Cloning of mammoth will be successful in 10 years, predicts head of region earmarked for their home

Yakutia - also called the Sakha Republic - is the largest region in the Russian Federation - and most famous for diamonds. 

But this may change when the extinct woolly beast is cloned back to life. 

Acting head of the region Aisen Nikolaev said that co-operation between Russian, South Korean and Japanese scientists will see this ‘miracle’ happen within a decade. 

'We are actively working with South Korea,’ he said at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok.

‘Thanks to cooperation with Korean and Japanese scientists, in my opinion, this [cloning a mammoth] will happen in the next decade.

The prospect was no longer fantastical, he said.

'Back in 2014, a group of my friends and I proposed a project to create an Ice Age Park with mammoths - everyone laughed then,’

But they’re not laughing now, he said.

‘Today, technology is developing at an explosive pace, and what yesterday seemed to be scientific nonsense, today is an absolutely clear prospect for scientists.

‘I believe that miracles are possible.’

Cloning experiments are already underway on extinct ancient horses and cave lions, scientists in Yakutsk, the regional capital, have said recently. 

Woolly mammoths - recreated from cells found in frozen remains buried in the Siberian permafrost - would be born again from an elephant surrogate mother, say experts. 

Nikolaev said ‘every prerequisite’ now exists to bring back the species which finally died out some 4,000 years ago after a long decline.

‘We just need to take care about a number of moments linked to the search for raw materials,’ he said. 

'We are seeing now that every year brings more and more high quality mammoth remains.’

He said: 'I am certain that with the current speed of development of genetic technologies we will be able to reach some real results in the near future.

‘This, of course, will be a revolution.'

Yakutia already has Pleistocene Park - a privately-run area seeking to recreate the environment as it was when the  mammoths thrived. 

It was unclear is Nikolaev is proposing another Ice Age-style park.