The video will start in 8 Cancel

The Daily Star's FREE newsletter is spectacular! Sign up today for the best stories straight to your inbox Sign up today! Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

(Image: WILL STEWART)

Scientists unearthed an extinct species of dog in the frozen wasteland of north east Russia.

The prehistoric pooch was found near evidence of human activity – leading researchers to believe it was a caveman's pet.

Staggeringly, the fossil flea-bag was found with its fur, teeth and much of its brain intact.

Experts have thawed out the mummified mongrel – and a controversial Korean cloning guru is now hoping to bring the species back from the dead.

(Image: WILL STEWART)

South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-Suk – who is infamous for his ambition to clone woolly mammoths – was present at an autopsy on the dino dog.

He took away skin, muscle and ear cartilage samples – with a view to cloning the canine.

Sergey Fedorov, research fellow at Russia's North-Eastern Federal University, said: "He was satisfied with the degree of preservation.

"He was very excited."

Woo-Suk – who also plans to clone an extinct cave lion – is building an animal cloning facility in China and has held a dog-cloning competition in the United Kingdom.

A British couple forked out £134,000 to clone their beloved dead dog at a South Korean lab.

(Image: WILL STEWART) (Image: WILL STEWART)

The cavedog was found in the bank of the River Syalakh, in the Russian Federation's barren Sakha Republic.

Docs had to wash off mud and dirt built up over a dozen millennia before carrying out an autopsy in capital Yakutsk.

Dr Pavel Nikolsky – research fellow of the Geological Institute, Moscow – said: "The carcass is preserved really very well.

"And one of the most important things is that the brain is preserved.

"The degree of preservation is about 70 to 80 per cent."

(Image: WILL STEWART)

The expert said it was the first intact brain of a predator from the era ever found.

A suspected sibling of this puppy was pulled from the same location near the village of Tumat four years earlier.