One step closer to Jurassic Park: First 'living' cells found of a woolly mammoth, raising hopes extinct animal could be cloned

Discovery of best preserved cells ever found raises hopes a mammoth could be cloned from tissue, bone marrow and hair found



Animal was found 100 metres under permafrost, and is believed to be at least 10,000 years old

'Living cells' could help scientists unlock mammoths' complete DNA sequence - essential for cloning



Perfectly preserved cells from a woolly mammoth have been found in Siberia, bringing closer the prospect of a cloned comeback for the iconic tusked creature.



An international team of researchers discovered the unique material in a permafrost mammoth graveyard in remote Yakutia, in the east of Russia.



The find last month includes 'soft, fatty tissue, hair, bone marrow of the mammoth', said the Semyon Grigoryev, Director of the Mammoth Museum at the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, who led the expedition.



The find of a perfectly preserved mammoth raises hopes it could soon be cloned

More importantly, the find is said to include 'living cells' - the first time this has been achieved with mammoths. These cells are a huge boon for scientists as DNA is destroyed in frozen cells - and a creature's complete DNA code is required for cloning.



The exceptionally preserved material was found at a depth of 100 metres and is likely to have been preserved in the permafrost for 10,000 years or more.



An international team of scientists who made the find in August consider the material, which they refer to as 'live cells' can be used in cloning, said the Siberian Times.

'The expedition also established close ties between scientists from different countries.



'This data will be published in reputable scientific journals.



'A detailed film will be seen next year on the National Geographic channel,' a participant told RIA Novosti news agency.

Controversial South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-Suk has already expressed a desire to use the material, it is claimed.



He is closely involved in another attempt to clone a 10,000 year old baby mammoth with 'strawberry blonde hair' found last year on the coast of the Laptev Sea.



Professor Adrian Lister of the Natural History Museum in London said of the earlier discovery: 'This looks like one of the most complete mammoth carcasses we've ever found.



'To find a complete carcass with all its flesh and skin and hair like this, it can only happen in the very far north of Siberia.'



The South Korean, leader of Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, was hailed as a national hero in his homeland and awarded the title 'supreme scientist' until some of his research on human embryos was declared bogus in 2006.



Archaeology students study the remains of a mammoth at an open pit coal mine in Segbia. Russian researchers have now found a perfectly preserved specimen in Siberia.

He received a suspended jail term in 2009 for embezzlement and accepting millions of dollars in grants under false pretences.



Hwang created the world's first dog clone, an Afghan hound puppy, in 2005.



In October last year, he claimed to have cloned coyotes for the first time.



The latest find coincides with a 'Jurassic Park prize' being mooted for the first team able to bring an extinct animal back to life.



Steven Spielberg, who directed films based on Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park thrillers about cloning dinosaurs, will be approached to support the prize, it was claimed this week.



'He is fascinated by this stuff,' said a source.



The X Prize Foundation - which offered a prize for private space ventures - is promoting the scheme.



Its board includes Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, and Elon Musk, whose Falcon 9 rocket recently reached the International Space Station.

Scientists say mammoths evolved from African elephants when the Ice Age gripped the planet two million years ago.



They are believed to have been around twice the size of today's elephants, and their long tusks helped them fight predators and pick grass and shrubs out of the ice.



Mammoths mostly died out around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago but it is known some survived in Alaska until around 3750 BC.



The last known surviving mammoths were on Wrangel Island - off the Siberian coast. They lived until around 1650 BC.

