Identity of 'monster mummy' found by diamond miners is revealed 

The remains of this strange creature-looking  were found in Mesozoic Era at one of Russia's leading diamond mines in the Sakha Republic. Scientists were initially puzzled about the animal, apparently well preserved thanks to the climate in Siberia's coldest region.

But leading paleontologist, Semyon Grigoryev, director of the Mammoth Museum in Yakutsk, was in no doubt.

'It is a skinned sable, a modern one,' he said. 

A scientist at the Institute of Permafrost Studies said: 'We think it was a sable. Yet we cannot say the age of this mummy, because a special study would be needed.'

This was also the verdict of hunters, who suggest it was a sable that was killed and skinned, with the body being buried in the sand. 

'The animal was killed a few years ago, the hunter skinned it and left the body, maybe even dug it into the sand. It mummified, probably because of the freezing winters,' TV channel  Almazny Kray were told by specialists. 

The diamond miners who found it believed it could be an ancient dinosaur of a species never seen before. The mystery animal was found near Udachny - literally meaning 'lucky'. 

Diamondiferous sands where it was unearthed date from the Mesozoic Era from about 252 to 66 million years ago.

The town is famous for the Udachnaya pipe diamond deposit, discovered in 1955, and mined since the 1960s. 

In 1974 a 1.7 kiloton atomic bomb was detonated 98 metres (322 ft) underground  to create the basin for a tailings dam for the diamond mine. 

Today's climate in the area is extreme sub-arctic. Average temperatures are from  minus 43.6C (minus 46.5 F) to minus 35.2C (minus 31.4F) in January.