Blood and muscle from an extinct mammoth is found in Siberia say scientists

The find was made on the New Siberian Islands - or Novosibirsk Islands, off the coast of the Republic of Sakha. Teeth of the creature suggest it was between 50 and 60 years old.  Well preserved muscle tissue was also found. 

Samples of blood had dripped into the ice beneath the the hulk and were frozen for thousands of years.

Scientists say they managed to retrieve the mammoth blood in a test tube during an excavation at minus 10C.

'It can be assumed that the blood of mammoths had some cryo-protective properties,' said Semyon Grigoriev, head of the Museum of Mammoths of the Institute of Applied Ecology of the North at the North Eastern Federal University. 

The mammoth find was made by experts from the university and the Russian Geographical Society. 

The discovery is the latest of a number of mammoth discoveries which herald the possibility of being the species back to life in the future. 

The muscle tissues was preserved in pure ice, and samples from the find have now been taken to Yakutsk, capital of the Republic of Sakha, also known as Yakutia. A bacteriological analysis of the samples is expected soon.

Foreign experts are expected in Yakutsk to see the unique mammoth material, according to reports.