Canada Journal – News of the World Articles and videos to bring you the biggest Canadian news stories from across the country every day
Researchers from Russia and South Korea are using the remains of Ice Age Cave Lion cubs to try and clone the extinct creature.
The two cubs were found last August in Russia. The cubs are well preserved because they have been in “deep freeze” conditions since they died.
Dr Albert Protopopov, head of the mammoth fauna studies department of the Yakutian Academy of Sciences, said the cubs were found “complete with all their body parts – fur, ears, soft tissue and even whiskers”.
Scientists at the Russian-South Korean project – the Joint Foundation of Molecular Paleontology at North East Russia University – hope they can extract enough DNA from the remains to recreate the extinct animals.
One of the team members, Semyon Grigoriev, is also working on cloning a woolly mammoth using the same process.
Dr Protopopov said he believed the cubs were only a week or two old and may have perished after being hidden in a cave by their mother to protect them from hungry lions.
He added: “This find, beyond any doubt, is sensational.”
One of the cubs will be used to attempt cloning, while the other is destined for a museum.
Scientists are due to return to the cave where they were found this summer to search for the remains of more cubs, or even a lioness.
Cave lions once roamed the planet from Britain to the far east of Russia, until they died out around 10,000 years ago.
It is thought they became extinct because of a decline in large prey like deer and cave bears.
Agencies/Canadajournal
