A 9,000 year-old mummified bison of an extinct species was uncovered in the freezing tundra of Siberia by an indigenous tribe called the Yukagir.

Commonly known as steppe bison, the "Bison priscus" is an ancient ancestor of the modern day bison still found in parts of Europe and North America. This species is now extinct, however.

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Scientists marveled how remarkably preserved this animal was. The remains were then carefully transported to the Yakutian Academy of Sciences in Siberia for an autopsy.

Its internal organs were almost intact but little fat was found inside the animal's carcass. This evidence suggests the animal died from severe starvation and malnutrition some 90 centuries ago.

Many mummified bison were also previously found. This specimen, however, is the best preserved from Siberia.

According to Olga Potapova from the Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota, this Yukagir bison mummy is the third of four complete specimens found in the world. The specimen is also one out of two adult mummies being kept preserved along with its internal organs.

A deep freezing process is being used to preserve the fur and other softer features of the bison. Organs such as the heart, the lungs and digestive system are almost perfectly intact.

The rest of the organs are smaller than normal when but this was expected due to the animal's age.

The steppe bison lived during the Common Era when the world's population consisted of five million people. The early Europeans were hunter gatherers hunting for prey across the continent some 20 centuries after the last Ice Age. Cows were being domesticated in the Middle East while agriculture was slowly being developed.

Mummified bisons and mammoths provide important clues for paleontologists and scientists due to their pristine state. At the site where the bison was uncovered were other mummified animals such as a wooly rhinoceros, a mammoth and a 35,000 year-old horse.

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