Perfectly preserved 40,000-year-old horse found in Siberia, scientists say

Animal is in such good condition, it still has hair, tail, mane and internal organs

A 40,000-year-old baby horse has been found almost perfectly preserved in Siberia, scientists say.

The foal has been kept in such good condition by the region’s permafrost, it still has its hair, tail, mane and many of its internal organs, reports The Siberian Times.

The discovery was made in the Yakutia region – long-known for fossils of woolly mammoths – by a joint expedition of scientists and archaeologists from Russia and Japan.

It is estimated the animal was just three months old when it died – although it has no visible wounds to suggest why.

"This is the first find in the world find of a prehistoric horse of such a young age and with such an amazing level of preservation,” said Semyon Grigoryev, head of the Mammoth Museum in the city of Yakutsk and one of those on the expedition.

“The extra value of the unique find is that we obtained samples of soil layers where it was preserved, which means we will be able to restore a picture of the foal’s environment.

“We will report the exact time when it lived after studying the soil samples.

"The foal has completely preserved dark-brown hair, its tail and mane, as well as all internal organs. There are no visible wounds on its body.”

The find, in a vast crater known as the Batagai depression, was located by scientists from the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk and Kindai University in Osaka, Japan.

It followed a similar unearthing in the same area nine years ago when locals in Batagai village found a bison calf and part of an ancient horse’s body.