The dramatic find was made this summer on the remote Lyakhovsky Islands off the northern coastline of the Siberian land mass. The scientists located the remains of six woolly mammoths and well preserved skin at least 10,000 years old - as well as an unexpected discovery of the tusk of a 'pygmy mammoth'.
Currently the skin is being examined at a special laboratory in Yakutsk, capital of Siberia's Sakha Republic, also known as Yakutia, and the discovery is seen as highly significant by Russian and South Korean experts working to bring the hairy creature back to life through cloning.
Head of the expedition Semyon Grigoryev said: 'The skin is especially interesting for the 'Revival of the Mammoth' project. Our Korean colleagues believe that skin is the best material for cloning attempts through finding viable cells. Now we are studying the skin in our new laboratory.'
Woolly mammoth skin found 'well preserved in permafrost' gives new hope for cloning