Paleontologists Claim to have Found "Living" Mammoth Cells in Siberia Raising Hopes of Cloning Ancient Animal

Will cloning of ancient species be possible? You'd be surprised at the number of animals that have aleady been cloned.

An international expedition called Yana-2012 found soft tissue, fatty tissue, fur and bone marrow of mammoths, said expedition leader and Northeast Federal University researcher Semyon Grigoryev on Friday.

However, not everyone in the scientific community is so readily willing to accept the news as fact. Some say they doubt living cells had been found, and question why such a significant discovery had not been announced in a scientific journal.

An unidentified member of the expedition team said that findings from the expedition would be published in authoritative scientific journals.

Click image for more on Woolly Mammoth(Mammuthus primigenius)

Mammoths went extinct about 4,500 years ago, and their remains are occasionally found in the permafrost of Russia's northernmost regions.

Earlier this year a team of Russian scientists conducted a groundbreaking experiment in which they were able to produce an entire plant from fruit tissues found in the permafrost. The researchers said that the experiment opened the door to the resurrection of other ancient species.