An international scientific team was able to examine the remains of an adult Great Woolly Mammoth, which had been preserved for 23,000 years in the frozen wastes of Siberia.

The remains - encased in a huge block of ice and soil with two huge, curled tusks jutting out - were taken by helicopter to Khatanga, inside the Arctic Circle. Once there, the examination continued in a dry, cold cave where the temperature is maintained at a constant -12°C / 10°F.

The mammoth is about 3 metres / 9 ft tall, male, and probably died at about 47 years of age.

Some scientists hope it might be possible to bring the great beasts back to life using modern cloning techniques - they would insert mammoth DNA into the empty egg cell of an elephant. (Is there a movie here somewhere?)