There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
Now, with preserved liquid blood in hand, these scientists are eager to clone this extinct species back to life.
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Semyon Grigoryev/NEFU/The Siberian Times
The Ice Age foal being analyzed by scientists from the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation.
Seven months ago, researchers uncovered a 42,000-year-old foal found perfectly preserved in the Siberian permafrost. That discovery was stunning enough, but Russian and South Korean scientists have now extracted liquid blood from the prehistoric specimen.
According to The Siberian Times, head of the Mammoth Museum in Yakutsk Dr. Semyon Grigoryev revealed the foal to be in exceptional condition upon completion of the autopsy.
Liquid urine, too, was successfully extracted from the ancient foal carcass, CNN reported.
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Finding the animal intact with even its hair preserved was already remarkable, but scientists have now explored the animal’s interior and found similarly pristine conditions. Perhaps most incredible is that fact that 42,000-year-old liquid blood has successfully been extracted from the animal.
“Samples of liquid blood were taken from heart vessels — it was preserved in the liquid state for 42,000 years thanks to favorable burial conditions and permafrost,” said Dr. Grigoryev.
Quote:“The muscle tissues preserved their natural reddish color.”
“We can now claim that this is the best preserved Ice Age animal ever found.”
*This image is copyright of its original author
*This image is copyright of its original author
The preserved liquid blood taken from the foal.
*This image is copyright of its original author
A video from The Siberian Times documenting the foal’s discovery and retrieval. (see above)
“This is extremely rare for paleontological finds, because some of them are either incomplete, fragmented, with serious body deformations or strongly mummified,” he explained. “The foal’s hair is intact on its head, legs and part of its body. Its tail and mane are black, the rest of the foal’s body is bay.”
Analysis of this remarkable find is being undertaken by both Russian scientists from the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk and South Korean experts from the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation.
Even after two months of intense, collaborative study, Dr. Grigoryev is still impressed by certain unique characteristics of this specimen.
“Having preserved hair is another scientific sensation as all previous ancient horses were found without hair,” he said. “Our studies show that at the moment of death the foal was from one to two weeks old, so he was just recently born.”
“As in previous cases of really well-preserved remains of prehistoric animals, the cause of death was drowning in mud which froze and turned into permafrost.
A lot of mud and silt which the foal gulped during the last seconds of its life were found inside the gastrointestinal tract.”
While this discovery itself was impressive enough and the extraction of perfectly preserved liquid blood only added to the researchers’ excitement, this team of experts has even more astonishing prospects waiting on the horizon:
Namely, they aim to clone this species back into existence.
Scientists are “confident of success” in extracting the requisite cells in order to do so. The foal’s Lenskaya breed is long gone, but by finding the right mother host for this project — which the team is already doing — the ancient species could well make a reappearance after 42,000 years !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Quote:“Hopefully, the world will soon meet the clone of the ancient foal who lived 42,000 years ago,” said Michil Yakovlev, editor of the university’s corporate media.
