Woolly Mammoth
Frozen remains of a juvenile woolly mammoth, "Yuka," were discovered in Siberia. F Latreille/Mammuthus/MCE

The discovery of a frozen woolly mammoth in a Siberian cliff has revealed insight into details about the extinct animal's eye colour and hair.

The juvenile mammoth "Yuka" which lay unnoticed in its icy tomb for more than 10,000 years was found by a team of experts funded by BBC and Discovery Channel.

Researchers from the University of Manitoba and the University of Michigan made a remarkable finding that the mammoth had strawberry blonde hair, which supported the scientists' claims that not all mammoths had black hair. They estimated the mammoth had died when it was about two and a half years old.

They also found that the soft tissues of carcasses such as muscle, skin and internal organs, which get decomposed quickly, remained intact in case of Yuka as well as its light-coloured woolly coat, reported BBC.

Kevin Campbell, associate professor of environmental and evolutionary physiology at the University of Manitoba told BBC that one of the most striking things about Yuka is its strawberry-blonde hair.

"These are remarkably rare finds and have huge significance," he added.

The experts believe that these findings will help them link the physiological properties with the DNA sequence of the mammoth to find about other physical features including their eye colour and hair colour by just studying the genes from the bones or the hair samples, reported BBC.

The experts examined the body and found that Yuka had injuries including a freshly broken leg and flesh wounds, which suggested that it could have been attacked by lions and possibly even humans.

If the findings are confirmed it would be the first carcass that shows interaction between mammoths and ancient humans ever found in the area.