A reindeer herder has found the pre-historic remains of a baby mammoth in the Arctic part of Russia, local officials said on Friday.

According to Reuters, the herder stumbled across remains of the extraordinary discovery poking out of the permafrost. Experts have been sent out to confirm if the carcass was indeed a prehistoric creature.

The herder claims his discovery is as perfectly preserved as the 40,000-year-old mammoth calf Lyuba discovered in the same remote region four years ago. It was named after the wife of the hunter who discovered her.

The multi-centuries old Lyuba was so well preserved because of the Arctic ice. It was reported that the extinct mammoth’s skin and internal organs were still intact.

Scientists will fly the remains of the baby mammoth to the regional capital Salekhard, where it will be stored in a cooler to prevent it from decomposing.

It was said that woolly mammoths last walked the Earth 1.8 million to around 11,500 years ago – the time of the Earth’s last Ice Age.

Image courtesy of Yomiuri