Scientists 'confident' they will be able to clone an extinct horse species from DNA in a 42,000-year-old frozen foal preserved in Siberian permafrost

16:31 • 10.04.19

Scientists are ''confident of success'' in extracting cells from a 42,000 year old extinct foal in order to clone its prehistoric species back to life, the Daily Mail reports, citing findings.

They reportedly see the ''Jurassic Park'' attempt to restore the long-gone Lenskaya breed of horse as paving the way for later success in returning the giant woolly mammoth.

The light ginger-coloured foal - no more than two weeks old when it died - was preserved in near perfect condition in Siberian permafrost for 42,170 years, said experts.

After several months of intense work on the frozen baby horse, a joint Russian-South Korean research team are growing optimistic that they will obtain the cells needed to attempt to clone the extinct cold-resistant Lenskaya breed which died out some 4,000 years ago.

''Researchers are confident of success of the project,'' said a source at the North East Federal University in Yakutsk - the world's coldest city - which is hosting the work, reported The Siberian Times.

''The attempts will continue until the end of April this year.''

The light ginger-coloured foal - no more than two weeks old when it died - was preserved in near perfect condition in Siberian permafrost for 42,170 years, say experts

Scientists are 'confident of success' in extracting cells from a 42,000 year old extinct foal in order to clone its prehistoric species back to life, say reports

Scientists forming a joint Russian-South Korean research team say they are 'confident of success' in extracting cells from a 42,000 year old extinct foal in order to clone its prehistoric species back to life

The international research team is led by South Korean cloning expert Professor Hwang Woo-suk, who is also closely involved in efforts to use remains of woolly mammoths preserved in permafrost bring the giants back to life

'Researchers are confident of success of the project,' said a source at the North East Federal University in Yakutsk - the world's coldest city - which is hosting the work, reported The Siberian Times

In contrast, he said there is a very big distance between the ancient mammoth and the elephant.Â With the foal, 'if we have one live cell, we can multiply it and get as many embryo as we need

Yakutsk, the capital of Russia's diamond-rich Sakha Republic, is a hot spot for frozen animal remains.Â At the end of last month it was revealed Russia is opening a brand-new Â£4.5 million ($5.9 million) cloning facility that aims to bring back the woolly mammoth and other long-extinct species

Plans for the 'world class' research centre in the city of Yakutsk will purportedly be unveiled later this month by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a major investment forum. Pictured is the foal

As well as woolly mammoths, Russian geneticists are set to study a number of extinct species, including the woolly rhinoceros, which died out 10,000 years ago

Cloning specialist Professor Hwang Woo Suk flew in from Seoul to spearhead the search for living DNA material from the foal and continued the research