Scientists to bring back extinct horse using its 42,000-year-old blood

Already working to bring back Ice Age woolly mammoths, scientists are now attempting to bring back an extinct horse by cloning them using 42,000-year-old blood samples from the frozen horse.

Last year, scientists came across a, now extinct, 42,000-year-old Lena Horse foal frozen in Siberian permafrost. Now, the team has decided to bring the long-dead horse back by cloning it.

According to Gizmodo, the researchers hope that they can clone the foal by using liquid blood samples that the team extracted themselves from the horse’s well-preserved heart. Also, while conducting autopsy, scientists also found intact organs and tissues.

Scientists take ‘significant step’ in bringing extinct mammoths back from dead

“We can now claim that this is the best-preserved Ice Age animal ever found in the world,” Semyon Grigoyev, head of the Mammoth Museum in Yakutsk in Russia, told Russian news agency TASS, as per The Siberian Times.

However, it should be noted that collecting liquid blood samples does not necessarily mean that the team can definitely clone a Lena Horse and bring it back again into the world. The researchers will still need to ensure that the blood contains viable cells that can then be grown in a lab, wrote Futurism.

The one to two-week horse most probably downed in mud that then froze, hence keeping the horse on ice for thousands of years, turning into permafrost. The horse was discovered with its skin, hair, hooves and tail all preserved.

“Having preserved hair is another scientific sensation as all previous ancient horses were found without hair,” said Grigoyev.