Making incisions and carefully taking samples, the scientists at a laboratory in Russia's far east looked like pathologists carrying out a post-mortem.

But the body they were dissecting is a baby mammoth who died around 130,000 years ago.

Discovered last year, the calf -- nicknamed Yana, for the river basin where she was found -- is in a remarkable state of preservation, giving scientists a glimpse into the past and, potentially, the future as climate change thaws the permafrost in which she was found.

Yana's skin has kept its greyish-brown colour and clumps of reddish hairs. Her wrinkled trunk is curved and points to her mouth. The orbits of her eyes are perfectly recognisable and her sturdy legs resemble those of a modern-day elephant.

This necropsy -- an autopsy on an animal -- "is an opportunity to look into the past of our planet", said Artemy Goncharov, head of the Laboratory of Functional Genomics and Proteomics of Microorganisms at the Institute of Experimental Medicine in Saint Petersburg.

Scientists hope to find unique ancient bacteria and carry out genetic analysis of the plants and spores Yana ate to learn more about the place and time she........

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