foal was in in an exceptional condition without any visible damage.

Dr Grigoryev spoke with Russian news agency Tass in an interview: "The autopsy shows beautifully preserved internal organs.

The carcass of the prehistoric foal has hair intact on its head, body, and legs (Michil Yakovlev/The Siberian Tim)
Scientists extracted liquid blood from the heart vessel of the Ice Age foal (Semyon Grigoryev/The Siberian Ti)

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"Samples of liquid blood were taken from heart vessels - it was preserved in the liquid state for 42,000 years thanks to favourable burial conditions and permafrost.

"The muscle tissues preserved in their natural reddish colour."

The expert described the findings as 'extremely rare', given the foal's hair was intact on its head, legs and part of its body.

"Having preserved hair is another scientific sensation as all previous ancient horses were found without hair," he added.

Scientists described the findings as 'extremely rare' (Michil Yakovlev/The Siberian Tim)
The experts are looking to clone the long-gone extincted species and bring it back to life (NEFU/The Siberian Times)

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The study showed that the foal, found in the Batagai depression in Yakutia, was about one to two weeks old at the moment of death, said one scientist.

It's predicted that the foal could have been drowned in mud which froze and turned into permafrost.

Scientists have indicated that they are 'confident of success' in extracting cells from the foal in order to clone its species - the extinct Lenskaya breed - back to life, stated the Siberian Times.

The one to two-week old foal was found in the Batagai depression in Yakutia (The Siberian Times)
The Batagai depression (Alexander Gabyshev/The Siberian)

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The team was reportedly choosing a 'mother' to give birth to the comeback species.

The foal, along with 30 plus exhibits from Yakutia, will be put on exhibition display in The Mammoth exhibition in Japan, starting in June and finishing in September 2020.

Dr Gregoryev said: "For the first time we'll show the world's only frozen woolly mammoth trunk, as well as the carcass of the Yukagir bison, an ancient partridge and the Batagai horse."

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