Russian scientists discovered the body of a mammoth in Siberian permafrost this week, with perfectly preserved blood and muscle tissue.

Members of the Yakutsk North-Eastern University expedition to the Lyakhovsky Islands in north-eastern Russia found blood in the ice cavities below the body of the full-grown female mammoth.

The scientists believe the animal could have lived 10, 000 to 15, 000 years ago. However, the tissue and the blood they found was very well preserved thanks to the permafrost.

The blood found under the mammoth's body was leaking despite a temperature of -10 Celsius at the location.

According to Russian media, this discovery is the first time scientists managed to obtain mammoth's blood so well preserved.

As for the animal itself, the expedition participants believed it died from starvation after it got stuck in a swamp.

The mammoth's body will be kept in the Mammoth Museum while Russian scientists examine its DNA.

Previously discovered mammoth's bodies gave hope of a possibility to clone the long-extinct beast.

Scientists have made several attempts to revive mammoths using cells of remains since 1990s, but none of them have been successful.

Presented by Adam Justice