(CNN) Russian researchers have found liquid blood and urine inside the frozen carcass of a foal that died 42,000 years ago in Siberia's Verkhoyansk region.

The animal's body fluids were extracted during an autopsy and tested in the hope of cloning the extinct species, according to Semyon Grigoriev, director of the Mammoth Museum at Northeastern Federal University (NEFU) in Yakutsk.

Mammoth tusk hunters discovered the ancient foal embedded in the permafrost of the massive Batagaika crater during the summer of 2018.

The foal was found in the Batagaika crater.

Grigoriev told CNN via email that the foal appeared to have been just two weeks old when it died, likely by drowning in mud which then became part of the permafrost.

"An autopsy showed the foal carcass was extremely well-preserved, the body even without deformation," he added. "The hair cover also preserved most parts of the carcass, especially at the head and legs."

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