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Scientists have 'thawed' an extinct species of dog - which is thought to have been frozen in Siberian permafrost ice for 12,400 years.

The ancient puppy still has its own teeth, and its brain is also thought to be intact.

Experts are examining whether the young animal was a "pet", while controversial South Korean cloning guru Hwang Woo-suk - present at a remarkable autopsy of the extinct Pleistocene canid - has taken samples in a bid to bring the extinct species back to life.

A video shows how mud and dirt from a dozen millennia was washed off the frozen puppy ahead of a post mortem on the animal in Yakutsk, capital of Russia's Sakha Republic, where the mummified remains were found on a steep bank of River Syalakh.

The puppy was found to be well preserved, including the brain, reported The Siberian Times, which revealed the pictures and video from the procedure.

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

(Image: Will Stewart)

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

"The degree of preservation is about 70 to 80 per cent. We will be able to say more precisely after it is extracted.

"For now we can see it on MRI scans.

"Of course, it has dried out somewhat, but the both parencephalon, cerebellum and pituitary gland are visible.

"We can say that this is the first time we have obtained the brain of a Pleistocene canid."

It is the first intact brain of a predator from this era, he said.

A suspected sibling of this puppy was pulled from the same location near the village of Tumat four years earlier - in 2011.

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Sergey Fedorov, research fellow from Russia's North-Eastern Federal University, said: "This puppy is better preserved than the previous one, so we hope to get more new information."

Cloning specialist Professor Hwang Woo-suk was "satisfied with the degree of preservation. He was very excited," he said.

"He took the samples from the skin, muscles and ear cartilage."

The South Korean is also working on bringing the extinct woolly mammoth back to life.

(Image: Will Stewart)

Dr Artemiy Goncharov, head of the research laboratory of the Department of Epidemiology, Parasitology and Desinfectology at the North-Western State Medical University in St Petersburg, said: 'We took the samples of the ground which surrounded the carcass to find out the bacteria there.

'Later we will compare them with the bacteria from the puppy's intestines. We hope to find ancient bacteria among them. "

A search is underway for "parasites - ticks, fleas" on the prehistoric dog.

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Examination of the earlier puppy found at the site suggests it was a dog rather than a wolf.

Likely human remains were also found at the site indicating that the puppies were pets or would-be working dogs of early man.