A WELL-preserved frozen woolly mammoth discovered deep in Siberian permafrost may contain living cells – raising hopes the ancient beast will walk the planet again.

With the find, science is edging a tad closer to the "Jurassic Park" possibility of cloning a prehistoric animal.

Russia's North-Eastern Federal University said an international team of researchers had discovered mammoth hair, soft tissues and bone marrow some 100 metres underground during a summer expedition in the northeastern province of Yakutia.

Expedition chief Semyon Grigoryev said Korean scientists with the team had set a goal of finding living cells in the hope of cloning a mammoth. Scientists have previously found bones and fragments but not living cells.

Does anyone remember the moral of the story in the original Jurassic Park movie?