The beasts are set to make a comeback to the plains of Siberia some 14,000 years after going extinct

LONG extinct cave lions may be about to rise from their icy graves and prowl once more alongside woolly mammoths and ancient horses in a real life Jurassic Park. 

In less than 10 years it is hoped the fearsome big cats will be released from an underground lab as part of a remarkable plan to populate a remote spot in Russia with Ice Age animals cloned from preserved DNA.

Samples are being used from the remains of animals perfectly preserved in permafrost nearby the planned park

Experiments are already underway to create the lions and also extinct ancient horses found in Yakutia, Siberia, seen as a prelude to restoring the mammoth.

Regional leader Aisen Nikolaev forecast that co-operation between Russian, South Korean and Japanese scientists will see the “miracle” return of woolly mammoths inside ten years.

He said: “The prospect was no longer fantastical.

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

An artist's impression of how the 'Ice Age Park' in Siberia will look with herds of woolly mammoths roaming around

Earlier this month it emerged that a baby cave lion cub had been found near to where the Ice Age park will be created

The powerful Cave Lion which went extinct about 14,000 years ago and was 10 per cent bigger than today's African species

Mr Nikolaev claimed the remarkable return of the extinct beasts will be possible because of DNA material of the giants found in the permafrost in Yakutia, also called Sakha Republic.

He said: "We are actively working with South Korea.

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

In 2014 he first proposed “an Ice Age Park with mammoths” to act as home for them to roam, he said.

Further details of the incredible plans for the new “world class paleo-genetic scientific centre” will be unveiled next month when Vladimir Putin hosts a major investment forum.

Scientists drill into a preserved woolly mammoth to obtain DNA samples

The scientists are to use this baby horse that have been preserved in ice in Siberia

The cloning laboratories - some sunk deep in the permafrost soil - aim to extend research by Russian scientists who are already working closely with South Korean specialists hoping to restore extinct species.

Yakutsk is capital of diamond-rich Sakha Republic, also known as Yakutia,  where 80 per cent of finds of samples of Pleistocene and Holocene animals with preserved soft tissues have been made.

Today, technology is developing at an explosive pace, and what yesterday seemed to be scientific nonsense, today is an absolutely clear prospect for scientists - Aisen Nikolaev, governor of Yakutia

The scheme of the new centre will be unveiled at the 4th Eastern Economic Forum hosted by Putin opening on 11 September in Vladivostok.

It will “aim to study extinct animals from living cells - and to restore such creatures as the woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, cave lion and breeds of long-gone horses”, reported The Siberian Times.

Remarkably frozen furry mammoths have been found almost completely preserved

The furry mammoths last trod the Earth 14,000 years ago

The cloning scientists are already using DNA from the ancient animals has been preserved in remains encased in frozen soil - or permafrost - for tens of thousands of years.

The centre will be based at Russia’s Northern-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) which is seeking further investment for the extraordinary project.   

Expert Dr Lena Grigorieva - who drafted plans for the centre - said: “There is no such unique material anywhere else in the world.”

But scientists would also explore ways of helping fight human diseases, she said.

“We study not only Pleistocene animals - another line is the study of the history of settlement of the North-East of Russia,” she said.

"Northern ethnic groups have a unique ancient genetic structure.

“Such studies will help in the study of rare genetic diseases, their diagnosis, prevention.”

Could herds of cloned prehistoric beasts help save the planet? Some scientists think they could

The university has existing close cooperation with South Korean SOOAM Biotech Research Foundation, led by cloning expert Professor Hwang Woo-Suk.

There are also links between Russian scientists and trailblazing Harvard University geneticist Professor George Church who plans to inset woolly mammoth genes into an Asian elephant embryo by 2020.

Prof Church has revealed to Sun Online how a cloning project was on the verge of being able to grow a baby mammoth in a lab.

His team of leading Harvard scientists have been using DNA recovered from a woolly mammoth found perfectly preserved in ice in Siberia after dying 42,000 years ago.

By merging genes from the mammals with that of elephants their species may be resurrected.

The team are set to publish in the coming weeks scientific papers laying out in detail their revolutionary technique in creating and implanting mammalian embryos.

Harvard University's George Church believes if he and his team are successful they will not just change the world, they may help to save it

Speaking to exclusively to Sun Online, Prof Church said: “We have already revived dozens of genes and are testing them in elephant cells.

“We are focusing on a reviving mammoth genes and making a mammoth/elephant hybrid and help them spread to vast wild, arctic climates.”

Using a genetic engineering technique called CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing, his team of scientists can “cut and paste” strands of DNA into elephant stem cells with a precision not seen before, paving the way for a woolly mammoth embryo. 

'Lyuba', a 42,000 year-old baby woolly mammoth which was discovered in 2007 by reindeer herders in Siberia almost completely intact

Frozen remains of two more woolly mammoths, long extinct elephants in the Ice Age uncovered from the Siberian permafrost in 2008

Prof Church said he wants to then grow a hybrid woolly mammoth/elephant hybrid within an artificial womb rather than using a female elephant as a surrogate mum.

It is estimated this will take at least 22 months.

The prof believes this will allow woolly mammoths herds to begin once more plodding about the arctic and while doing so save the world. 

Artificial wombs would be used for a baby mammoth and have already been used to grow lambs as shown here in a technique revealed last year

Along with other measures, it's hoped the woolly mammoths will create an environment which could stop Siberia's permafrost melting and then releasing billions of tons of greenhouse gases.

The doomsday scenario has been dubbed as the “methane bomb” because if it happened it would dramatically worsen climate change, melting the ice cap and flooding countries across the world.

And there is clear evidence that this is already happening.

Bubble like mounds have been popping up like a geological plague and some have already burst and spewed out toxic gas which damages the atmosphere.

One of many bubbles in Siberia underneath which methane is building up, ready to blow if the permafrost melts

An aerial view of a crater which jas already blown on the Yamal Peninsula, northern Siberia

But the worst of this ticking time bomb has yet to happen.

Much of the methane is still trapped underneath by the permafrost layer which is fast disappearing and threatens to release the gas at any moment. 

An area where this is starting to happen is the Yamal Peninsula. 

Shocking aerial footage has revealed thousands of methane-filled craters — which threatens to happen across Russia’s frozen far north.

Ironically, melting ice here revealed preserved woolly mammoths that are now being used in the cloning attempts.

7,000 underground gas bubbles poised to 'explode' creating huge Arctic craters

And if the huge furry mammoths/elephant hybrids were to be brought into being, Prof Church said they could repopulate these freezing wastelands and help lock in the lethal fumes. 

He said: “Cold-resistant elephants would flatten the insulating snow and supporting trees in winter and favour the highly heat reflective grass in summer.
“They would also help capture new carbon by enhancing the photosynthetic capacity of the vegetation.”

Should Prof Church and his Harvard uni team successfully clone woolly mammoths they would be taken to an extraordinary Ice Age safari park currently being developed by Russian scientists.

Called the Pleistocene Park, the 20,000 hectare zone in the furthest stretches of remote Siberia has been created in a bid to recreate an Ice-Age ecosystem.

Boffins believe grazing woolly mammoths would also compact the snow in the winter and grass in the summer all of which lowers the permafrost temperature.

Cloned hybrid woolly mammoths would return to the very place they died out